Creating comfortable housing conditions is sometimes quite difficult. Especially when it comes to private houses with a cold roof. In such situations, it is not enough just to establish a heating system. It is also necessary to preserve the heat received. As you know from school days, warm air rises. Accordingly, a poorly insulated ceiling will result in serious heat loss. To avoid this, even our ancestors insulated the ceiling in a private house. For this, various materials and methods were used. The modern building materials market offers other materials with improved features.
Why insulate the ceiling?
For private homes, it is very important to consider such a thing as heat loss. Unlike apartment buildings, there is no private apartment next door to keep heat. All parts of the house are influenced by cold air masses. The heat will go to heat the ceiling itself, not the air in the room. And no matter how much resources are spent on heating, only the bill for payment will increase, and not the temperature in the room.
Insulating the ceiling in a house with a cold roof is just as important as insulating the floor and walls. Warm air from heating devices (batteries, stoves, convectors, and so on) rises up according to the laws of physics. There it connects with cold air, cools and falls down. An uninsulated ceiling will have a low temperature. Accordingly, warm air will remain above to warm the ceiling to room temperature. The flow rate will decrease. And the time required to heat the entire room will increase.
The insulated ceiling is separated from the cold attic and, accordingly, does not need heating. Therefore, warm air will quickly fall down, where it will heat up again. This will save resources and lower heating costs.
Than they insulated the ceiling before
For many centuries, people care about the preservation of heat in the house. Before the advent of modern building materials, the ceiling was insulated in a house with a cold roof with improvised materials. It could be hay (straw), sawdust, husk from seeds, onion scales. To improve the effect, all this was covered with clay on top. This method had a big minus - rodents chose such a layer of insulation as their habitat in the cold seasons.
A little later, they began to use waste from production as a heater. It could be, for example, sawdust or slag.
Insulation outside or inside?
All methods of insulation of the ceiling depend on where the insulating layer will be laid: outdoors or indoors. Each of the methods has its advantages and disadvantages.
Insulating the ceiling from the outside involves laying the insulation from the attic. This method protects the ceiling from freezing, as it is located on the side of cold air. At the same time, the height of the room inside does not change. Another advantage is that it’s easier to carry out the work. Laying the material on the bottom is easier than lifting and hooking it to the ceiling. The disadvantage of this method is the need to protect the roof. If this is not done, condensate from temperature changes will settle on the insulating layer.
Insulation of the ceiling indoors allows you to protect building materials from atmospheric influences. Indeed, the room is dry and the temperature drops are less, and ventilation is present.
Materials for ceiling insulation
The modern construction market offers a wide range of materials that are used for insulation. Different manufacturers offer their products with different characteristics, quality and price.
The following types of heat insulators are the most popular and often used:
- Glass wool.
- Basalt (mineral) cotton wool.
- Expanded clay.
- Styrofoam.
- Sawdust with clay.
- Styrenes.
- Ecowool.
- Styrofoam.
- Bung.
Each type has its advantages and disadvantages. And the ways they are used are also different. Therefore, each of the species will be considered in more detail.
Warming with sawdust and clay
This is an old method of warming. But due to a number of advantages, it is still popular. To do this, sawdust is mixed with clay, crushed into small pieces (or powdered). The finished mixture is poured into the cells collected from wooden bars. So that the mixture does not accumulate moisture, it must first be dried or even calcined in the sun. Sometimes lime and carbide are added to the mixture. For the same purposes, vapor barrier is used.
Insulation of the ceiling with clay and sawdust has several more drawbacks. Sawdust refers to combustible materials. Fungi, mold, insects and rodents may appear in the mixture. For protection, slag is poured over the insulation layer. The chimney is reliably fenced with non-combustible materials. Sawdust insulation is considered an inexpensive way.
Basalt wool
Insulating the ceiling with mineral wool has one important advantage - it does not burn (and does not even smolder). This is especially important for private homes.
It is easy to work with this type of material. He does not prick. Available in the form of mats or rolls. This facilitates the installation process. Thickness is big. Most often, one layer of insulation is enough.
But there is a serious drawback. Basalt wool has caking and hygroscopicity. If moisture gets on the material, large areas are exposed. Therefore, when choosing this heat insulator, it is necessary to carefully isolate it from moisture.
Expanded clay for ceiling insulation
This is a mineral material that has been used for a long time. It is light in itself. But too large a layer to fill is not recommended due to weight gain. Therefore, most often this material is used in cases where the heat loss is not too large. It should be borne in mind that in regions with a cold climate the expanded clay layer can reach 50 cm. This leads to an increase in the load on the wooden ceiling. Therefore, more often this insulation is used for thermal insulation of the floor.
To use expanded clay, it is necessary to assemble the crate. Insulation is poured into its cells. The flooring is laid up. At the same time, a vapor barrier membrane must be used .
The use process is similar to other materials. The crate is going, closed by vapor barrier. Expanded clay is poured into the obtained cells. In order to avoid voids, use various fractions (both large and small). A cement-sand screed is applied on top. Other materials can also be used as flooring.
The use of styrenes
Scientists have proven that the best insulation is air. Therefore, modern manufacturers of building materials offer their products, which are, in fact, a shell inside which air is enclosed. These are styrenes. These materials include penoplex, polyurethane, penofol and some other means. Their weight is negligible, and the performance is high. The insulation of the ceiling with penoplex five centimeters thick, for example, can be compared with brickwork thirty centimeters thick.
But these materials also have disadvantages. Styrenes, although they do not burn, but smolder with the release of harmful and dangerous substances.
Spray materials
The ceiling insulation in a house with a cold roof can be done by spraying the material. This method of thermal insulation does not leave empty niches, the tool fills the entire space. And this method is perfect for hard to reach places. But the cylinders with the compositions used are not very large. You can do it yourself, but it will take a lot of time. Therefore, it is better to contact specialists in this case. The materials used for spraying are non-combustible and have good adhesion to other surfaces and materials.
For these purposes, use:
- Ecowool. It is a completely environmentally friendly material consisting of cellulose.
- Expanded polystyrene, which is an analogue of styrenes.
The disadvantages of this method of insulation is that the materials do not pass steam. This forces you to organize good ventilation. Otherwise, the condensate will settle on the surface, which will in turn lead to dampness and mold.
Cork insulation
Cork wood as a material for the insulation of the ceiling is environmentally friendly and has a beautiful appearance. This is a warm material. But it burns, is subject to the appearance of mold and insects.
Cork wood allows air to pass through. Therefore, when it is used as a heater, there is no need for additional vapor barrier.
If the ceiling is concrete
In cases where the ceiling in a private house is made of concrete slabs or other non-combustible materials, you can use a simple foam. The thickness of the layer is chosen in accordance with simple calculations. The protective layer should have greater vapor permeability than the base itself. If it is difficult to fulfill this condition, a vapor barrier layer is used. The membrane is placed between the ceiling and insulation.
Polyfoam is one of the simplest and cheapest options in cases where insulation will be carried out inside. In this case, sheets of material are attached to a special adhesive directly to the ceiling. If the work is done carefully, additional decoration may not be required.
It is not necessary to carry out calculations and use vapor barrier in case of using mineral wool. This material is highly vapor permeable. Mineral wool slabs are quite rigid. Therefore, they are simply laid on the base. From above, they are closed with plywood, OSB-boards, cement-bonded boards and other materials. If the minvata is soft, a crate is made for it. Insulation is laid in the cells, and flooring is built on top.
If the ceiling is wooden
It is very important to take the choice of insulation in those cases when the ceiling is made of wood.
You can not use polystyrene in such cases. In case of fire, it releases a large amount of toxic substances. If nevertheless there is a need to use polystyrene indoors, it is necessary to protect it with fireproof materials.
It is better to put cotton material between wooden logs. If the lag height is not enough, an additional crate is made on top of them. The flooring is laid on top. In order for cotton wool not to accumulate moisture, a gap must be left between it and the flooring for ventilation (at least three centimeters).
Do-it-yourself ceiling insulation at home
Regardless of the type of material chosen for the insulation of the ceiling, the principle of operation is almost the same. As mentioned above, to insulate the ceiling in a private house is easiest on the outside. Therefore, we will consider the whole process by the example of insulation of the ceiling from the outside, using mineral wool as insulation.
To carry out the work you will need:
- Directly the heater itself.
- Steam and waterproofing.
- Material for the construction of flooring.
- Tool: screwdriver, saw (or jigsaw, stapler).
Insulation of the ceiling in a house with a cold roof begins with an examination of the surface of the ceiling. There should be no damage or damage. If any, they must be eliminated. The wooden ceiling is treated with protective equipment. The surface will close, and you will not be able to do this later.
Further on the basis of the box are going. To do this, use wooden blocks. It is advisable to make them of such a size that the insulation is placed without undercutting.
After this, the resulting structure is covered with a continuous layer of vapor barrier. Separate parts of the membrane overlap. The joints are glued with tape. The membrane itself is attached with a stapler.
Mineral wool is placed in the cells. It should not be too tightly packed. But the space between it and the beams should not remain.
A waterproofing membrane is laid on top of the insulating layer. It also overlaps, joints are glued.
Further, the flooring is made on the beams. For this, various materials can be used: plywood, dowel, cement-bonded particleboards and so on.
These simple steps will help to insulate the ceiling of a private house with your own hands. It is simple and is possible for almost everyone. In addition, by doing the work yourself, you can save.