Insulation of the walls of a frame house with mineral wool from the inside. Do-it-yourself instructions for warming a frame house

Insulation of a frame house with mineral wool is one of the most common types of insulation used in frame housing construction.

In frame housing construction, thermal insulation of internal premises is carried out by laying thermal insulation in the internal space of the frame. Different types of frame houses manufactured using different technologies (Canadian, American German and others) use different types of insulation, but the main properties that this material should have can be formulated as follows:

1. Low thermal conductivity - the ability to retain heat. This indicator is characterized by the coefficient of thermal conductivity, the lower it is, the smaller the thickness of the insulation layer is required to create a normal temperature regime inside the premises.
2. Vapor permeability - the ability to pass air. This ability of the material allows the construction of the house to "breathe", creating an optimal microclimate inside the premises.
3. Light weight. The weight of the insulation is characterized by its specific values, the lower the weight, the lower the load will be on building structures (the foundation and frame of the house).
4. Fire safety is an important indicator, because. the life of the people living in the house depends on it.

This indicator is characterized by such criteria as:

• The degree of flammability;
• Attitude to exposure to open flame;
• The ability to release harmful substances during combustion.

1. Environmental friendliness is one of the important indicators in the modern world.
2. Hygroscopicity is the ability to absorb moisture. To insulate a frame house, it is better to use materials that do not absorb moisture. If such an effect is present, then so that it does not affect other properties of the material used (thermal conductivity, vapor permeability, etc.).
3. Antiseptic - the ability not to decompose and rot, as well as to resist the formation of microorganisms inside the insulation.
4. Strength - in the context of use for home insulation, this indicator characterizes the degree of shrinkage of the insulation during operation.
5. Cost - the ratio of price and quality, as well as the presence of the above properties, is a priority indicator when choosing a specific insulation for a frame house.

Most often, as a heater in frame housing construction, foam plastic, polyurethane foam and mineral wool are used.

Mineral wool, its properties and main characteristics

Mineral wool is a heat-insulating material that is made on the basis of molten glass (glass wool), melted rocks (stone wool) and blast-furnace slag (slag wool).

Due to the fact that slag wool does not meet the requirements for environmental friendliness, and glass wool is difficult to perform work with its use, stone wool based on basalt has become most widespread in frame housing construction.

Basalt stone wool is produced in the form of slabs, which greatly simplifies the process of laying it when insulating frame structures. The only point that needs to be taken into account when constructing the frame is the geometric dimensions of the plates, they must correspond to the pitch of the vertical racks of the structure. This will facilitate the work and avoid overspending material.

The main characteristics of mineral wool based on basalt

For all types of insulation, there are indicators (properties) characteristic of a particular material, which were described above. For basalt slabs, these properties correspond to the following values ​​and indicators:

The stern of this mineral wool is able to act as sound insulation, which is characteristic of all types of this insulation.

Advantages and disadvantages of using mineral wool

Any building material has its pros and cons, which determine the scope of its use and service life. Mineral wool is no exception in this regard, it also has its advantages and disadvantages, which can be formulated as follows.

Advantages

• Low coefficient of thermal conductivity;
• Is not combustible material;
• High strength and ability to maintain their geometric dimensions;
• Ability to low moisture absorption;
• High level of sound insulation;
• Resistance to deformation under the influence of external temperature;
• Resistance to biological and chemical attack;
• Ease of installation work;
• Relatively low cost.

disadvantages

• When performing work without protective equipment, it is possible to damage the respiratory system, eyes and skin, a specialist working with this material;
• The service life is somewhat shorter than that of analogues (polystyrene, polyurethane foam).

Technology for performing installation work using mineral wool

Mineral wool is used to insulate various structural elements of a frame house, when insulated, there are some features of the technology for performing work.

But first of all, it is necessary to prepare the surfaces of structures for laying insulation, for this it is necessary:

• Treat the frame with fire-fighting compounds and antiseptic solutions.
• Clean the surface where the insulation will be laid from dirt, construction waste and other foreign objects.
• Remove significant irregularities on the frame elements that are not technologically important, but may interfere with the laying of thermal insulation.

Insulation of the floor of a frame house

Floor insulation is carried out on a “rough” flooring or on a slab, depending on the type of frame house. Logs, on which the "clean floor" will be laid in the future, should be laid in increments corresponding to the geometric dimensions of the mineral wool used. The scheme of floor insulation in a frame house is as follows:

"Draft floor" and logs - waterproofing - insulation - vapor barrier - counter rail on the surface of the log - "finishing floor".

Insulation of the walls of a frame house

In a frame house, external and internal walls are insulated, but the scheme of their insulation is somewhat different.

The scheme of insulation of external walls is as follows:

interior finish - vapor barrier - insulation - windproof membrane - exterior finish.

When insulating internal walls, the vapor barrier and windproof membrane are excluded from the scheme.

Insulation of interfloor ceilings

When insulating interfloor ceilings, the scheme used for floor insulation is used, but the installation of waterproofing and vapor barrier is excluded from it, and there is also no counter-rail that provides fastening of the vapor barrier layer.

Roof insulation

The roof is one of the main surfaces through which a significant amount of heat loss occurs in the house, regardless of what material it is made of and by what technology.

During the construction of frame houses, roof insulation is of particular importance. The insulation scheme looks like this:

interior decoration of the attic space - vapor barrier - insulation - waterproofing - counter-lattice - crate - roofing material.

Safety measures when working with mineral wool

When working with mineral wool, certain safety precautions must be observed in order to prevent injury to personnel working with this material.

To create safe working conditions it is necessary:

• Use personal protective equipment - respirators, gloves, goggles, overalls.
• It is impossible to organize a meal and the placement of drinking water near the place of storage of mineral wool, as well as with the site for performing work with its use.
• After completion of the work, it is necessary to clean the premises where the work was performed. Remove remaining mineral wool waste.

Mineral wool is the most common and affordable type of insulation, which is widely used in frame housing construction, both in the factory method for the production of frame houses, and in an individual, independent construction option.

To achieve a comfortable stay in the house during the winter period, it is necessary to think about insulation even at the construction stage. This will prevent the penetration of cold air into the room and ensure compliance with the temperature and humidity conditions. Insulation of a frame house can be done by hand. Step-by-step instructions for each type of structure are given below.

Why is it necessary to insulate the house

With the help of thermal protection of structures in contact with cold air, the following problems can be solved:

• condensation from inside the premises;
• the appearance of dampness, mold and fungus;
• increase in heating costs;
• non-compliance with the temperature regime of the dwelling and a decrease in the comfort of living in it.

In addition, a competent technology for warming a frame house can extend the life of the main structures of the building.

Materials for thermal protection

Home insulation can be carried out using the following materials:

• mineral wool;
• extruded polystyrene foam;

Types of mineral wool

There are two classifications of this heater. The first is based on the raw materials used to make:

• basalt;
• glass;
• slag.

The most popular is the insulation of the walls of a frame house and other structures with basalt mineral wool.

The second classification is based on the form of insulation release:

• rigid boards;
• roll material.

It should be noted that glass wool is produced only in rolls.

Rigid slabs that can withstand fairly high loads are suitable for floors. Insulation of the walls of a frame house can be carried out using both plates and rolls. For attic roofing, it is best to use slab material. This will allow you to easily insulate with mineral wool between the rafters.

Insulated frame house structures

Before insulating a frame house, it is necessary to decide which structures require this additional event.

With your own hands, you can protect the following elements of the building from the cold:

1. the floor of the first floor;
2. attic floor (if the attic is cold);
3. mansard roof;
4. exterior walls.

Do-it-yourself insulation work can be carried out both outside and inside. It is best to mount the thermal insulation between the racks, as this will ensure the competent work of the material. Warming a wooden house with mineral wool from the inside of the wall will greatly simplify the work and allow you to hold events in all weather conditions.

Double-layer insulation - a guarantee of 100% thermal protection

An external insulation scheme is possible if the insulation from the inside is not sufficient and additional insulation is required. Peculiarities:

• the outer thermal insulation material must not create a vapor barrier. Otherwise, the resulting condensate from water vapor will accumulate between the two layers of insulation, which is fraught with the formation of mold and mildew;
• house wall thickening

Based on the foregoing, it follows that the thermal protection of a wooden house from the outside with mineral wool should be carried out only in exceptional cases, when the scheme from the inside is not applicable.

Wall insulation

Double layer insulation (double frame)

To guarantee a comfortable stay during the winter period, it is important to take care of the thermal protection of the walls. To reliably insulate the walls with basalt or other wool from the outside with your own hands, you need two-layer insulation. Follow the following layer order:

1. interior decoration;
2. vapor barrier;
3. mineral wool insulation (2 layers with offset racks);
4. windproof membrane;
5. OSB-3 on the crate;
6. exterior decoration of the facade.

It is important to remember that the scheme for using this type of insulation requires the obligatory presence of a ventilated layer with a thickness of at least 4 cm. This is necessary due to the high hygroscopicity of the material. In order for the insulation to retain its performance characteristics, it is necessary to remove excess moisture from its surface. This is ensured by the circulation of cold air outside the surface of the mineral wool.

Most often, the technology for insulating the walls of a frame house is the following scheme: the material is not laid on any side, but between the racks of the frame. This reduces the overall thickness of the wall and significantly reduces the construction time of the building. Mineral wool is fixed between the racks of the frame, after which sheathing is performed on both sides.

Vapor barrier and wind protection during do-it-yourself work are located similarly to the previous cases: steam protection from the inside, and wind protection from the outside.

With thermal protection of the walls from the inside under the hinged facade, the order of the layers is as follows:

1. interior decoration of the premises;
2. vapor barrier;
3. mineral wool;
4. superdiffusion membrane;
5. wall construction;
6. facade decoration.

Floor insulation

For a wooden frame house, overlappings along the beams are characteristic. When arranging thermal insulation with your own hands, insulation boards are laid between the supporting structures of the floor. You can also use rolled materials, but for their spreading, you will need to pre-install the lower crate or solid flooring.

When insulating with mineral wool in the form of rigid slabs, it is better to take the step of the wooden floor beams so that 580 mm remain clean between them. This will provide maximum convenience for working with 600 mm wide plates and complete filling of the space with heat-insulating material.

When doing do-it-yourself activities, you need to remember that the vapor barrier is located from the inside of the room, and the waterproofing is from the cold air side. In the case of intermediate floors, steam protection should be provided from the side of the ceiling.

Attic floor insulation

It is also important to remember that when working with any type of mineral wool, it is better to prevent particles of the material from getting on the skin and into the lungs. For this, it is best to use gloves and a mask. Also, workers must have special clothing that completely covers the arms and legs.

Pitched roof insulation

Do-it-yourself installation technology is similar to ceilings. The pitch of the rafters, as in the previous case, is selected with respect to a clear distance of 580 mm.

Work is performed in the following order:

1. installation of the truss system;
2. laying a waterproofing layer over the rafters;
3. thermal insulation;
4. installation of vapor barrier;
5. upper and lower crate;
6. laying roofing material;
7. ceiling interior trim.

Preparatory work

Before properly insulating a frame house, it is necessary to prepare the surfaces. To do this, perform simple actions:

1. processing of all structures of a wooden house with the help of antiseptic compounds to prevent damage to them by various microorganisms;
2. cleaning the surface from dirt and dust;
3. elimination of significant inconsistencies.

These simple do-it-yourself manipulations will provide the insulation with a reliable connection to the structures and the longest possible long service life.

In contact with

Classmates

The construction of a frame house is a process of sequential phased creation of all elements of the building structure.

Wherein the order of work is strictly defined, changing or violating the sequence of actions is impossible - all operations are interconnected and logically follow one from the other.

Proper insulation of a frame house is not a separate event, carried out whenever possible or desired. This is obligatory part of the technological process, one of the stages of construction.

Thermal insulation for the walls of a frame house is a fairly simple process, but responsible and requiring a clear understanding of the physical meaning of the actions. Its peculiarity is that no trifles that can be dismissed are not recognized - any shortcomings are equated to serious violations of technology, leading to the failure of many elements of the wall structure. Let's consider the issue in more detail.

Requirements

Insulation is an integral part of the frame house wall system. This is not an additional measure that enhances the overall functionality, but a regular component of the design.

Little of, the walls of the frame house are almost entirely composed of insulation- it accounts for 3/4 of the volume of all materials.

In addition, the insulation is the main part of the wall, all other elements, in fact, solve the issues of structural rigidity and protection of the material from moisture and maintaining its working qualities. The importance and responsibility of the tasks performed put forward to insulation material a number of requirements:

1. Low thermal conductivity.
2. Low density, light weight.
3. Lack of reaction to the appearance of moisture, low (ideally - absent) hygroscopicity.
4. Shape stability, no shrinkage or swelling of the material.
5. No harmful emissions such as formaldehyde, phenol, etc.
6. The composition of the material should not contribute to the appearance of insects or rodents.

In addition to the above properties, an important quality of insulation is rigidity. Some types of materials are produced both in a rigid state (slabs) and in a liquid state, requiring special equipment for application, which greatly complicates the workflow and requires experience and skills. For independent work, materials that do not require the use of additional equipment are much more convenient.

The main types of insulation

The list of materials that are used for thermal insulation of frame walls is quite wide.

Are issued in the form of plates, rolls, granules, powder.

The main groups of insulation by origin:

1. Mineral. Basically, these are various melts of minerals, slags or glass, technologically converted into cotton wool - mineral wool, glass wool, slag wool, etc.
2. Natural. This group includes various modifications of sawdust or shavings (arbolite, chip concrete, etc.), wool, ecowool, reed mats, etc.
3. Synthetic. Various materials obtained by chemical means, for example - polystyrene foam, polystyrene foam, polyurethane foam, isofol, etc.

As a rule, in practice most often they insulate the frame walls with mineral wool and polystyrene foam. For this, various types of mineral wool, glass wool or synthetics are used - polystyrene foam, polystyrene foam, etc. They are reliable, lightweight and do not load the wall frame too much, in addition, insulating the walls in a frame house with your own hands is quite feasible.

Tools and means of protection

The method of installation of the material largely depends on its properties and the form of release..

Some are easy enough to accurately cut into the shape of the gaps between the stepping posts, others require special equipment and protection.

For independent work, heaters are usually used, which allow installation with minimal use of equipment and protective equipment. However, if glass wool is used as a heater, elementary protection will be required. To work, you may need:

1. O sharp knife. Shoe shoes will not work, since the insulation can be up to 200 mm thick. You need a knife with a fairly long blade.
2. Mounting foam. Excellent tool for sealing cracks and gaps.
3. Hammer, small nails, thick thread. All this is useful for temporarily fixing the insulation in the nests.
4. Putty knife. It will help to tightly plug the material into the cracks.
5. Rubber gloves. When working with prickly materials such as glass wool, they are indispensable.
6. Respirator. Inhalation of dust and small particles of insulation can lead to various diseases, so respiratory protection will not hurt.

Often when working with insulating materials use a full protective suit covering the entire body and face. The measure will not be excessive when using liquid spray materials that create a suspension in the air and can get on the skin, hair or clothing.

Preliminary preparation

The insulation is installed on a wall frame fully prepared for this.

At the time of installation, the following items should be ready:

1. Fully assembled - racks, and top trim, jibs and other elements.
2. Exterior sheathing made of OSB, chipboard, plywood or similar sheet materials has been installed.
3. A waterproofing membrane (or other roll-type waterproofing) is installed, all joints are connected with adhesive tape, there are no gaps or cracks.

I.e all operations that cannot be carried out with the insulation installed must be performed, and then the walls of the frame house will be insulated from the inside. If it is produced by the platform method, that is, in a supine state, then the insulation is attached only after the wall has been lifted and aligned with the markup.

Technology

How to properly insulate the walls of a frame house? How to properly lay insulation in frame walls? As mentioned above, there are several types of insulation. The scheme of warming the walls of a frame house for each of them has its own characteristics. Consider one representative from each species.

Mineral wool

Frame houses: wall insulation with mineral wool for such prefabricated structures is very common. It is best to choose basalt slab wool.

It has sufficient rigidity and does not lose its shape during installation. The thickness of the slab is chosen so that it corresponds to the width of one or more layers.

Important! The insulation should not be thicker than the width of the racks!

Insulation of the walls of a frame house with mineral wool is carried out as follows:

1. Primarily, a waterproofing layer must be installed. Strips of rolled material are fastened in horizontal rows, starting from the bottom. Joints are isolated with special adhesive tape.

2. Mineral wool slabs are cut into pieces, exactly matching in width to the nests of the frame.

3. The cut pieces are inserted into the slots. If necessary, tuck the edges with a spatula.

Attention! Work with a spatula or similar tools must be done carefully, do not damage the waterproofing layer!

4. The installed parts of the insulation are fixed in place with thick threads thrown in loops over small nails driven into the racks. If there is no desire to spoil the hydroprotection layer with nails (and this is inevitable), then it is necessary to cut and install the insulation boards as accurately and tightly as possible.

5. The joints of the pieces of material are glued with special adhesive tape. As an option - sealed with mounting foam. There shouldn't be any cracks.

6. Over fully installed insulation a layer of vapor barrier is attached. Its installation is carried out similarly to waterproofing - horizontal rows, starting from the bottom, the rows are overlapped by at least 150 mm, the joints are reinforced with adhesive tape.

All layers of the cake must be airtight, without cracks, holes or other violations.

Important! Even a small hole or gap will definitely cause materials to get wet and wood to rot!

Styrofoam

First of all, it is necessary to choose the thickness of the material plates in order to provide the most favorable ratio of the thickness of the insulation and the width of the racks.

If necessary, you can use a combination of several plates with different thicknesses.

Insulation of the walls of the frame house with foam plastic is done in the following order:

1. The first layer is roll waterproofing.
2. The material is cut to size. It is better to cut with a hacksaw with a fine tooth, trying not to crumble the material.
3. Installing foam in the nest. Bearing in mind the rather fragile structure, one should not use force to hammer a piece into the nest, it is better to cut it. You can temporarily fix it with small wedges.
4. All existing gaps and joints are filled with mounting foam.
5. After crystallization, the excess foam is trimmed with a knife.

Sawdust

Sawdust is a cheap and affordable material. They are mainly used as insulation. in the form of various compounds with cement binders.

In their pure form, they are too dangerous in sanitary terms, in addition, they are prone to decay and easily absorb water.

In addition, the use of bulk materials for wall insulation is almost impossible, since it will not be possible to achieve the required filling density of the nests. The cavities that have arisen in the thickness of the sawdust will inevitably create cold bridges, which will completely disrupt the operation of the warming cake and cause the frame and sawdust to get wet. So you can only use derivatives - wood concrete or other plate material.

Insulation of the walls of a frame house with sawdust is carried out in the same way:

1. A layer of waterproofing is installed.
2. The plates are cut into appropriate pieces and inserted into the slots.
3. Slots, joints or gaps are filled with mounting foam, which is trimmed after crystallization.
4. A layer of vapor barrier is installed.

Important! Using sawdust is a dubious solution, as it is a favorable environment for insects or rodents, and also rots and absorbs water. The presence of such circumstances makes the use of sawdust the least successful choice of all possible.

Useful video

How the walls of the frame house were insulated is additionally described in the video below:

findings

Self-installation of insulation usually occurs in conditions of limited tools and lack of proper experience and skills. Since it is very important to properly insulate frame walls, it is recommended to use the most successful types of materials that are not demanding on the availability of equipment and do not have serious restrictions during the installation process. The easier the material to work with, the better the result will be and no consequences will arise.

Taking on work without having the skills to handle insulation is a hasty decision. In any case, it is necessary to first study the technology, especially the physical meaning of the processes occurring in the thickness of the pie. Then work can be beneficial and provide coziness and comfort in the house.

In contact with

As a rule, heat leakage in a frame house occurs through its walls and floor. The value of heat loss can reach up to 40%, which, you see, is rather deplorable. Only warming the frame house from the inside or outside will help to solve this problem.

In this article, we will try to fully consider the following points:

• choice ;
• a set of necessary materials;
• technology of internal thermal insulation of walls and floors of a frame house.

The choice of insulation material

Perhaps this is one of the main difficulties that arises for those who decide to insulate their home. Of course, we will not be able to cover all the variety of materials that are currently on the construction market, but we will try to review the most popular of them.

Mineral wool in the form of mats

Warming frame houses with mineral wool is almost the first thing that comes to mind. Its popularity is due to several positive aspects:

• No additional hardware is required to work with, and from the tools you only need a construction knife for cutting.
• It has excellent resistance to fire, rot, and insects and rodents do not start in it.
• The cost of this material is quite low. which makes it accessible to all categories of citizens.
• But the most important thing is that mineral wool is an excellent heat insulator and also eliminates noise from the street.

There are, of course, also negative sides. The most significant of them is that this insulation absorbs a lot of moisture. Therefore, during installation, it will be necessary to take care of a proper hydro- and vapor barrier layer.

Styrofoam or Styrofoam

One way or another, polystyrene foam is used to insulate residential buildings, but, like any other material, it has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantages primarily include moisture resistance and a pleasant price.

In addition, when insulating with foam, moisture and vapor barrier membranes can be dispensed with. Possible disadvantages we have already mentioned above.

Spray insulators

In Russia, they are not yet represented by a very large assortment. Of the most popular technologies, polyurethane foam insulation can be distinguished. This heat insulator consists of two liquid components (A and B), which are mixed with each other in certain proportions and then begin to foam under the influence of air supplied under pressure. After the polyurethane foam fills the entire insulated space, its excess is cut off.

The process of applying this insulation is somewhat similar to working with mounting foam. The end result is a continuous seamless surface, excluding cracks and the so-called "cold bridges". And since polyurethane foam does not absorb moisture, additional protection in the form of hydro and vapor barrier membranes is not required. Insulation of loggias, walls, floors, roofs - with such a universal insulator, everything is possible.

Ecowool

Unlike mineral wool, ecowool is a completely natural material and does not require additional membrane layers, which is very important for those who want to make their home as environmentally friendly as possible.

To date, there are two ways to install ecowool:

• Dry. With this method, it is possible both to insulate the floor of a frame house with your own hands, and to insulate the walls. To do this, the packaging with ecowool is opened and its contents are whipped. Then the material is placed in a warmed place and rammed until the required density is reached.

The disadvantage of dry laying is that the insulation, in fact, is poured, which in the future can shrink the walls and lead to heat loss.

• Wet. In this case, ecowool is sprayed onto the surface to be insulated using special equipment, and its fibers are securely glued to the frame and to each other. It should be noted that this method eliminates the possible shrinkage of the walls and, as a result, heat loss.

Technologies for insulating the walls of frame houses from the inside

First, for this you need to stock up on the following materials:

• glassine (to create a waterproofing layer);
• bars or metal profiles (for frame assembly);
• vapor barrier (for example, penofol);
• insulation (we take mineral wool as an example);
• edged board with a section of 2.5x15 cm and a moisture content of not more than 15%.

Secondly, before proceeding directly to the thermal insulation of the walls, prepare them in this way:

• clean from dirt and dust with a broom and a vacuum cleaner;
• remove protruding nails (if any);
• dry the walls thoroughly (heaters can be used for this purpose);
• seal all cracks with foam.

So, wall insulation technology:

• Waterproofing. For this, as mentioned above, we use glassine. It is cut into individual strips according to the dimensions of the walls and attached using a construction stapler.

Important! Glassine strips are laid with an overlap of 10 cm and fixed along the joint in increments of 10-12 cm.

A layer of glassine will provide good waterproofing, due to which moisture will be removed from the insulation to the outside of the frame house, which in turn will dry naturally.

• Frame assembly. It is made either from beams or from metal profiles (read how the frame is properly constructed, read in our other articles). In principle, everything is visible and understandable in the figure.

• Insulation of a metal frame or wood. At this stage, the laying of the insulating material is carried out. In our example, this is mineral wool. It is cut to the desired size with a knife and placed between the racks of the frame.

Note! When cutting mineral wool, add 5 cm on each side. This is done so that the material lies as tightly as possible, without the formation of gaps between pieces of insulation.

Do not throw away the remaining scraps of mineral wool, but use them as bundles laid between the joints of the insulation.

• Vapor barrier. For mineral wool, a vapor barrier such as penofol 3 mm thick is well suited. It is laid on the walls in the same way as glassine. That is, first we cut the penofol into strips with an allowance of 5 cm, and then we overlap and fix it with a stapler.

• Wall cladding and thermal insulation layer edged board according to standard technology.

Here, in principle, is the whole scheme of warming a frame house, or rather its walls.

Floor insulation

Insulation of floors in a frame house, as well as insulation of walls, is a mandatory procedure. Otherwise, all the heat will go into the basement of the house. Insulation also prevents heat loss and cold air from entering the room from the ground.

The sequence of work is approximately the same as for wall insulation. You will have to act depending on how the floor in the house is arranged. Usually these are logs that rest directly on the foundation or special support pillars.

Note! Even at the stage of building a frame house, it is necessary to make sure that the logs are made with a gap of no more than 58 cm. Then you can simply lay the mineral insulation of the required length. Too large a distance between the lags is inconvenient not only for subsequent thermal insulation, but also due to the fact that the finishing floor covering may begin to deform over time.

Floor insulation in a frame house begins with the construction of a subfloor, which is necessary for laying a heat insulator between the logs. It is made from a 10x2.5 cm edged board. Boards can be laid in various ways.

Here is one of the simplest:

• Screw the 5x5 cm bars from below and across all the logs so that the floor is divided.
• Lay the edged board of the desired length parallel to the lags, between them. Thus, the edges of the boards will rest on the foundation, and in the middle they will have support from the bars.

• Cover the subfloor with a waterproofing membrane to protect the insulation from moisture. The membrane is fastened between the lags with an overlap on them using a construction stapler (step 20-25 cm).

• Next is the installation of a heat insulator. For floors, it is better to buy roll insulation, as it is convenient to roll it to the desired length. It fits in at least three layers (that is, the result should be somewhere around a 15 cm layer).

• From above, the insulation is covered with a vapor barrier membrane with an overlap of 10 cm. This way you protect your work from water and steam that can penetrate from the room.

• The final step will be laying the floors themselves. It all depends on your needs and capabilities.

Important! Do not forget that all wooden materials that are used in the thermal insulation process must be treated with antiseptics that protect them from decay and wood beetles.

Conclusion

Here we have answered all the questions posed at the beginning of the article. We hope that our instructions will be really useful for you in such a seemingly easy, but requiring attention matter, like insulating a frame house. And in the presented video in this article you will find additional information on this topic. Good luck!

The question of how to insulate a frame house, in those countries where this technology came from, is usually not worth it - it is believed that it is sufficiently insulated at the construction level. Our winters are very severe - in the central part of the country the frosts are much stronger than at the same latitude in Europe or North America, so even frame houses have to be insulated, the design of which initially provides for a layer of insulation.

Another layer of insulation for our climate will not be "superfluous"

The choice of frame house insulation

Before insulating a frame house from the outside, you need to find out what heat-insulating materials were used inside the walls. And already focusing on their properties, choose a warming scheme. Such a dependence is determined at the level of standards, which expressly states that the materials and external insulation scheme should not create conditions for the wall itself to get wet. What does this mean?

It is estimated that during the day, during the life of one person, up to 4 liters of water evaporates in the room: cooking, washing, hygiene, wet cleaning, pets and indoor plants. The main part should be weathered due to ventilation, but the other part of the moisture will penetrate into the building envelope.

The standard wall scheme is a frame sheathed with thin-sheet materials on both sides, between which it is located to insulate. And so that it does not get wet, it is protected from the inside with a vapor-tight membrane, from the outside - with a windproof and waterproofing film that can “pass” water vapor.

Standard scheme of the facade of a frame house

If you use thermal insulation outside with a vapor permeability lower than that of the main insulation, then the process of diffusion (removal) of water vapor to the street will be disrupted.

Three types of materials are used in the construction of the wall of a frame house:

expanded polystyrene;

polyurethane foam (mainly in SIP panels);

mineral wool.

Polymer insulation has approximately the same vapor permeability, and it is low.

Note. The exception is PVC foam, but this is an expensive insulation that is used to insulate the hulls of yachts and other small elite class ships.

If the frame house is insulated with mineral wool, the scheme should take into account the fact that this is a "breathable" material, but hygroscopic. The latter property is compensated by the fact that the fibrous structure (unlike the cellular one) releases moisture just as easily as it absorbs it. Subject to its free weathering.

If expanded polystyrene or polyurethane foam is laid inside the wall, then the frame house can be insulated from the outside with any material.

If there is mineral wool inside, then only it can stand outside. Alternatively, ecowool or open-cell spray foam, which have approximately the same vapor permeability.

It is desirable to insulate the frame house outside and inside

Properties, advantages and disadvantages of heaters

Each type of insulation has a certain "set" of properties that affect the choice. Permeability has been discussed above. It is worth focusing on other qualities and differences.

Density

What density of insulation for the walls of a frame house, in addition to direct thermal insulation, also affects the method of attachment. When using insulation with fastening sheets or mats inside the frame (battens), there are no strict requirements for strength.

stone wool. If we are talking about stone wool, then it should not be too loose - so that it does not slip or wrinkle in a vertical structure. In ventilated facades, its density can start from 50 kg/m³.

When choosing the “wet” facade technology with a thin layer of light plaster, mineral wool must have a density of at least 85 kg/m³. For heavy plaster - from 125 kg/m³.

Note. The division of plaster is rather conditional. Light are considered up to 1500 kg / m³, heavy - over.

If we take into account that the density of cement is 1100-1300 kg/m³, and that of acrylic polymers is about 1200 kg/m³, then the main factor influencing the "gravity" is fillers. For decorative facade plaster, coarse quartz sand, screenings and stone chips are usually used, which provide higher strength to mechanical stress, but increase the specific gravity. Therefore, most of its species are heavy.

With the choice of the density of polystyrene foam is a little easier. For external insulation, it is used either according to the “wet” facade scheme, or as part of thermal panels. And here we are usually talking about PSB-S-25 or PSB-S-35. The second option is preferable - stronger, with almost the same thermal conductivity.

Extruded polystyrene foam, used for facade insulation, has a density of 35 kg / m³. But due to the cellular structure with a monolithic "skeleton" (rather than glued together from individual microcapsules), its strength is much higher than that of conventional PSP-S-35 foam.

Extruded polystyrene foam is not susceptible to water

PPU (polyurethane foam). There are two types of spray foam: open-cell and closed-cell.

Open cell PPU refers to light insulation (9-11 kg / m³). By properties, it is similar to mineral wool: high vapor permeability and almost the same coefficient of thermal conductivity. It can only be used when spraying between frame or batten elements, followed by paneling. But it is more expensive than mineral wool.

Closed cell spray foam for facade insulation has a density of 28-32 kg / m³. It is already able to withstand a layer of finishing plaster and has the lowest thermal conductivity among all types of insulation.

On our website you can find contacts of construction companies that offer home insulation services. You can directly communicate with representatives by visiting the exhibition of houses "Low-Rise Country".

Thermal conductivity

The lower the thermal conductivity, the better the thermal insulation properties of the material. For calculations, coefficients fixed at the level of standards are used. Although manufacturers often indicate the characteristics that they obtained during laboratory tests, they always differ for the better. However, when calculating according to standard indicators, you can be sure that it will not get worse.

Comparison of thermal conductivity of different materials

Both two-component and one-component polyurethane foam are considered the best thermal insulation materials. According to some sources, their thermal conductivity is not higher, and sometimes lower than that of dry air - 0.02–0.023 W/m*deg. Expanded polystyrene heaters have the same coefficient in the range of 0.031–0.38, and mineral wool - 0.048–0.07.

Other characteristics influencing the choice

Water absorption indicates the material's tendency to get wet. The best performance here is for extruded polystyrene foam and closed-cell sprayed polyurethane foam - about 2%.

Expanded polystyrene is next on the list - up to 4%.

Mineral wool (including stone wool) - up to 70%. Ecowool when wet can increase its weight several times. But after drying, they restore their thermal insulation properties.

Which thermal insulation is better: based on stone wool or fiberglass, discussed in the video:

If we talk about the cost of insulation, then the most expensive technologies are spraying with ecowool and polyurethane foam. "In the middle" - hinged facades with stone wool. Then - insulation with EPPS. And the most accessible view is the "wet facade" with polystyrene foam.

It would seem that the insulation of a frame house with foam plastic outside and inside the walls should be the most popular technology - low cost and water absorption with high thermal insulation properties.

For brick and monolithic houses, this is indeed the most common material. And the scheme for insulating the walls of a frame house, like a wooden one, should first of all take into account the fire safety of materials and their environmental properties.

Styrofoam insulation is incredibly popular

When the polymer insulation is “surrounded” on all sides by non-combustible materials (brick, concrete, building blocks, plaster), and it itself is classified as low-flammable and self-extinguishing, then such insulation is safe for residents. But if the supporting structure of the house is made of wood, the foam is dangerous - in case of fire, it begins to melt and release life-threatening suffocating gases.

Therefore, for internal insulation of frame walls, non-combustible mineral wool is more often chosen, and as a result of the requirements for the vapor permeability of materials, it is also used outside.

Insulation of a frame house from the outside with mineral wool

Of the three types of mineral wool, stone (basalt) wool is used to insulate residential buildings. When working with glass, quite a lot of microscopic fragments of fiberglass are formed, which are dangerous for the respiratory organs of workers during the installation of insulation and residents for the first time after settling in the house. Slag wool is not recommended for use because of its low environmental qualities.

Scheme of wall insulation of a frame house with an additional outer layer

With external insulation with mineral wool, the technology of a ventilated facade is somewhat different from the usual scheme. For a house made of bricks, building blocks, logs or timber, the crate is attached to the wall. A frame house does not have a wall as such in the usual sense. What is the point of sewing up the frame outside the OSB with a slab, and for the next layer of insulation, attach the crate on top if it can be immediately mounted on the supporting racks.

This is also justified by the fact that the vapor permeability of a “fresh” OSB board is lower than that of stone wool. Therefore, ideally, the “pie” of the correct insulation of a frame house with mineral wool looks like this:

interior decoration (with crate for panels);

vapor-tight membrane;

frame with insulation;

crate for the outer layer of mineral wool;

windproof vapor permeable membrane:

counter-lattice to create a ventilated gap;

facade cladding and finishing.

Outside insulation with polymeric materials

With the technology of building frame houses from SIP panels, at the stage of factory production, foam plastic is laid as an internal insulation - expanded polystyrene or rigid polyurethane foam.

It looks like a factory-made sandwich panel

In addition, the usual technology of assembling a "sandwich" on site allows the use of polymer insulation in the form of plates or sprayed liquid polyurethane.

Application of polyurethane foam as an internal insulation of a frame house

In both cases, the wall has a "finished" structure with double-sided sheathing with thin-sheet materials. And it is possible to insulate the frame house with foam plastic from the outside using the “wet facade” technology.

A horizontal level is beaten off along the base, along which the starting bar is attached.

With the help of glue, the first row of foam boards is fixed.

The second row is fixed with an offset of at least 20 cm relative to the first.

So it is impossible to mount EPS. Intersecting horizontal and vertical seams are the cause of cracks in facade plaster.

The corners of the openings should not be at the seams and at the intersections of the seams.

Each sheet is additionally fixed with plastic dish-shaped dowels, 5 pieces per sheet.

Plastic dowel does not form a "cold bridge"

A layer of adhesive solution 3 mm thick is applied to the foam, a reinforcing mesh is attached to it and covered with another layer of glue.

Carry out finishing with plaster.

Another way to use foam for external insulation of a frame house is thermal panels with clinker tiles.

Thermal panels - insulation plus brick finish

Sprayed thermal insulation

To some extent, this technology resembles the application of plaster on lighthouses - vertical slats are stuffed on the walls, between which polyurethane foam or ecowool is sprayed.

Frame house, insulated on the outside with polyurethane foam, ready for facade finishing

After the PPU "hardens", its excess is cut off with a special manual electric cutter or electric saw. From above, you can either install facade panels, or apply a layer of decorative plaster.

You can get acquainted with the technique of cutting excess PPU with an electric saw in the video material:

When insulating the frame walls with ecowool, it is sewn up with panels.

Conclusion

Technically, it is not difficult to perform the insulation of a frame house. If you do not consider the option of insulation with sprayed thermal insulation, then this does not require any special equipment. But in each case, it is necessary to carefully calculate the density of the insulation for the walls of a frame house, plus, there are always some technological “nuances” that you need to know - otherwise the result will not give the expected effect. Therefore, it is better to have professionals do the home insulation.