Thermal insulation of the attic with stone wool, features of insulation, its advantages and disadvantages, preparation for installation and the technology for its implementation. Insulating an attic with stone wool is one of the most effective methods to reduce heat loss at home. With reliable information, any home craftsman is able to do such work on his own. Today we will introduce you to its "chips" and technology in this article.
Features of thermal insulation of the attic with stone wool
Stone wool is a type of mineral insulation. In addition to her, this group includes glass and slag wool. The first of them is elastic and durable, but has a serious drawback - its fragile fibers break easily and penetrate clothes, causing itching and irritation of the skin. Slag wool has rather low rates, since it is highly susceptible to external influences that affect the shape of the products produced from it.
Stone wool takes the middle position among these materials. But its environmental safety and ease of use stand out favorably against the background of similar indicators of other cotton insulators.
Stone wool is produced from volcanic rocks melted at temperatures above 1000 degrees. After feeding the melt into the centrifuge, its air flow turns the "lava" into thin fibers. To save the shape of future products, 2-4% of a binder and a water-repellent additive are added to the total mass of the material. Then the fibers of the future insulation are arranged in a chaotic manner, the structure of the material is compacted to the required value and placed in a special chamber. In it, at a temperature of 200 degrees, the binder hardens and the insulation takes shape. Subsequently, it is cut into pieces of the desired size and packaged for sale.
Thanks to this technology for the production of products, natural raw materials, stone wool insulation has become a highly effective measure. The thermal conductivity of the insulation is quite low, its coefficient is 0.035-0.045 W / (m • K), which is very good. In addition, the disordered interlacing of fibers in the structure of the material gives it additional sound-insulating properties, and this is important when arranging the attic space and its active use.
A roll of stone wool insulation often has an outer coating of water-repellent kraft paper, metal foil, fiberglass, etc. Such insulation is produced by different companies, the most famous of them are: Rockwool, Izover, TechnoNIKOL, Izovol.
Advantages and disadvantages of warming an attic with stone wool
Like any good product, stone wool has its advantages far outweighing its disadvantages.
The positive aspects of using stone wool as a heater for the attic include the following:
- Due to its structure, stone wool helps to retain heat in the room in winter and protects it from overheating in summer, creating a special microclimate in the attic.
- Due to the fact that this insulation is absolutely non-flammable, its installation can provide additional protection from the inside of the roof from fire.
- The soundproofing properties of stone wool help to protect the premises in the house and the attic from street noise.
- The insulation is resistant to moisture penetration: if it gets wet, it will take no more than 0.5% of its volume of water.
- Due to the composition of the raw materials used in the production of stone wool, the thermal insulation coating is sufficiently durable and can last at least 50 years.
- The minimum shrinkage and strength of stone wool allows it to be made of multilayer insulating systems.
- Insulation of the attic with stone wool does not attract the attention of small rodents, the material does not grow moldy or rot.
- Due to the ability of the insulation to pass steam in the attic, it is easy to organize free ventilation to prevent the accumulation of moisture on the elements of the roof and ceiling.
- Installation of slabs or rolls of stone wool is very convenient due to the low weight of the material, the insulation is easy to carry and lift to the ceiling.
As for the disadvantages of insulation, they can only appear when the material gets wet. This will increase its thermal conductivity and weaken the insulating properties. To prevent this from happening, during the production process, manufacturers impregnate their products with special water-repellent additives that are absolutely harmless to health. In addition, the insulation installation technology provides for its double-sided moisture protection with insulating membranes.
Preparing the attic for insulation
Before starting the installation of insulation in the attic, you should carefully inspect the inside of the state of the wooden parts of the roof and ceiling. If cracks, mildew or mold are found in the wood, defective beams, boards or rafters should be repaired or replaced.
If the old floor in the attic has flooring, it should be dismantled before insulating the floor. Usually they are thick plywood or chipboard. Removing the flooring is not difficult, especially with a nailer or screwdriver. In this case, it is advisable not to break the sheets - they can still serve as the basis for finishing the floor.
Now that access to the floor beams is open, you need to completely remove debris or remnants of old thermal insulation from the subfloor attached to the logs from below. When replacing, the beams must be positioned with a step that takes into account the width of the roll or insulation plate. This will greatly facilitate the installation of insulation in the future.
All through cracks found in the subfloor of a wooden floor should be filled with polyurethane foam, and the beams should be treated with an antiseptic, then a primer and an inexpensive varnish in order to create a protective layer on them.
As for the insulating materials necessary for insulating the attic, not so many of them are required. This is stone wool in the amount calculated for the treatment of the ceiling, roof and gables of the attic, vapor barrier film, double-sided tape and waterproofing material to protect the insulation from moisture.
The set of tools for work should include: a construction knife for cutting insulation and protective films, nails, a hammer or a stapler for attaching insulating materials to wooden roof structures.
Attic insulation technology with stone wool
Laying of insulation for thermal insulation of the attic should be carried out on the ceiling, roof slopes and gables. Let's consider in detail each of these processes.
Floor insulation
It can be performed from the side of the adjacent lower room or attic. A particularly high-quality result is obtained when using both options at the same time.
From the side of the room, the insulation of the ceiling is performed during the installation of the suspended ceiling. A layer of thermal insulation is part of its structure. Due to its thickness, with such insulation, 6-12 cm of ceiling height is lost. With this variant of attic floor insulation, reflective roll insulation is most often used, which is laid with the foil side inside the room in the ceiling lathing cells. The finishing of the suspended structure perfectly masks the thermal insulation and the communications laid along the ceiling.
There are much more possibilities for insulating the ceiling from the inside of the attic. With this option, you can use any heat-insulating materials: foam, slag, clay with sawdust, mineral wool and others. The best material for insulating an attic, where it is planned to install a full-fledged floor and therefore the active operation of the entire inner space of the roof, is stone wool. This is due to the fact that this material is not an obstacle to proper moisture exchange between the main structures of the building. So let's get to work.
First of all, a vapor barrier membrane must be laid on the subfloor of the slab. It has a unilateral effect. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor during its installation so that in the future the air can freely exit from the lower room through the insulation into the attic. The membrane should be laid with sheets with an overlap of 10-15 cm, sealing the joints with double-sided tape and slightly introducing the material onto the walls.
Then, roll the insulation roll over the finished vapor barrier layer. The process should start from the far corner of the attic, laying the stone wool canvases in dense rows, avoiding gaps between them.
When bypassing any obstacles in the insulation, you need to make cutouts that repeat the contour of the pipe section, outlet, etc. After laying the canvas in place, empty cavities can be sealed with pieces of insulation. The finished thermal insulation coating of the attic floor must be covered with a waterproofing material to protect the insulation from water that can penetrate into the attic from the roof.
At the final stage of work, you need to make a floor in the attic. To do this, on top of the insulation and waterproofing to the logs, it is necessary to attach a flooring made of boards, chipboard or thick plywood. It should be remembered that an air gap of 50 mm should be left between the flooring and the insulation to ventilate the space. This will protect the floor from decay and the insulation from condensation.
Insulation of the roof and gables
When insulating a roof, the main thing to pay attention to is the removal of moisture from the insulation. In this way, its insulating properties can be preserved.
To do this, the outside of the stone wool needs to be closed from wind and precipitation with a diffusion membrane, which is placed between the roofing and the outer part of the rafters. This film will protect the thermal insulation from getting wet, while simultaneously letting moisture vapor into the ventilation gap to remove them. The gap, the so-called "air", is made under the roof covering.
The diffusion film must be fixed horizontally across the rafters at the top of the rafters. Its installation is carried out in the same way as described above. Fasten the material to the rafters using a stapler or thin slats on nails.
Upon completion of this procedure, between the rafters, it is necessary to alternately lay the insulation material between the rafters, having previously cut it into strips. After that, the thermal insulation must be hermetically covered with an insulating film and proceed from the inside to the finishing of the inclined walls of the attic.
The technology of warming the gables practically does not differ from the insulation of ordinary walls from the outside or from the inside. Much depends on the material from which they are made. For example, it is more reasonable to insulate brick gables from the outside in order to avoid condensation in the attic.
In general, the whole procedure looks like this. First, the pediment needs to be equipped with a galvanized or wooden frame. Then a heater should be placed in its cells and covered with a vapor barrier material. After that, the pediment must be sheathed with moisture-resistant sheet material, fixing it with self-tapping screws on the edges of the sheathing.
How to insulate an attic with stone wool - watch the video:
Correct insulation of the attic with stone wool will make it possible to fully use its space and save money on heating the house. Good luck with your work!
