Thermal insulation of the facade with ecowool, its features, advantages and disadvantages, technology of work. Thermal insulation with ecowool is an excellent way to create a seamless heat-insulating layer of environmentally friendly material on the facade. You will learn how to do it yourself with ecowool outer walls of a house by reading this article.
Features of work on thermal insulation of the facade with ecowool
This material for facade insulation is 80% cellulose fibers. They are quite suitable as a thermal insulator and have the necessary properties to form a seamless layer. But in its pure form, cellulose is not used in the construction of facilities due to its flammability and insufficient biological resistance.
To eliminate these disadvantages, boric acid and borax are additionally introduced into the cellulose insulation. The first component protects the insulation for a long time from the encroachments of microorganisms and rodents, and the second is a fire retardant and increases the fire safety of the material up to the G2 degree.
There are several good reasons for insulating walls outside with ecowool:
- If the house is in use, but there is a need for additional thermal insulation;
- If it is necessary to preserve the usable area inside the room due to the thickness of the insulating layer;
- If the facade needs updating.
Ecowool can be used to insulate the walls of houses built from concrete panels, beams, bricks or blocks. This insulation has excellent adhesion to all these materials. At the same time, it is important to understand that the insulating layer for its protection will require a new cladding device, which means the installation of a frame, to which it will then be possible to attach the materials selected for finishing.
With external insulation of the facade with ecowool, not only does the thermal performance of the house improve, but also the “dew point” shifts from the outer surface of the walls to the edge of the thermal insulation to the gap left for ventilation of the structure. In it, excess moisture evaporates. Such a protection scheme is considered the most effective: the walls are always dry, and thanks to this, a healthy microclimate always reigns in the premises of the house.
Thermal insulation of the facade with cellulosic material can be done dry and wet. In the first case, beams are attached to the wall in its longitudinal direction, the cross-section of which corresponds to the thickness of the future insulation layer. Then a windproof film is stretched over them, designed to protect the ecowool from the weather and hold the insulation. Then it is slightly incised and a fibrous dry insulation is blown into the space between the bars. Then the membrane is glued and the outer cladding is installed on top of it on the frame.
In the second case, ecowool is saturated with water and applied by spraying layer by layer into the cells of a previously prepared lathing. This method is good for insulating log cabins and brick surfaces.
Both methods are suitable for thermal insulation of walls from the outside. In this case, the thickness of the insulating layer should not be less than 10 cm.
Advantages and disadvantages of ecowool facade insulation
Seamless insulation of the facade with ecowool gives a lot of advantages to private homeowners. The cost of the material for such thermal insulation is quite affordable. In addition, for example, unlike basalt wool, cellulose insulation can absorb a lot of moisture without much damage to the thermal insulation properties. Even with an increase in humidity by 25%, ecowool increases its thermal conductivity by only 2-5%.
Due to the fact that it is a homogeneous and loose material, even by simply filling it into the frame, seamless insulation can be obtained without cold bridges, which are often the cause of poor-quality thermal insulation.
Unlike foam, ecowool easily absorbs sound waves. This allows the insulation to qualitatively protect the premises from the penetration of extraneous sounds from the street.
The most important advantage of ecowool insulation is the environmental safety of this material. It does not contain phenolic substances, which usually act as binding components of raw materials for other insulation materials. Natural sticky lignin, boric acid and borax, which are part of cellulose insulation, do not pose any health hazard and, unlike foam plastic, do not emit harmful elements into the air.
The disadvantage of using ecowool as insulation for the facade can determine the need for a special installation, which is required both with a wet version of applying insulation, and with a dry one. In addition, the drying time in the first case is up to 72 hours, and not everyone usually likes to wait.
Facade insulation technology with ecowool
It is possible to insulate the facade with cellulose material in a mechanized and manual way. The second method is used for small amounts of work, for example, when insulating the outer walls of outbuildings, garages or country houses. The mechanized method includes wet and dry insulation of a house with ecowool using blow molding machines.
Preparation for the installation of ecowool
Before starting the thermal insulation of the facade by blowing in a wet or dry insulation, it is necessary to prepare tools for making the battens and processing the finished surface. The main ones are an electric drill, a screwdriver and an electric scraper. As a material for the frame, you can use a wooden bar or a metal profile. This design will add additional reinforcement to the insulating layer and will serve as the basis for fixing the external facade finish.
There are no special requirements for the surface quality when insulating with ecowool. To ensure adhesion with a damp insulation, it is enough to clean the facade of dust, dirt and grease stains. In addition, before thermal insulation, it is necessary to remove parts and equipment from it that may interfere with the installation of the lathing and further work: air conditioners, lamps, drainage elements, etc.
If the facade is insulated on its own, equipment for blowing out ecowool can be rented from a specialized service. It makes no sense to buy such an installation for a one-time job.
Wet way of thermal insulation of the facade with ecowool
When insulating the facade in this way, first, on the wall, you need to make a crate with a step between the bars in the longitudinal and transverse directions equal to 600 mm. The fluffed material at the exit from the nozzle of the blow molding machine is wetted and applied under pressure to the surface in the cells of the frame.
Wet insulation adheres tightly to the wall and forms a layer with a density of 50-65 kg / m3, which levels out all the unevenness of the surface and fills all the grooves on it.
If the facade has a complex relief, a little glue can be added to the water when moistening the ecowool, which, together with lignin, will increase the adhesion of the insulation to the outer wall of the house.
After filling the cells of the frame with insulation, the excess material must be cut off, focusing on the level of the top of the bars, and leave a layer of thermal insulation for final drying. The cut off ecowool surplus is suitable for reuse.
Dry method of thermal insulation of an ecowool facade
This technology of insulation with ecowool provides for blowing dry insulation into a previously prepared cavity. This requires compressed air from a compressor unit.
When implementing this method of insulating the facade along its perimeter, it is necessary to build a frame, the lags of which are selected with a section corresponding to the thickness of the insulating layer.
Then, a windproof membrane should be fixed on them in a taut position, which, together with the crate, forms a cavity for blowing dry ecowool into it. In addition to the supporting function, it protects the insulation from precipitation and wind. Its fasteners are made with bars, which are stuffed onto the logs in the direction perpendicular to them.
Before starting the blowing of material into the cavity formed by the frame and the windproof film, several technological holes should be made in the membrane, into which the compressor hose is inserted in turn. After turning on the machine, compressed air loosens the ecowool and feeds it through a hose to the crate cells.
Fluffed insulation, falling into the cavity, fills its entire volume, including corners and cracks. After blowing out the heat insulator, the technological holes in the windproof membrane should be sealed tightly.
The advantage of this method is the possibility of insulating the facade regardless of the season and saving time on drying the insulation. After dry blowing of ecowool, you can immediately proceed to further work on the arrangement of the outer walls.
Manual thermal insulation of the facade with ecowool
Thermal insulation of the facade with cellulose insulation manually is a rather laborious method, which is cost-effective only for small volumes of work. Thermal insulation of walls by this method is performed by dry laying of the material.
The insulator in the briquette must be unpacked and transferred to a suitable container. This can be a large bucket or a cardboard box. After that, the pressed ecowool must be fluffed up. This can be done with a construction mixer or an electric drill with a special attachment. The volume of insulation after such a procedure will triple.
After that, the ecowool can be placed in the prepared cavities with your hands from the bottom up, gradually lifting the wall cladding and observing the required density of the insulation layer. It should be 65-70 kg / m3.
Finishing the facade
After external insulation of the walls with ecowool, they are finished. The facade can be covered with decorative plaster, which will give it a finished and attractive appearance.
The exterior walls of the house can be simply painted with exterior enamel. Painting is the most inexpensive finishing method, but quite effective, given the variety of existing paints and varnishes.
Most often, ventilated facades are used for outside wall decoration, consisting of decorative panels and a fastening system on the frame. Such cladding is able to remove moisture from the surface, maintaining a comfortable microclimate in the house.
How to insulate a facade with ecowool - watch the video:
Studies show that the technical performance of ecowool, used as a protection for facades, is in no way worse than that of other heat-insulating materials. But compared to them, cellulose insulation is environmentally friendly and very cheap because of its origin. All this can serve as a compelling argument in favor of choosing ecowool as a reliable and inexpensive insulator for the facade. Good luck!
