A visit to the bathhouse is a very useful event for the body and soul. And its tightness contributes to comfortable acceptance of wellness procedures, maintaining the desired temperature in the premises and saving fuel material. How to properly insulate a bath with mineral wool, we will consider further. Content:
- Advantages and disadvantages of mineral wool
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Bath insulation outside
- Bath made of bricks
- Sauna from foam blocks
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Bath insulation inside
- Floor
- Walls
- Ceiling
Today's choice of thermal insulation materials is wide enough. But thermal insulation of baths with mineral wool is considered perhaps the most popular way to achieve maximum effect. This material is used to insulate floors, walls, foundations and ceilings of various types of sauna buildings. The use of mineral wool has already become a "classic of the genre". Why is she not giving up her position?
Advantages and disadvantages of mineral wool
The leadership of mineral wool in the rating of thermal insulation materials is due to its important advantages:
- The material does not burn. It is a barrier to open fire. Proceeding from this, the insulation of the bath with mineral wool is an additional fire protection for the structures of the building. The resistance of the material to high temperatures is amazing - more than 1000 degrees.
- Increased insulating properties. Correct organization of work with mineral wool guarantees the warmth of the surfaces of the enclosing structures.
- Excellent sound insulation. This indicator is very important when insulating the ceiling and walls of the bath. Not every material can boast of such a property.
- High index of frost resistance.
- No thermal deformation.
- Chemical and biological resistance.
- Ease of installation. Light weight and sufficient thickness of the material allows it to conveniently fill any spaces in building structures, which speeds up their finishing to a finished look.
- Profitability. The process of manufacturing mineral wool does not require significant costs, therefore its cost is low.
The disadvantages of this material include:
- Solid thickness of the insulation, since it is taken into account when installing wooden floors and frames.
- Moisture resistance. Not all varieties of mineral wool have it. For many insulation materials, waterproofing is required.
Based on the foregoing, it can be argued that mineral wool is completely safe to use and has excellent technical characteristics.
Thermal insulation of a bath with mineral wool outside
External insulation with mineral wool is used for brick and block baths. For frame-panel structures, such a heat insulator with an outer skin will be heavy. Therefore, instead of mineral wool, foam plastic is used in panel structures.
Thermal insulation of a brick bath with mineral wool
Brick, unlike wood, quickly gives off heat. This accelerates the cooling of the bath. Insulation "cake" for a brick bath consists of heat-insulating material, waterproofing and decorative trim.
Mineral wool is used as insulation, which has the above advantages, and Izospan membrane is recommended for waterproofing. This material will reliably protect the insulation from moisture, which causes the appearance of fungus and reduces the durability of the thermal insulation. For decorative finishing of external walls, you can use clapboard or ventilated hinged panels. This is a matter of taste and financial capabilities.
Outside, the insulation of a brick bath with mineral wool is performed in this way:
- Metal brackets are fixed in the brick wall. The step of their installation should be 10 mm less than the width of the insulation.
- The mineral wool is placed between the brackets with little effort. So her plates will stick to the wall completely independently. The joints of the insulation boards must be glued with construction tape.
- The outer side of the slabs is closed with an Izospan waterproofing membrane.
- Then, wooden guide beams are attached to the brackets, creating a frame for holding the insulation and fastening the decorative outer wall cladding.
The rate of cooling or heating of the floor in the bath depends on the insulation of the foundation. Agree that it is not very pleasant to feel its icy coldness in the steam room or dressing room when steamed. At the initial stage, the foundation is insulated with expanded clay backfill along its inner area. The layer of granular insulation should be twice the thickness of the bearing walls. External insulation of the foundation consists in the thermal insulation of its base with mineral wool slabs.
Thermal insulation of a bath from foam blocks with mineral wool
Many sources claim that the technologies for insulating baths from foam blocks and bricks are similar. This is not entirely true. The foam block, in contrast to the brick, has a porous structure, which requires additional waterproofing. Therefore, it is the first layer on which the insulation is laid.
In general, the whole process looks like this:
- A wooden lathing from a bar is fixed on the walls, which is pre-treated with an antiseptic solution.
- A waterproofing membrane is fixed on the crate.
- On the surface of the insulation, there are 100 mm thick slabs made of mineral wool.
- On top of the slabs, another layer of Izospan waterproofing is laid, which protects the insulation from moisture.
- Decorative wall cladding is attached to the wooden crate.
Important: a small air gap must be left between the outer cladding and the insulation to ventilate the wall. It will prevent the formation of condensation on the inside of the cladding and waterproofing insulation.
Thermal insulation of the bath with mineral wool inside
The technology of internal insulation of a bath is relevant for buildings made of logs, bricks, blocks, etc. With this type of thermal insulation, the material of the structure is not of fundamental importance. In the absence of internal insulation, most of the heat from the stove will go to heating the walls. And this leads to excessive consumption of fuel material and the operation of the heater at maximum loads. Therefore, arranging thermal insulation from the inside of the room, we create a kind of "thermos" in it, which excludes heating of the wall material and uses the heat of the stove only to warm up the air in the steam room and other rooms of the bath. The work on insulating a bath from the inside with mineral wool comes down to overcoming several stages: thermal insulation of the ceiling, walls and floor.
Thermal insulation of the bath floor with mineral wool
The sequence of the process of thermal insulation of the floor depends on its type. The floor in the bath can be solid or ventilated. Solid floor boards are laid without gaps. This contributes to the maximum retention of heat in the room. However, such a design often becomes the cause of decay of the coating, since the finished floor is not treated with an antiseptic.
Insulation of a solid floor is performed as follows:
- Thick boards pretreated with an antiseptic are laid on the logs.
- Mineral wool slabs are placed on the deck.
- The joints of the slabs are glued with construction tape.
- Waterproofing is placed.
- A clean floor is being made.
Installation of ventilated floors, as a rule, is more expensive, but they are much more convenient to use. The sequence of work is as follows. A pit is dug with a depth of 0.5 m, sand is poured onto the bottom with a layer of 50 mm. Then layer by layer: foam plastic 20 cm thick, a layer of a mixture of foam plastic and cement crumbs, a layer of a mixture of vermiculite and cement, two layers of roofing material, reinforcing mesh, concrete pad, cement screed, clean floor are laid.
Thermal insulation of the walls of the bath with mineral wool
After sealing all the cracks, treating the structures with antiseptics and fire retardants, they begin to warm the walls of the bath from the inside with mineral wool. The thermal insulation system schematically looks like this: walls with vertically fixed bars, a heat insulator laid between them, a vapor barrier layer, a horizontal lathing made of strips to support the insulation and fasten the outer skin.
Step-by-step instructions for insulating the walls of a bath with mineral wool:
- Bars are fixed vertically on the walls, insulation is placed between them. The thickness of the mineral wool slabs and the timber must be the same. The distance between the bars is taken 10 mm less than the width of the insulation plate - then it will not fall out and will be tightly fixed between them.
- Then a vapor barrier membrane is laid and fixed with a stapler, in the role of which aluminum foil can act.
- After that, a crate is made from slats with a thickness of 2-3 cm, on which a lining or other finishing material is subsequently fixed.
- There must be an air gap between the foil layer and the outer skin to allow condensation to drain off.
- For the tightness of the thermal insulation, the joints of the plates are glued with tape.
- After warming and insulating the walls, they are sheathed with finishing material.
Insulation of the ceiling in the bath with mineral wool
We will carry out the thermal insulation of the ceiling from the side of the attic. To insulate the ceiling of a bath with mineral wool, you will need the following materials: mineral wool, polyethylene film, tape measure and scissors, polyurethane foam, tape and a stapler.
Work begins with cleaning: the surface must be free of debris and dust. As the first layer, a waterproofing material, for example, a polyethylene film, is laid. To do this, you need to measure the distances between the ceiling beams and determine the dimensions of the film strips. They are cut a little wide in width and laid on the flooring surface, fixing them on the floor beams with staples using a stapler.
Mineral wool with a layer of 100-150 mm is laid on the waterproofing. The material fits tightly without gaps and gaps. When laying the slabs in layers, each subsequent layer should overlap the joints of the previous one. For maximum effect, ceiling beams should be fully insulated.
After installing the thermal insulation, it is covered with a polyethylene film to protect it from moisture. The joints of the film are glued with tape. The insulation is then covered with a hardwood floor that is nailed to the ceiling beams.
How to insulate a bath with mineral wool - watch the video:
That's all science. Good luck!
