Compared to brick or concrete, wood has higher thermal insulation characteristics, but in cold climates even a wooden house needs insulation. With your own hands, you can fix the insulating material outside and indoors.
Warming of a timber house from the inside allows you to save a unique facade made of natural material.
Material selection
In order to properly insulate a house, it is necessary to choose the right material for thermal insulation of walls.
One of the important factors is that the insulation is carried out indoors, so the requirements for environmental friendliness and safety are more stringent than with insulation from the outside.
The material should not contain toxic components and cause allergic reactions.
As the main materials for insulation, you can use the following:
- mineral wool;
- ecowool;
- Styrofoam;
- insulation with extruded polystyrene foam (foam);
- polyurethane foam;
- foamed polyethylene.
When building a house from a beam with your own hands, special attention is paid to the origin of raw materials for building materials. If naturalness is important, the best option would be to use ecowool, which is made on the basis of cellulose and allows the walls to “breathe”.
The most commonly used materials include polystyrene foam (both extruded and polystyrene) and mineral basalt wool. When warming with foam or foam, it is important to remember that it deprives the wall of the ability to let air through.
For a normal indoor climate, you will have to think about additional ventilation.
When working with mineral wool on your own, you need to remember additional protective measures. They are overalls covering hands and feet, protective masks, glasses and gloves. The same applies to polyurethane foam.
Preliminary thermal insulation of a timber house
Immediately after the construction, the wood shrinks, therefore, in a wooden house, the installation of partitions, interior decoration and insulation begin in a year, when the shrinkage is the largest.
Immediately after the construction, caulking is performed. For work, jute or linen insulation is used. Correctly start caulking from the lower crown and carry out work around the perimeter of the walls. If you perform a preliminary warming with your own hands, first one wall, and then another, the shrinkage of the house can occur unevenly. After a year, they begin the main warming.
Preparatory phase of work
If it is planned to insulate the walls of an existing building, you need to make sure that they are in good condition and that there are no serious defects. Check the condition is necessary around the perimeter of the building. In places where there are significant gaps due to drying out of the wood, it is recommended to re-caulk the walls.
After eliminating significant deficiencies, they correct small irregularities and clean the surface of dirt and dust. If necessary, an antiseptic wall treatment is used.
Due to the low resistance of the material to the effects of fire, it is also necessary to treat the wood with special compounds that prevent fire - fire retardants.
In damp rooms, to prevent damage to the walls, they are additionally protected with waterproofing compounds.
When insulating with penoplex, additional waterproofing can be omitted.
Insulation technology
Do-it-yourself wall insulation works are carried out in the following order:
- installation of a waterproofing layer;
- installation of a wooden frame for fastening a heater;
- heat insulating material;
- vapor barrier film;
- finish finish.
To increase the thermal insulation characteristics when warming with foam, polystyrene or mineral wool, a layer of “warm” plaster can be made.
This highly effective composition with a thickness of 20 mm can replace 60 mm of ceramic brick or 40 mm of wood.
The waterproofing is rolled around the perimeter of the walls and fixed with a construction stapler. Next, perform the installation of the lathing under the insulation:
- First, align the corners of the house and make L-shaped racks;
- then a crate of bars with a cross section of 50 by 50 mm is performed.
The ball of the crate is prescribed based on the width of the insulation. When insulating with foam or polystyrene, the distance between the bars in cleanliness should be 60 cm. If mineral wool is used, the distance is reduced to 58 cm for a snug fit to the surface of the boards.
Installation of mineral wool
The material is fixed using special anchors. They can be made of plastic or metal. To fix the mineral wool, it is recommended to use plate-shaped metal dowels, they will ensure reliable adjacency of sufficiently heavy plates to a vertical surface, since they are characterized by increased strength.
Installation of expanded polystyrene
Expanded polystyrene include foam and polystyrene. The fastening of these materials can be carried out using plastic dowels or on adhesives. It is important to choose the right adhesive for expanded polystyrene. If it is planned to carry out work in wet rooms, it must be resistant to water. The adhesive composition for the walls should not contain the following components:
- solvents;
- formaldehydes;
- gasoline, kerosene, diesel fuel;
- aggressive resins.
If you do not comply with this requirement, the adhesive can destroy the insulation and reduce the thermal protection of the building. It is best to choose those formulations on the packaging of which the possibility of use for expanded polystyrene is indicated.
Insulation of floors and roofs
Through walls, only 50% of the heat loss of the entire building occurs.
To ensure maximum thermal protection, you will also need to insulate the following structures:
- ground flooring;
- overlapping the first floor with a cold basement;
- attic floor, if there is a cold attic;
- roof in the presence of an attic floor.
Warming is carried out mainly with the same materials as the walls. In the case of mineral wool or extruded polystyrene foam, manufacturers produce various products designed for different types of structures. This must be considered when choosing a material.
Important points when warming
It must be remembered that all the above insulators, except for mineral wool and ecowool, violate the natural ventilation of the room, because they do not allow air to pass through. To ensure a normal microclimate, the following measures can be taken:
- regular airing of rooms;
- forced ventilation device.
Subject to all installation rules and the adoption of additional measures to ensure normal temperature and humidity conditions in the rooms, warming a house from a beam will significantly save on heating and avoid frequent repairs.