Most of the heat loss occurs through the upper structures of the building: the roof and ceiling. Therefore, warming the ceiling in a private house with your own hands is a necessary and important task.
How to insulate the ceiling in a private house and what materials to choose, we want to tell you in this article.
Why the ceiling
Why is it so important to insulate the ceiling, because the walls take the main load to protect from the cold? This is a wrong opinion. The fact is that heat is transferred by direct heat transfer (as in the case of walls), as well as by convection and through electromagnetic radiation in the infrared range.
It is the ceiling that takes over all three methods of heat distribution. The heated air as a result of convection rises to the ceiling, where it partially penetrates further and leaves through the roof, and partially transfers heat to the ceiling. A non-insulated floor without vapor barrier freely passes heat outside, and heat loss can be up to 60%.
Add to this the infrared radiation losses and you have an obvious picture: the ceiling is the main cold bridge and the front to combat heat loss. To overcome losses due to electromagnetic radiation, reflective surfaces such as foil or special films treated with gold or platinum molecules are used today.
In any case, there is only one method of struggle - thermal insulation. But how to properly insulate the ceiling in a private house? More on that later.
Ceiling insulation methods
Material selection
Before insulating the ceiling in a private house, you need to decide on the choice of insulation.
There are several options here:
- Mineral wool, glass wool or ecowool;
- Styrofoam or expanded polystyrene;
- Loose insulation: sawdust, slag, expanded clay, etc.;
- Liquid insulation materials: polyurethane foam and urea-formaldehyde foam.
Loose heaters lose in efficiency, but their price is much lower.
This method is traditionally used in rural areas, where access to many bulk insulation materials is completely free.
- Styrofoam and expanded polystyrene - excellent heat insulators, the installation of which does not cause difficulties, but these materials burn.
During combustion, a number of toxic compounds are released that are dangerous to human life and health. Therefore, it is better to refuse these heaters.
- Liquid formulations in terms of their qualities, they are beyond competition: they create a seamless continuous coating, the thermal insulation qualities of which are higher than other materials. But there is one "but" - this is the cost of the materials themselves and the work on their application, which are carried out by specialists using special equipment.
- In addition, materials in this group are afraid of ultraviolet radiation, so they must be properly hidden from it.
Mineral wool remains. Why? Glass wool is the last century, it emits harmful dust and is difficult to install. Ecowool is too expensive, although comparison with polyurethane foam wins.
Important!
If you cannot determine how to insulate the ceiling in a private house, we advise you to opt for mineral wool: it is safe, relatively inexpensive, easy to install and perfectly insulates.
Outdoor way
The external method of ceiling insulation is the most preferable, since it does not require dismantling the ceiling trim, labor-intensive installation of the insulation on the glue from below, assembling a new ceiling, etc. Cotton wool is simply laid on the floor of the attic and covered with boards.
The only justified case for interior installation is if you are going to install a suspended ceiling. Then, as they say, God himself commanded.
Ceiling insulation technology in a private house with an external method using mineral wool:
- We free the attic room from foreign objects... All objects are outsiders, so we empty the attic completely.
- If there is a flooring, neatly dismantle the boards or plywood, leave the logs on which the flooring lay... The height of the lags must exceed 150 mm. If the slats are thinner, they will have to be replaced.
- We clean the space with lags from debris, dust and foreign objects... We lay the vapor barrier.
It can be glassine or other material. If there is a desire to make responsible thermal insulation, we lay it so that the foil looks down, and there is a 1 - 2 cm gap between the foil and the overlap. For this, the penofol can be pulled between the lags at the desired height.
- Next, we lay the mats of mineral wool... You should not squeeze and tamp the material, the mats should just fit tightly enough to each other.
- We mount boards or plywood flooring in place.
As you can see, the external installation of insulation for the ceiling is not particularly difficult.
Advice!
For the most durable insulation, it is recommended to cover the cotton wool with vapor barrier on both sides.
The fact is that cotton wool is a fairly hygroscopic material, and the moisture that the insulation absorbs will significantly reduce its thermal insulation qualities.
Internal way
Now let's talk about how to insulate the ceiling of a private house from the inside. As already mentioned, this makes sense only when you, in one way or another, will change the ceiling, or install a suspended structure.
Here you can use both cotton wool and foam. Cotton wool is preferable, as it does not burn. We will consider the installation method.
So, for work you need the following instruction:
- We mount a frame made of wooden or metal guides on the ceiling.
- We glue the vapor barrier... You can use glassine or another type of vapor barrier carpet. If you have the opportunity to spend money on penofol, then first we mount penofol, then the frame.
We also attach strips of plywood or thin boards to penofol in order to withstand a gap of 1 - 2 cm.
- Glue insulation mats between the guide profiles or slats... We use glue for tile fast solidification.
- Finishing the cake with another layer of vapor barrier, which we simply shoot to the frame rails with a stapler or glue it to the profile.
- We mount drywall ceiling sheets or panels made of other material.
The companies for the installation of internal ceiling insulation are somewhat more laborious, but they do not cause serious difficulties.
Advice!
Buy materials with a small margin so as not to waste time and fuel on constant restocking.
The leftovers can be used to insulate the loggia or other places in your house.
Output
Ceiling insulation in a private house is an important, rather even necessary measure to reduce energy consumption for heating and increase the energy efficiency and comfort of your home. You can do all the work yourself, the cost of materials is quite affordable for an ordinary resident of our country. In the video presented in this article, you will find additional information on this »width \u003d» 640 ″ allowfullscreen \u003d »» frameborder \u003d »0 ″\u003e
In the case of suspended ceilings, the frame slats may not be adjacent to the floor slab. In this case, the insulation mats are mounted directly to each other, without strongly compressing or ramming.
Output
Ceiling insulation in a private house is an important, rather even necessary measure to reduce energy consumption for heating and increase the energy efficiency and comfort of your home. You can do all the work yourself, the cost of materials is quite affordable for an ordinary resident of our country. In the video presented in this article, you will find additional information on this topic.
