How to insulate plastic windows for the winter - insulation technology from the outside and from the inside. Additional floor insulation: increasing the thickness of the insulation Insulation of frame houses

The need for additional floor insulation arises if a feeling of discomfort appears during the cold season. This is typical for the first floors, as well as in rooms above arches, spans and unheated premises. Let's talk about how to increase the thickness of the insulation in simple ways.

General features of floor insulation

If during construction work or during reconstruction, the floors of the first floor were not sufficiently insulated, then this error can be corrected.

In principle, floors account for a small proportion of total heat loss. As practice shows - for the first floors no more than 15%. Of course, this figure is correct when all enclosing surfaces have normal thermal insulation.

But even more often, additional floor insulation is carried out as a measure that increases comfort. And sometimes you need just “a little bit” so that it doesn’t blow cold from below.

When choosing a method and thermal insulation materials, it must be borne in mind that floor insulation, unlike walls or ceilings, does not just lead to a decrease in usable volume. First of all, this will affect the height of the doorways, so at this stage you need to take into account two points:

1. The height of the threshold of the entrance door. In a private house, it can be made by anyone, but in an apartment, the height is limited to 25 mm (clause 3.23 of SNiP 35-01-2001). For entrance doors, the standard opening direction is outward (direction of evacuation in case of fire), but this is only if open form the door does not block landing and the exits of their other apartments. Therefore, in many "Khrushchev" entrance doors open inwards. Increasing the height of the "pie" floor covering affects height. doorway, and this may interfere with the opening of the front door.
2. Ventilation gap in openings interior doors between canvas and floor. For the correct supply and exhaust ventilation it must be at least 10 mm. And if additional floor insulation may not interfere with the operation of interior doors (swing or sliding with an upper rail), then the ventilation gap will almost certainly almost disappear.

When considering options for building up floor insulation, one must be prepared for two scenarios: a decrease in height door leaf or enlargement of the doorway.

The standard sets the height of the canvas internal doors 2000 and 2300 mm (GOST 6629-88). Domestic manufacturers also offer “intermediate” (non-standard) models in their product catalogs. Imported doors can generally have their own dimensions. In practice, the first scenario is possible if, after shortening, the height of the leaf is at least 2000 mm, and the materials and design of the door allow this. The same calculations are suitable for entrance doors.

Increase doorway much more difficult. First you need to remove the door, then dismantle door frame and after that "raise" the height of the opening. But this may be the only option if the canvas cannot be shortened (materials or dimensions do not allow).

The very process of building up a heater is akin to carrying out cosmetic repairs floor covering. Depending on its structure and additional thermal insulation materials extension can take place:

• without dismantling the subfloor;
• with the dismantling of the subfloor.

Features of additional floor insulation on the screed

If the finishing flooring was laid on the screed, then it is not dismantled. The floor covering is removed, and the insulation is built up over the screed. To do this, you can use cork, plywood or fiberboard.

One of the most effective natural thermal insulation materials is technical cork. According to the manufacturing technology, this is an agglomerate of crushed cork tree bark. The structure is a cellular material with closed cells filled with air. Therefore, its thermal insulation properties are the same as those of expanded polystyrene, since both the structure and technology are the same.

But mechanical strength, especially in compression, the cork is higher.

There are two types of cork agglomerate: white and black. The thickness of white can be from 1 mm, black - from 10 mm. Thin cork agglomerate is produced in rolls. In plates it is made with a thickness of 10 mm and above.

Mount cork mats and slabs butt-to-butt, fixing to the base with glue.

In terms of thermal conductivity, plywood or fiberboard is approximately three times worse than cork agglomerate (plywood is slightly better than fiberboard). But they are also considered good thermal insulation materials. For comparison, their thermal conductivity is no worse than that of the lightest cellular concrete, on average, two times less, which means better.

Plywood is installed according to the standard technology of subflooring for parquet or parquet board. The sheets are cut into 4 parts, glued to the base with a special adhesive solution, they can additionally be fixed with dowels.

In both cases, the sheet thickness wooden insulation does not exceed 15-16 mm.

After the cork agglomerate or plywood is laid, the flooring is “returned” into place. And you can be sure that it will give a good result.

For better insulation, it is necessary to use traditional heat-insulating materials laid between the lags.

Additional floor insulation on logs

The use of additional insulation between the lags can take place in three ways.

1. By concrete floors with lag installation. This is a common technology for installing new floors on logs, but already aligned and partially insulated concrete base. The difference is that the laying of a waterproofing layer is not necessary - it must already be part of the base. And the need for vapor barrier is determined by the nature of the additional thermal insulation. The thickness of the lag depends on the thickness of the insulation (plus a ventilated gap). The step of laying out the lag and the need for a layer of plywood depends on the nature of the flooring.

2. Insulation of floors on logs without increasing the height of the log. One of the ways of additional insulation is the use of reflective insulation (penofol, foil isolon, etc.). Such materials are quite often initially installed as additional thermal insulation in order to save on the thickness of the main insulation and not to take away the usable volume from the room. It may turn out that there is no such insulation in the composition of the subfloor, and the gap to the floor covering is sufficient for laying an additional layer, since heat-reflecting insulation usually has a small thickness.

3. Additional insulation with increasing lag thickness. The technology of increasing the height of the lathing is quite often used for walls and roofs when creating a ventilated gap. It is also called a counter-lattice. The same technology is used on the ground floor for wooden floors on logs, although its functions are slightly wider. The floor counter-lattice serves to fix the vapor barrier layer, create a ventilation gap and lay additional thermal insulation.

In fact, this is another level of timber, fixed perpendicular to the flooring of the main logs. The layout step is no more than 600 mm (determined by the size of the insulation and the nature of the floor covering), the thickness of the beam is from 50 mm, and the height is equal to the thickness of the additional insulation plus 20-30 mm for the ventilation gap.

This article will focus on the internal insulation of the house. I will try to talk in detail about the materials that can be used for these purposes, and the technology for their installation.

Is it possible to carry out internal thermal insulation of the house

First of all, let's figure it out - is it possible to insulate the house from the inside? I must say right away that resorting to this operation is highly undesirable. If you have the opportunity to perform insulation from the outside, be sure to use it.

The fact is that internal insulation has quite a few disadvantages:

• the usable space of the room is reduced, which can be critical for small country houses and small apartments
• wall insulation from the inside does not allow to insulate the ceiling. As a result, the ceiling is in contact with cold walls, and cools itself. True, this drawback is critical for houses with concrete floors;

• walls completely stop heating, which can lead to cracking;
• the dew point shifts into the room, resulting in moisture forming between the insulation and the walls. This leads to the appearance of mold and a decrease in the durability of the walls.

However, sometimes it is possible to perform thermal insulation only from the inside, for example, if it turned out that the external insulation is not enough or the facade has already been finished . In this case, it is necessary to insulate the housing from the inside with minimal negative consequences. for walls. How to do this, I will tell below.

The choice of insulation

First of all, you need to decide what material is better to insulate the house.

There are quite a few options, however, the following heat insulators are most popular:

• mineral wool;
• expanded polystyrene;
• extruded polystyrene foam;
• ecowool.

Mineral wool

Mineral wool is the most popular heat-insulating material for internal insulation, which is associated with the following advantages:

• is an environmentally friendly material. True, this quality applies only to basalt wool. Therefore, it is necessary to use it for internal insulation;
• has vapor permeability, which allows the walls to breathe;
• low thermal conductivity 0.035 - 0.042 W / (m * K);
• is a fireproof material;
• Sold in the form of mats, making it easy to work with mineral wool.

Mineral wool also has disadvantages - it strongly absorbs moisture, therefore it requires high-quality hydro-vapor barrier. In addition, the cost mineral wool(basalt) above some thermal insulation materials such as foam.

Keep in mind that mineral wool fibers cause irritation on the skin. Of course, it cannot be compared with glass wool, but, all the same, when working, it is necessary to protect the respiratory organs with a respirator, and hands with gloves.

Cost per basalt wool from some manufacturers is given below:

In general, we can say that mineral wool is the best choice.

Styrofoam

Expanded polystyrene is the cheapest heat-insulating material - the price starts from 1200-1500 rubles per cubic meter.

In addition, it has other advantages:

• thermal conductivity is only 0.037-0.043 W / mK;
• light weight, which simplifies transportation and installation;
• does not cause irritation on the skin, so working with foam is much more comfortable than with mineral wool.

As for the disadvantages, polystyrene foam has quite a few of them:

• fire hazard, and during a fire, the material releases toxic substances that cause serious poisoning that can lead to death;
• low strength;
• zero vapor permeability.

Therefore, foam for internal insulation is used much less frequently than, for example, mineral mats.

Extruded polystyrene foam

Penoplex or extruded polystyrene foam- it modern variety ordinary foam.

As a result of a special manufacturing technology, it has higher characteristics than foam:

• is a more durable material than conventional foam;
• the thermal conductivity coefficient is even lower - 0.028-0.034 W / mK;
• practically does not absorb moisture, therefore, in the case of its use, there is no need to apply hydro and vapor barrier;
• vapor permeability is slightly higher than that of polystyrene - 0.007-0.008 mg / m h Pa, however, these indicators do not allow us to fully call the material vapor-permeable.

It must be said that expensive brands of extruded polystyrene foam from well-known manufacturers contain flame retardants in their composition, due to which the insulation is fireproof.

One of the main disadvantages of penoplex is the high price:

For this reason, extruded polystyrene foam is also not often used to insulate walls from the inside.

Ecowool

Ecowool is a relatively new building thermal insulation material, which is made from wood fibers. Due to this, it is environmentally friendly, besides it has good thermal insulation qualities - 0.032-0.041 W / m * K.

Among other advantages of ecowool, the following points can be distinguished:

• thanks to special additives that are used in the production of ecowool, the material is hardly flammable, as well as resistant to biological influences;
• has good vapor permeability;
• has a small weight;
• low cost - about 1200 rubles per cubic meter.

It cannot be said that ecowool is a popular material, however, in Lately it is used to insulate housing from the inside more and more often.

Here, perhaps, are all the most common thermal insulation materials today. As for the choice, you can make it yourself, taking into account the information above.

Floor and attic insulation

You can start warming your home with thermal insulation of the floor. To do this, we need one of the above heaters and a vapor barrier film.

Warming is quite simple:

1. if it contains flooring, it must be removed;
2. if there is no subfloor between the logs, cranial bars should be installed and flooring should be laid on them, which will serve as a subfloor;
3. then a vapor barrier membrane is laid on the logs and the subfloor;
4. now you need to lay any heat-insulating material on the subfloor with your own hands;

1. another layer of vapor barrier is laid on top of the log and thermal insulation;
2. at the end of the work, the flooring is laid.

In the same way, the insulation of the ceiling from the attic side is performed.

If the floor in the house is concrete, then you can install logs and insulate it as described above, or pour a screed.

In the second case, the work is carried out in the following sequence:

1. the floor is cleaned of debris and covered with an anti-mold compound;
2. then the base is covered waterproofing film with a twist on the walls;

1. a heater is laid on top of the film (extruded polystyrene foam, mineral wool or polystyrene foam);
2. then the insulation is covered with a layer of waterproofing;
3. after that, the screed will be performed according to the standard scheme.

You can also insulate concrete floor in the attic.

Frame wall insulation technology

There are two ways to insulate a house from the inside - frame and frameless. First of all, let's consider how thermal insulation is performed using the frame method, since it is the most common.

So, the process of warming from the inside of the walls in a frame way can be divided into five steps:

Preparation of materials

In addition to the heat insulator, to insulate the walls from the inside, you will need the following materials:

• wooden slats;
• wooden beams (you can also use drywall profiles);
• vapor barrier membrane;

• finishing material for sheathing the frame;
• anti-mold agent of the anti-mold type.

If the house is wooden, you will also need:

• antiseptic for wood;
• interventional heater.

Wall preparation

Before you insulate the house from the inside, you must perform the following preparatory steps:

1. if the walls contain old crumbling plaster, it must be removed;

1. then the surface of the walls must be treated with an anti-mold composition. If the walls are wooden, you need to use antiseptic impregnation for a tree.
   Instructions for use of these formulations are usually available on the package;

1. if the house is timber or log, it is imperative to insulate the intervention gaps. To do this, you can use tow, linen tape, etc.

Now the walls are ready for further work.

Frame installation

Now you can proceed to the installation of the frame and wall insulation.

This work is done like this:

1. the surfaces of the wall and insulation should not come into contact. Moreover, it is highly desirable to make a ventilation gap between the insulation and the wall.. To do this, horizontal rails are attached to the walls.

The vertical distance between the planks should be half a meter, and horizontally - a few centimeters. Keep in mind that the slats should form a flat vertical plane.

Therefore, if the walls are uneven, the position of the slats must be adjusted by placing bars, plywood scraps, etc. under them. It is not necessary to perfectly align, since it is possible to correct the plane of the frame at the stage of installing the racks;

1. now, in order to form a ventilation gap between the inner surface of the wall and the insulation, you need to tighten it on the rails vapor barrier membrane. Joints, which must necessarily have an overlap, should be glued with adhesive tape;
2. Next, the racks are installed. If the thickness of the bars corresponds to the thickness of the insulation, then they can be fixed on the rails using metal corners and self-tapping screws. If the racks are thinner, you can use the hangers that are used for drywall, and fix the bars in them.

As I said above, you can make a standard metal carcass like for drywall. In this case, guides should be installed on the floor and ceiling, a distance equal to the thickness of the insulation will retreat from the wall (rails).

Then the rack profiles are inserted into the guides, and fixed in the hangers. In other words, work is performed in the same sequence as during assembly. conventional frame for GKL.

If mineral mats will be used as a heat-insulating material, the distance between the racks should be a couple of centimeters less than their width. If expanded polystyrene or penoplex will be used, the distance should correspond to the width of the plates;

1. The next step is to insulate the walls of the house. Mats or insulation boards are inserted into the space between the uprights. Try to arrange the insulation as close to each other as possible to avoid the formation of cold bridges;

1. then another layer of vapor barrier is mounted according to the principle described above;
2. on top of the film, a crate is attached to the racks. As a rule, wooden slats are used for these purposes;
3. at the end of work with outer side walls below and under the visor, holes are made to provide ventilation. These holes can be filled with mineral wool.

This completes the wall insulation. I must say that thermal insulation with ecowool is carried out somewhat differently. If it is used, the frame is first closed vapor barrier film, after which the ecowool is fed into the space of the frame through a hose using special equipment as shown in the photo above.

There is also a wet method of warming. In this case, ecowool is applied wet under pressure, as a result of which it sticks to the wall surface. The disadvantage of this technology is that it will not be possible to make a ventilation gap between the wall and the insulation.

After the walls are insulated, the frame should be sheathed with drywall, clapboard, plastic panels or other material. Since this procedure has no special features, we will not consider it.

Frameless insulation technology

Now consider how to insulate the house inside in a frameless way. I must say right away that for such insulation you can use only polystyrene foam or extruded polystyrene foam.

In addition to the insulation, the following materials must be prepared:

• glue for foam;

• waterproofing primer;
• dowels for foam;
• fiberglass mesh;
• putty for walls.

The warming process in this case is as follows:

1. so that the insulation does not come into contact with the damp surface of the wall, the wall must be treated with a waterproofing primer. The composition can be applied with a paint roller as a conventional primer;

1. then you need to dilute the foam adhesive in water, following the instructions on the package;
2. Further adhesive composition it must be applied to the back of the insulation with a notched trowel;

1. the insulation must be attached to the wall, slightly pressed down and leveled. Work is carried out from the corner from the bottom up;
2. then the second insulation plate is glued in the same way, which is located close to the first;

1. after gluing the entire first row, you can begin the installation of the second. Position it with an offset relative to the first row, i.e. according to principle brickwork. Also, ensure that the slabs are bonded at the corners.
   In this way, all the walls in the room are pasted over;

In the photo - an example of installing dowels

1. after the glue dries, the insulation must be additionally fixed with dowels. Dowels should be placed at the corners of the insulation. Install them so that the caps are slightly recessed;
2. if the insulation is carried out with extruded polystyrene foam, the surface of the insulation must be treated with sandpaper or a metal brush to roughen the surface.
   After that, the penoplex must be coated with an adhesive primer;
3. the existing gaps between the plates must be filled with scraps of insulation or even mounting foam;

1. now you need to glue the mesh to the insulation with the same glue that glued the plates. Glue should be applied to the insulation notched trowel, then attach a fiberglass mesh to the surface, and draw over it with an ordinary spatula or a small one.
   Keep in mind that the edges must overlap each other by at least 10 cm.
2. after drying, the walls must be covered with another thin layer of adhesive;

1. at the end of the work, the surface must be primed and puttied.

After the walls are insulated in this way, it is necessary to provide indoors high-quality ventilation otherwise, the humidity will be constantly increased in the housing.

This completes the insulation. It must be said that when the walls are insulated in this way, they will dampen more strongly than when thermally insulated by the method described above. So this technology it is better to use for thermal insulation of the ceiling or if it is necessary to additionally insulate the walls.

Conclusion

From the article, you learned that it is quite simple to perform internal insulation in a private house. However, this procedure is very demanding on the observance of technology, on which the durability of the walls depends. I recommend watching the video in this article to consolidate the material received. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments, and I will be happy to answer you.

If out-of-town or country house built from logs, timber, bricks, monolithic concrete and different kind small wall blocks (aerated concrete, foam concrete, expanded clay concrete, etc.) and other types of massive wall materials, then many current and future homeowners are considering opportunities for additional insulation of the walls of the house.
Most often, when thinking about additional insulation of massive walls, homeowners pose only two questions: what insulation to choose, and how best to insulate the house - from the inside or the outside? In this article, we will try to show ways to find answers to the third, and, in our opinion, main question:
why spend money on additional insulation of the walls of the house?

In fact, all the benefits to homeowners seem obvious: additional insulation of the house will make it warmer, better, more comfortable for life and will save a lot of money on heating it. Indeed, all these statements are repeated over and over again in the advertising of thermal insulation materials and are accepted by everyone as an axiom - that is, a position that does not require proof.
We will try to look at the problem of additional insulation of houses from the point of view of impartial science. To do this, we will use the data of many years of field research on the results of additional insulation of the walls of houses made of massive materials, conducted by European scientists in the period of the 1970s to the 2010s and summarized in the publications of the British building research center Building Research Establishment Ltd. (BRE, 2014) and in the European Commission report on the environmental aspects of thermal insulation in buildings (2010).

Thermal insulation is used to keep the building cool in the warm season and reduce heat loss in the cold season through the outer surfaces of the building. In theory, it is assumed that the additional thermal insulation of the walls will improve the microclimate of residential premises and save the homeowner significant funds for reducing the cost of heating and air conditioning.

We will start with economic effect additional insulation of the walls of the house. First of all, the homeowner needs to realize the fact that in order to obtain the economic effect of additional insulation, he needs to spend money on heating or air conditioning. If there are few such costs, as, for example, in a country house for seasonal living in the warm season or in a country house for relaxing only on weekends, then the payback period for additional insulation will be very, very long. If the house is large enough and is heated by a relatively inexpensive energy carrier ( natural gas, firewood), then the payback period for additional insulation of the house may exceed the life of the homeowner. Even if the house is used for permanent residence, then the payback period for investments in additional insulation will still be very significant. Below is a table of estimated payback periods for additional wall and floor insulation of a semi-detached three-bedroom house with mains gas heating according to the European Commission (2010):

Table. Payback period for additional insulation

As you can see, the payback period for investments in additional insulation is very long, even taking into account do-it-yourself work and financial subsidies from the European Union (heating and air conditioning of houses takes up to 50-60% of all energy resources of the European Union, so governments European countries additional insulation of houses is partially subsidized to reduce the load on the energy system). Without subsidies and when ordering works in construction firms payback lines can double. It should be remembered that the service life of thermal insulation materials is 20-50 years. Then it may be necessary to overhaul home heating systems. However, the above data on saving energy resources are theoretical. In practice, it turned out that the planned savings in energy resources and the budget for heating the house after its additional insulation may turn out to be not only significantly lower than predicted, but even negative - due to the “rebound” effect due to psychological reasons, which are not predicted by either physical or economic calculations.

The effect of "rebound" or why the owners of insulated houses start spending more money on heating than before the house was insulated?
Studies have shown that the psychological attitudes and behavior of homeowners change significantly after additional insulation of the walls of the house. Insulated home owners are starting to feel they don't have to worry about saving energy in other areas of their lives, as they feel they've already "done everything" to save and save heat. If in poorly insulated houses the owners "saved" heat, maintained a minimum comfortable air temperature, opened windows less often, kept unused rooms closed and unheated, used energy-intensive equipment and appliances less, then after work on additional insulation in most cases the situation changed dramatically. Homeowners, believing that they would spend less money on heating due to additional insulation, set thermostats to a more comfortable temperature, stopped controlling warm air leakage through windows, doors and ventilation, and began to heat unused rooms. As a result, the economic effect of additional insulation either decreased from the expected 25-30% savings to 15-17%, or even became negative when heating bills became higher than before the house was insulated.

Investments in additional insulation of the house do not always pay off, or pay off over a long period, or lead to an increase in related costs. Additional insulation of the walls of the house may lead to the need to make additional construction works(extension of roof overhangs, alteration drainage systems, significant facade work with external insulation; interior work, transfer of communications during internal insulation), the cost of which may make work on the insulation of the house economically impractical. Thus, exclusively economic calculations cannot always serve as a basis for making a positive decision on the need for additional insulation of the house.
Advertising materials for "house insulation" usually do not say anything about the possible negative impact insulation on the condition of building structures and the microclimate in the house. All advertising statements come down only to the fact that the house "will be warm." Let's see what else can change in your life after you decide that the house needs to be made "even warmer."

The first underestimated consequence of additional home insulation is overheating of living quarters. But the most significant Negative consequences additional insulation of houses due to violations of moisture exchange between the living environment, building structures and environment arising from any type of insulation by any materials.
Overheating of the premises with additional insulation, it is most typical for houses with internal insulation in hot climates or continental climatic zones with great contrasts of summer and winter, or day and night temperatures. The reason for overheating of the premises with internal insulation is the greater heating of the walls that are not protected from the outside by thermal insulation and the isolation of the internal environment of the dwelling from a significant inert thermal mass of the walls, which makes it possible to equalize daily temperature fluctuations. In the study of insulated houses in England, on average, there was an excess of summer daytime temperatures in rooms with internal insulation by 10%, with extremes up to 25% compared to non-insulated rooms. Most of all, rooms insulated from the inside on the upper floors of buildings overheat. In conditions of overheating, elderly people who are constantly indoors throughout the day can be significantly affected. Also, when the premises are overheated, air conditioning costs increase, which can offset the savings on heating in winter. as the most effective means To prevent overheating of the premises, external blinds on the windows serve, which can reduce the heating of the premises by 50%.

Changing the mode of moisture exchange in insulated rooms.
Any type of additional insulation of the massive walls of the house changes the normal mode of moisture exchange between building structures and the environment. Incorrect design or errors in the installation of additional insulation increase the risks of wall damage due to thawing-freezing cycles, corrosion or biological destruction (depending on the main vulnerability of the wall material). Any type of insulation reduces the drying potential of the walls. Internal thermal insulation reduces the temperature of the walls, and the outer one - reduces the vapor permeability of the wall structure. According to domestic building codes(clause 8.8 of SP 23-101-2004 "Design of thermal protection of buildings") in structures sandwich walls each more outer layer must have a greater vapor permeability than the previous layer. Experimental data show that for normal dehumidification, the difference in vapor permeability between layers should be at least 5 times. The use of external insulation with equal or, even less, vapor permeability leads to a gradual dampening of the walls. In conditions high humidity due to improperly designed external insulation, cellular concrete walls can collapse during freezing cycles, solid wood walls due to biological destruction, and walls with metal structures- due to corrosion. dampness wall material increases its thermal conductivity, which can nullify or even make a negative economic effect if additional wall insulation is incorrect.

The risks of moisture condensation increase more with internal insulation of the walls of the premises, due to the greater likelihood of the formation of cold bridges at the boundaries with the floor, roof and ceilings. Increases the likelihood of condensate and insulation of hygroscopic material with insulation and vapor barriers of massive walls of the house, which are involved in adjusting the humidity regime of the room due to moisture absorption-evaporation cycles. Increases in humidity in rooms lead to mold growth and increased reproduction of dust mites, which are strong allergens.
Any type of insulation reduces the ventilation of the premises due to "random" air flows drooping through the cracks in the building envelope. Air exchange has 19 times greater value in removing moisture from the room than the vapor permeability of wall structures. Therefore, when the walls are insulated (especially at the same time as the installation of double-glazed windows in plastic bindings) and the lack of adequate ventilation, the level of humidity in the room can increase significantly.
Usage windproof membranes for covering the outer layers of insulation without ventilation gaps can lead to moisture accumulation and mold growth at the interfaces between media (at a humidity of 80-90% and the presence organic materials). According to recent medical studies (1999-2004), mold plays a key role in causing asthma, allergic rhinitis and atopic dermatitis in adults. A relationship was also found between the incidence of sinusitis, tonsillitis, syndrome chronic fatigue with the presence of mold in the internal environment of the dwelling.

Rational insulation of houses depending on the mode of their operation.
The most effective strategy for insulating a wall with the same thermal mass is a three-layer arrangement of insulation: a layer outside the wall, a layer inside the wall and a layer inside the room. In this case, it is enough to make the thickness of each layer only 26 mm. For example, a room with an internal insulation thickness of 78 mm cooled down twice as fast as a room with three layers of insulation. It is possible to perform two-layer insulation: external and a layer inside the wall, so that the thermal mass of the wall is not isolated from the room.

Study of the effectiveness of the location of the insulation on concrete wall 152 mm thick in six different climatic zones in the United States showed that the optimal thermal characteristics of the premises in all climatic zones are obtained with an external location of the insulation. The energy efficiency of houses with three types of walls was also studied: solid brickwork, brick walls with cavities inside (well masonry) and hollow brick walls with external insulation 5 cm thick. In summer, the most comfortable microclimate was observed in houses with massive brick walls and in houses with external insulation. V winter time The best results were shown by houses with external insulation.
For the intermittent nature of heating (for example, with periodic heating of rooms), the most effective is the simultaneous insulation of massive walls (brickwork) from the inside and outside. This method allows you to save 32% more energy compared to placing insulation between layers of brickwork. For cooling rooms with air conditioners, the best results are observed in rooms with insulation between the layers of brickwork, and the worst - with simultaneous external and internal insulation.
For a constant heating mode, it is preferable to design walls with external insulation and a thermal mass open inside the room.

Advantages and disadvantages of external and internal insulation of the walls of the house.

Table. External insulation

Advantages	Flaws
Taking advantage of the thermal mass of indoor walls: walls cool down more slowly and heat up more slowly.	High value. The need for related construction and finishing works.
Additional protection of the facade from the effects of atmospheric factors and heating.	May require a manufacturing permit facade works and their agreement.
Possibility of correcting facade defects.	Not applicable in apartment buildings when insulating only one of the apartments.
Noise isolation.	Increased risks of moisture insulation from precipitation.
Low probability of formation of thermal bridges.
Installation work does not interfere with the life of the inhabitants of the house and the interiors.
Does not reduce area interior spaces: no restrictions on the thickness of the heat-insulating layer.

Table. Internal insulation

Advantages	Flaws
Rapid heating of the room.	Creation of thermal bridges.
No impact on building exterior.	Increased possibility for overheating of rooms.
Most of the work can be done by hand.	Increase in indoor humidity.
Work can be carried out in stages (by rooms).	Wall thermal mass insulation
	Absence external protection walls from rain
	Reduction of internal volumes of premises.
	The need to transfer communications.
	Need for interior refurbishment.
	The need for careful operation and restrictions in working with walls in the future.

Thus it is possible to do brief conclusions about the additional insulation of the house:

1. Despite advertising calls, not in all cases it is advisable to spend money on additional insulation of the walls of the house. Additional insulation is beneficial, first of all, to manufacturers of thermal insulation materials and suppliers of energy resources, due to a reduction in the load on energy networks. A homeowner's investment in additional home insulation can take a long time to pay off, not pay off at all, or lead to higher costs.
2. The payback on the cost of additional insulation of the house depends not only on climatic conditions, thermal parameters of the house, but also on psychological features and homeowner behavior.
3. The effect of additional insulation on the safety and durability of the walls and the microclimate in the house is ambiguous. Errors in design and installation can lead to a significant increase in humidity, both in building envelopes and indoors.
4. In most standard cases, the external insulation of a house has more advantages than internal insulation. To reduce the cost of installing external insulation, it is better to carry it out at the stage of building a house.
5. For homes with irregular or uneven heating patterns (most country houses temporary stay) internal insulation is recommended, or a combination of internal and external wall insulation.
Al-Sanea, S. A. and Zedan, M. F. Improving thermal performance of building walls by optimizing insulation layer distribution and thickness for same thermal mass. Applied Energy, - 2011. - 88(9).- pp. 3113-3124.

Often, homeowners have a desire to turn a summer Vacation home to a place of permanent residence. To do this, you have to insulate the outer walls. How to do it?

Most often additionally insulated frame houses. To understand how to do this, let's look at the technology of building walls. First, the builders install a supporting frame made of wooden bars, between which slabs of stone or glass fiber are placed in a spacer. To protect against moisture from the side of the room, the insulation is covered with a vapor barrier material (usually a polymer film), which serves as a barrier to water vapor escaping from the living quarters to the street. It is attached to the racks of the frame with staples of a mechanical stapler.

To the walls frame house were reliable protection from the cold in the conditions middle lane Russia, the thickness of the insulation must be at least 150 mm.

A ventilation gap of 20-50 mm wide is created between the thermal insulation and the exterior finish. Due to it, steam penetrating into the insulation will be removed. The ventilation gap is formed by means of bars of the counter-lattice, nailed to the racks of the frame.

To prevent the wall from being blown by cold air entering the ventilation gap, a windscreen is installed. For these purposes, only diffusion (vapor-permeable) films (membranes) should be used that do not prevent the release of water vapor from the insulation. They are fastened with brackets to the racks of the frame, and then they are additionally pressed with bars of the counter-lattice.

Finally, the last element of the frame wall - exterior finish(siding, blockhouse, etc.). It is fixed either to a counter-lattice or to a specially created base in the form of OSB boards.

So, if you need additional insulation frame wall, first of all, the trim, the counter grille and the windproof material are dismantled. Then new racks are attached to the vertical racks of the frame, the thickness of which corresponds required thickness thermal insulation layer.

When building a frame, instead of bars, you can use wide boards. They are fixed to existing racks using metal corners.

Between the racks (boards), plates or mats of fibrous insulation are laid at random. They are installed in such a way that they fit snugly against the insulation in the wall. In order to avoid freezing of the walls through leaks that occur, for example, in places where cut plates are laid, the thermal insulation is made two-layer. To do this, first attach to the existing frame vertical racks(in this case, their thickness will be less), laying fibrous material between them. Then, battens of lathing (usually 50 mm thick) are nailed perpendicular to the posts, between which plates or insulation mats are also laid, with a thickness of 50 mm, respectively. Next, a wind protection is laid, and then a ventilation gap is formed and the finish is fixed.

Instead of mineral wool for insulation, you can use wood-fiber boards laid in two layers with a total thickness of 50 mm.

When installing the facade material, it is important to provide for the possibility of air inflow under the finish from below and its exhaust from under it from above. The inflow can be provided using perforated siding strips. And the hood is usually carried out by combining the ventilation gap on the facade with the ventilation gap in the design of the cornice overhang. In this case, the filing of the overhang must have ventilation.

Another important point: with a layer of additional insulation with a thickness of, for example, 100 mm, the total thickness of the structure will be about 150 mm. So, before making a decision on additional insulation of the facade, you need to understand how the cornice overhang of the roof will look like, and most importantly, whether it can effectively protect the facade from precipitation.

With additional insulation frame houses problems with the arrangement of window and doorways usually does not occur: they simply install wider new ones instead of old slopes.

Using this technology, it is possible to insulate timber houses. The sequence is the same: nailed to wooden walls frame filled with thermal insulation, wind protection, ventilation gap, finishing. The question of whether the "pie" needs insulated timber wall vapor barrier is controversial. In general, the need for a vapor barrier device is determined by the calculation of the vapor permeability of a particular design. Without such a calculation, one has to rely only on the experience of specialists. Most of them believe that it is not necessary, and the steam that enters the insulation will be removed outside it due to ventilation (subject to a well-made ventilation gap), without harming either the insulation or the wooden elements.