Currently, many individual developers care about thorough insulation of walls and roofs, but often insufficient attention is paid to floor insulation in a private house. There is a wide range of thermal insulation in the building materials market. One of the most common methods of thermal protection has become floor insulation with foam.
Why floor insulation is necessary
The floor is the only surface in the house that cannot be avoided. Therefore, it is important to ensure its comfortable temperature. Warm air heated by radiator radiators rises, and if the floor is not sufficiently insulated, walking on it is unpleasant.
When using a system of warm floors, insulation is also necessary. In its absence, the coolant will not give energy rationally, heating not only the floor covering, but also the underlying cooled layers.
The lack of full insulation of the floor leads not only to overruns on heating, but also to damage to structures by mold and fungus. Condensation precipitates from the warm air side, and a humid environment is beneficial for the development of dangerous microorganisms.
Advantages of using foam in floor construction
Foam insulation is a fairly common option, which has gained popularity due to the following qualities:
- ease of installation: there is no need to provide workers with overalls and protective equipment, as is the case with mineral wool or polyurethane foam;
- ease of cutting allows you to insulate the floor in the room of any geometric shape;
- the cheapness of the material compared with other effective heaters in many cases becomes a decisive factor;
- can be used when warming a system of underfloor heating;
- resistance to the appearance of mold, fungus and other microorganisms harmful to humans allows us to call the material safe, not causing allergic reactions.
These positive qualities make the material suitable for use in house building from any materials.
Options for using Styrofoam in the floor
In private housing construction, foam can be used to improve the characteristics of the following structures:
- flooring in a heated basement;
- the floor of the first floor with an unheated basement;
- floor slabs to increase sound insulation;
- attic floor in a house with a cold attic.
In all these cases, subject to the laying technology, the material does an excellent job.
Mounting technology
Before you insulate the floor with foam, you need to understand the features of its use for various designs. The laying process itself is as simple as possible, but the material requires additional protection against moisture and steam.
Ground floor insulation
There are no strong differences when working in a brick, concrete or wooden building. Foam floor insulation is carried out both on top of the floor and below. The bottom method is more competent from the point of view of heat engineering, but it is very laborious. In the vast majority of cases, insulation is performed on top of the floor.
Foam can be laid on logs or under a concrete screed. In a wooden house, it is appropriate to use insulation between the lag.
If you wish, you can stack the material on the logs and with concrete floors, if you plan wooden floors.
Installation on lags is carried out in the following order:
- preparation and cleaning of the base;
- installation of waterproofing material;
- layout of the lag and their fixing;
- polyfoam laying;
- vapor barrier installation;
- installation of a clean floor.
For polystyrene, mounting on lags compensates for its low strength. When laying under the screed, it must be additionally reinforced, which leads to an increase in the cost of construction or repair. Read more about floor insulation under the screed.
In a wooden building, it is not recommended to use a plastic film as a hydro and vapor barrier. It is better to choose a more expensive breathable material.
Use as sound insulation
To prevent the penetration of noise, you can use a layer with a thickness of 30-50 mm. The overlap cake should look like this:
- overlap;
- vapor barrier;
- Styrofoam;
- waterproofing;
- clean floor.
Similar to the previous case, the installation is carried out in lags or under the screed.
Attic floor
Insulation of the attic with polystyrene in the house requires the same arrangement of layers, but the thickness is large. You can assign it about 15 cm, or you can perform a special heat engineering calculation.
Features of foam insulation
Despite the large number of positive characteristics, the foam has some undesirable properties that must be considered when working with it.
- Low strength. Manufacturers position their material as strong enough for use in floor construction, but it must be remembered that it requires additional protection against direct exposure to the load. Laying between the logs, pouring reinforced cement screed can protect the foam. You can also strengthen the surface by laying a thin layer of stronger polystyrene foam over the foam and pouring the screed. Read more about two-layer insulation.
- The ability to absorb water. Manufacturers claim that the foam is not afraid of water, it is. But he is able to accumulate it in himself in small quantities. If the material containing moisture is exposed to low temperatures, it will crumble into separate balls. Therefore, it is important to protect the foam from any type of moisture. It is also not recommended to use it in wet rooms, in this case it is better to give preference to its more stable next of kin - extruded polystyrene foam.
Compliance with the technology and attention to the characteristics of the material will allow you to competently and efficiently insulate the house and avoid serious problems with the operation of structures in the future. It is important to arrange all layers of the insulation cake in the correct order, since a violation of the technology will lead to improper operation of thermal protection.
Video instruction for laying foam under the screed:
Foam insulation on the example of a balcony:
Calculation of insulation thickness
In a private house, it is allowed to take the thickness of the insulation layer "by eye", but if you wish, you can master the program for performing calculations. It is called "Teremok" and is freely available. Work with this software is simple. Even a person far from construction can deal with this. The calculation will help to provide the necessary thermal protection with minimal costs.