How to insulate the roof of the house with his own hands

well calculated and accurately assembled truss system, durable, reliable, and not leaking roofing - all wonderful.But we should not forget about another - an effective thermal insulation of their homes from the upper direction, ie from the side of the roof and attic floor.Inadequate or improperly executed insulation of these elements of the building is not only a cause of little comfort living in the house, but what is especially important, sharply reduces the normal lifespan of many building materials and structures of these structures.

Usually roof insulation questions thought out at the design stage truss system or attic floors, and insulation system itself is mounted parallel to the management of the construction.But if all of a sudden, because of various circumstances, it turns out that the roof is in the acquisition, for example, the house - completely insulated, or the effectiveness of the thermal insulation - is clearly insufficient, owners will have to come to grips with this issue on their own.That is when the information is useful as a warm roof of the house with his own hands, contained in this publication.

Why should I insulate the roof?

First of all, you need to very accurately represent - how important is the need for roof insulation.

• climatic conditions in most regions of Russia can not be called "soft" - even in the southern regions often fall very severe winters.for heating during the cold season costs usually become prevalent, and "eat" a large part of the family budget.But when poor-quality thermal insulation in energy expenditure converted literally "money for air."

Look at the diagram of an exemplary thermal losses are not insulated or insufficiently insulated private house:

not having an effective thermal insulation of the roof with a roof simply "steal" almost a third of energy consumed in the heating housing.Of course, neither of which economy we can not even walk.But even in this completely unjustified spending, create a really comfortable climate in the building will be almost impossible.

• With the arrival of summer heat and lack of insulation is becoming a serious problem.A large area of ​​the roof functions as a kind of "solar collector", warming up in the sun and then transferring the thermal energy flow down into the premises of the house.The result - in the rooms of his years can not breathe, or air conditioning equipment running with high intensity, which again leads to a completely unjustified expenses.
• lack of insulation negatively affects the state of building structures.Normal human activity is always accompanied by the release of large amounts of water vapor, which is on the border of heat and cold, in the so-called "dew point" condenses, turning into the water.The glut of construction moisture roof wooden parts leads to increased decay processes for deconstruction of wood due to cycles of freezing and thawing with the advent of deep cracks in the appearance and development of colonies of pathogenic organisms - mold and mildew, to the emergence of insect nests.

Installing insulation allows to shift the dew point outside the top layers of insulation, so that the condensation almost did not get to the main load-bearing elements of the roof structure, and freely evaporate inatmosphere.

• Finally, the thermal insulation of the roof opens up the possibility of more rational use of available space.Warm loft may well become a very convenient utility room, and at a sufficient height and connected to the heating system - a full living room.

Excess space never hurts.And the deficit areas - the more, because to build attic for living space in any case it will be easier and cheaper than to build from scratch a capital extension.

General principles roof insulation

First of all, the owners of the house should be defined in advance how you will be warmed roof structure.There are several options.

• flat roof that does not involve any general attic.In a particular construction of residential houses, this approach is used very rarely, so this issue within the framework of this article will not be considered.
• second option - attic is not considered hosts as a useful additional space.In this case, the emphasis is on high-quality thermal insulation of attic floor, and to create good ventilation under-roof space, to avoid the accumulation of moisture in it.This option is warming and "taken out of the brackets" - he devoted a separate publication.

What to do if the attic is scheduled to leave the "cold"?

In this case, the insulation is subject to the attic floor. How to properly insulate the ceiling under the "cold" loft - read in a special publication of our portal.

• And finally, the third option - attic is fully warmed.In this case, the insulation system will be mounted directly under the pitched roof.This scheme can be considered optimal, and as providing a normal degree of warming of the housing from the upper direction, and as giving, with proper installation, maximum security roof system from external factors.

Such insulation scheme in the ground and will be devoted to this publication.

First of all, you must understand the principle of insulation roofing rays.There is such a term in everyday use - "roofing pie".This name is the best symbolizes the multi-layered thermal insulation system, each of the layers in its own way is important because certain fulfills an important role.Consider the structure of "roofing pie" is not on the most complex example.

«The fundamental basis" are always the rafters (1 pos.) - They serve as a support structure for the roofing and insulation for the entire system as a whole.

between rafter most tightly, without gaps, fit insulating material (pos. 2).

bottom layer of insulation must always be covered with a vapor barrier film (Pos. 3), so that the material is not saturated with moisture, water vapor, and did not lose because of their qualities.

bottom insulation film holds the crate (pos. 4), which becomes the basis for fixing interior decoration attic (attic).

the top, from the side of the roof, insulation is also closed special film-coated (pos. 5), but it has an entirely different properties.This layer is designed to create a waterproofing barter (in case of accidental water flow of the roof does not fall into the heater), to protect the insulation from the effects of wind erosion.But, at the same time, this cover should not become an obstacle to the free release of steam - condensate formed at the intersection of heat and cold, in the "dew point" must have free access to the atmosphere.This is achieved by using special membranes and the creation of air gaps.This diagram shows kontrplanka (pos. 6), which creates a gap between the insulation and the membrane.There may be other solutions - this will be discussed below.

In any case, windproof membrane between the waterproofing and roofing themselves must always be created ventilation gap.To do this, on the rafters stuffed kontrbrus (pos. 7) is not less than 50 mm thick.

Further, there is a crate (pos. 8) under the concrete roof covering (pos. 9).Crate can be sparse, ie boards or planks are mounted with a certain step.For some roofing is mandatory continuous crate.Made, for example, water-resistant plywood or OSB.In either case, a ventilation gap is provided.

As already mentioned - it is a basic scheme.In practice, there may be other embodiments, more complex or, alternatively, several simplified (for example, without kontrplanok pos. 6), but the principle is not changed.

materials for thermal insulation of the roof

choice of materials for thermal insulation of the roof - a separate issue, since the type of insulation often depends on the design "roof pie".We begin with heaters.

Insulation materials for roof

• First of all, you need to immediately "put aside" bulk materials, such as vermiculite or expanded clay.No word, good materials, clean from an environmental point of view, and are ideal for many thermal insulation of building structures.But use them for pitched roofs - which means significantly complicating his task.To ensure a uniform distribution of particulate material in the cavities of the roof structure, especially if a significant slope steepness, 20-25% - is not easy.

course, is impossible in this matter.However, it should be borne in mind that the thermal conductivity of the expanded clay or pales in comparison, for example, mineral wool or polystyrene foam, ie in order to achieve equal thermal insulation parameters require very considerable layer of filling.And when you consider that the density of expanded clay still significantly above the insulated roof construction will unnecessarily thick and massive.

bulk materials are good for walls, floors or ceilings.And for the roof there are still more simple and effective solutions.

• for thermal insulation of the roof may well be used polystyrene.This material is characterized by high levels of thermal resistance, it is lightweight, easy to install, easy to process.bespressovanny, better known as foam, and extrusion -

For warming two varieties based polystyrene can be used.Although extruded polystyrene and higher cost, preference should be given to all the same to him.This is due to the special structure of the material with a closed-cell - the panel is much stronger, have better insulating qualities, parovodonepronitsaemy, that is, for them, in fact, you can not even use a waterproofing membrane.

foam is cheaper, generally refers to the most affordable insulation material.But its low mechanical strength, water absorption has substantially greater.In addition, the foam is very fond of the nest start rodents and insects.

Comparative characteristics of foam and extruded polystyrene, with an average thickness of 50 mm

characteristics Name	material Extruded polystyrene	Bespressovanny foam
Illustration
Water absorption in% by volume to 30 days, no more than	0.4	4
Water absorption in% by volume for 24 hours, no more than	0.2	2
Water vapor permeability mg / m × h × Pa	0,018	-
Thermal conductivity in dry state at a temperature (25 + -5) C, W / (m × C) no more than	0,028-0,035	0,036-0,050
sound absorption coefficient, dB	23-27	42-53
ultimate strength in static bending, MPa	0,4-1,0	0,07-0,20
compressive strength at 10%deformation, MPa, not less	0,25-0,50	0,05-0,20
density, kg / m2 within	28-45	15-35
operating temperature range, oC	-50 to +75	-50 to +70
Flammability	From D1 (moderate flammability) to G4 (combustible)

Both material virtuallycan not be perfectly, without gaps or clearances to enter in "nests" are intended for it between the rafters, that is, require additional sealing insulation layer using foam.

But the main drawback of heaters on the basis of polystyrene foam still remains a high fire risk, which is extremely important especially in terms of roofing system.No one type of Styrofoam can not be considered completely non-flammable, and many kinds of foam in general belong to a class G4, that is great, and burn, melt, spread the fire.

Moreover, burning of any polystyrene is always accompanied by the release of extremely toxic products that can cause severe poisoning and chemical burns of the respiratory system.In humans, inhaled like smoke, the chances of escape in case of fire people are minimal.It is very good to think before making a decision in favor of expanded polystyrene.

• optimal for all indicators look use mineral wool insulation.But here, the correct approach is needed.

- absolutely excludes the use of slag wool - this material is short-lived, strongly absorbs moisture quickly become caked badly holds its shape, but also - a very controversial chemical composition of which depends on thethe quality of raw materials - blast-furnace slag.Very often in this mineral wool is extremely high percentage of acidity that leads to the activation of corrosion processes on the building structures.

- good insulation can be wool - it is relatively inexpensive, has good resistance to heat transfer.All is good, if not for its significant disadvantages.And to those can be attributed weak elasticity of glass fibers - they are brittle, crumbling, that creates a lot of problems not only during installation.Even during operation it is difficult to prevent ingress of micro particles into the atmosphere premises - and that the preconditions for the emergence of allergic reactions, especially in people with a predisposition.

Another its drawback - strong water absorption, which is not good for the under-roof insulation.Furthermore, glass is still prone to caking gradual, settling, and this in turn leads to a decrease in its insulating characteristics.

- The best option may be considered to use as insulation mineral wool basalt blocks.Basalt fibers are durable and resilient, so the material is not sags over time, it is easy to be laid between the rails, beams, rafters, etc.Allergic reactions such wool is almost does not.Special hydrophobic impregnation of the material reduces water absorption to a minimum.