Wall insulation foam technology

Build your own house - that's half the battle.To the living conditions were comfortable, in the premises at any time of the year to maintain a healthy atmosphere to the walls did not appear mildew stains, and all this did not have to pay crazy money, paying unreasonable spent on heating energy, you need to think carefully and accurately carry out the thermal insulation of the building.

technology Choice insulating materials nowadays is quite wide.One of the leaders of the most popular, of course, are the polystyrene insulation group.It is familiar to all, and foam, and more modern, effective and long-lasting modification - extruded polystyrene foam.And if we talk about brands of this material, it is usually immediately comes to mind is "Penoplex" as the quality standard among the heaters of this type.

Panels extruded polystyrene insulation can perform almost all the structural elements of the building, from the basement to the roof.This publication will be reviewed wall insulation Penoplex which technology - is quite simple and straightforward, and follow all of the recommendations from this task must cope every householder.

But first you need a little closer look at the heater itself - "Penoplex".

What you should know about "Penoplex"?

Very nice to talk about the material of domestic production, which not only became a kind of a model of efficiency.The name brand "Penoplex" eventually transformed into the concept of a common noun "penoplex" which came to mean in common parlance a high quality extruded polystyrene.

«Penoplex" The company began manufacturing its own products in 1998.Adopting the best of foreign experience, technology firms have developed a novel manufacturing technology erudite Styrofoam panels (XPS).The quality of thermal insulation panels was appreciated by specialists builders, and demand for such insulation soon began to exceed production possibilities.But now the company "Penoplex" already has eight factories for the production utolitelnyh plates, with wide geography of their placement, up to the Far East and even the neighboring countries - Kazakhstan.And the weight of the same products never lies too long in storage - whether it is "light" of the highest quality of the thermal insulation materials?

penoplex Insulation is a board (panel) made from extruded polystyrene.During production raw materials (polystyrene beads) is melted, with the simultaneous addition of special reagents (pyrophoric) facilitating gassing abundant respectively foaming mass.This rich gas mixture is forced under pressure through a nozzle of the extruder and molding, freezing, takes the form of a tape of a certain thickness, which is the next stage is cut into standard size panels.Finally

homogeneous material acquires a density expressed by a porous gas-filled structure, each micro-cell of which (diameter 0.1 to 0.3 mm) is completely isolated from neighboring ones.Such structural composition and determines the high levels of thermal resistance and mechanical strength.

The range "Penoplex" products presented plates of different thickness and density, designed for thermal insulation of various building structures.In this article we are interested in the thermal insulation of facade walls of the house, so we will consider only those kinds of "Penoplex", which are designed for this purpose.

So, if to be warm front wall of the building, the choice is made in favor of the plates, which are old, yet familiar to many classifications designated as "Penoplex-31."The new classification of products the company has divided the panel into two types: "Penoplex-Comfort" and "Penoplex-facade".The characteristics are very similar, with the difference that the "Penopdeks-facade" slightly higher performance compressive strength, and by adding to the production of special flame retardant - a higher fire resistance class.

Key Features these panels are shown in the table:

Indices	Unit	"Penoplex - Comfort"	"Penoplex-facade "
density	kg / m ³	from 25 to 35
compressive strength at 10% deformation, not less	MPa	0.18	0.2
Tensile strength of the material in bending	MPa	0.25
Water absorption for the first day, no more than	% by volume	0.4	0,5
Water absorption for the first month, no more than	%by volume	0.5	0,55
Category of resistance to fire	group	T4 T3
Thermal conductivity at (25 ± 5) ° C	W / (m × ° C)	0,030
Calculated coefficient of thermal conductivity at operating conditions "A" (normal)	W / (m × ° C)	0,031
Calculated coefficient of thermal conductivity at operating conditions "B" (high humidity)	W / (m × ° C)	0,032
Soundproof partitions (GCR-PENOPLEX® 50 mm GCR), Rw	dB	41
index improving isolation of structural noise at floor construction	dB	23
Standard sizes:
width	mm	600
	length mm	1200
thickness	mm	20;thirty;40;50;60;80;100;120;150
Operating temperature range	° C	from -100 to +75

can consider these figures a bit more detail:

• Thermal conductivity - one of the lowest among all of insulating materials.It is significant that he does not change even under different operating conditions.Thus, with its increased humidity is increased by only a negligible quantity of 0.001 W / m × ° C.That is the material it is possible to be used for external and internal works.
• Moisture material - is beyond praise.It was established experimentally that "Penoplex» absorbs moisture not more than 0.5% by volume.Moreover, the absorption process occurs only active in the first 24 hours, and generally only in areas of the cut material, and reaches full saturation within 10 -30 days.The inner part is still completely dry.In the future, regardless of the operating terms, the absorption of moisture stops completely.
• porous structure "Penoplex" becomes an insurmountable obstacle, and water vapor.With proper installation of such material completely eliminates the need for additional vapor barrier membranes.
• Mechanical strength - one of the major advantages of "Penoplex".The material is able to withstand heavy loads and compression and fracture.This allows the use of some types of such insulation for the thermal insulation of foundations, plinths, floors, closed by a concrete screed, and even open areas and roads.

foundation requires warming!

Many novice builders unknowingly quite wrong to ignore this step.How to spend insulation foundation Penoplex - read in a special publication of our portal.

• material is not entirely fireproof, but it belongs to the self-extinguishing polymer, not conducive to the spread of fire.For the insulation of external walls is better to use "Penoplex-facade" - a part of the material special additives, flame retardants introduced.However, completely eliminate the flammability thermal insulation structure - difficult.To increase the degree of protection from the effects of fire, the best solution would be the insulation of the facade with an outer layer of plaster - it is this technology and will be discussed below.
• «Penoplex" even after prolonged operation retains its chemical structure, does not decompose to any whatsoever toxic components, that is, it does not accept any threat to human or animal health, the state of the environment.Typical and biological resistance - the material does not rot and never will be the breeding ground for the development of all forms of life.
• Plates "Penoplex" adjusted to give a precise size, which greatly facilitates the installation of thermal insulation.And the added convenience - the presence on the edges of the special slats that provide a snug fit of adjacent panels, without the formation of "cold bridges".

The figure shows the two types of configurations edges "Penoplex" plates:

1 - T-shape 15, for plate thickness (B) of 30 mm.

2 - 20 T-shape, for plates with a thickness of 40 to 100 mm.

• material shows high resistance to the majority of compositions and solutions used in the construction industry.However, it should be remembered that there is a list of substances that are incompatible with extruded polystyrene.These include:

- Liquid fuels - gasoline, Solarium, kerosene, etc.

- ketone group solvents - acetone, and the like.

- formalin and formaldehyde.

- Benzene, toluene, xylene, and other hydrocarbons of the group.

- Some esters - methyl acetate and ethyl acetate solvents, diethyl ether.

- Polyesters used as curing agents of epoxy resins.

- coal tar.

- Any oil-based paints.

Lifetime Penoplex without losing inherent in his useful qualities, estimated at no less than 50 years.However, it should be clarified that all the above advantages will be valid for "Penoplex" the original product.Unfortunately, under the name "penoplex" buyer can "shove" the plate of dubious quality and from a completely unknown producer.Be careful - the company logo and the characteristic color scheme "Penoplex" confused difficult, but it is useful to also check the certificate that accompanies any consignment material.

principle insulation facade plates "Penoplex»

Therefore, the recommended method of warming of external walls using Penoplex panels is the technology "wet facade", ie the closure of thermal insulation with a protective layer of plaster, which also will perform the role of a decorative finish building.

Schematically it can be represented as follows:

1 - the outer wall of the building.

2 - layer interior decoration in the room (plaster, plasterboard, etc.).

3 - a layer of special adhesive is designed for the installation of thermal insulation of expanded polystyrene panels.

4 - insulating layer "Penoplex" plates, the required thickness.

5 - an external protective reinforcing layer of adhesive, with accommodation in its thicker glass fiber or metal reinforcing mesh.

6 - external finish - decorative plaster.

the presented pattern is not shown, but in practice, the reliability of fixing plates provided to the wall surface, not only cool the composition, but also by mechanical fasteners - dyubelyami- "fungi" type needed (depending on the material of the wall) and the required length - it should be more thanthe width of the insulating layer, at least 45 mm.

Which materials and how much will be required?

• Plates "Penoplex" calculated thickness that provides the desired thermal insulation wall.To learn how to correctly determine the thickness of the insulating layer will be described below.The number of plates is determined by the surface area of ​​the walls, with a 10% reserve for nesting.
• Primer - for the pre-treatment of the facade walls before applying styrofoam plates.a primer depends on the type of wall material.So, for brick, silicate or plaster surfaces is better to get the soil deep penetration, such as «Ceresit CT-17."Average expenses for quality priming - 300 ml / m².

If the walls - monolithic concrete, it will be optimally primed them containing small fraction quartz sand, type "Betonokontakt" necessarily for external works.Consumption is somewhat higher - about 400 ml / m².

• Starting profile - set around the perimeter of the building, is the boundary between the cap and, in fact, the wall, and will serve as a reliable and carefully leveled foundation for the first series of plates that will greatly facilitate their installation.

When you purchase is necessary to provide a starting profile acquisition lining inserts (goals) - they will help fine-tune the line for small irregularities of the walls, as well as special connectors - for connecting adjacent parts.Number Profile - along the length of the perimeter of the building.The number of connecting elements - one for each joint insulation at a thickness of 80 mm, and two - at a thickness of 100 mm or more.

profile fixed to the wall with dowels with a pitch of about 300 mm - this is easy to count the number of required fasteners and washers lining.

• For fixing plates to the wall will need a special formulation designed specifically for thermal insulation works with polystyrene foam.

There are a lot of high-quality construction mixtures such purpose.For example, a sample can be taken «Ceresit CT 85" - this part is fully meets all the requirements for such work.

average consumption mix will at this stage be approximately 5 kg / m².

The same mixture is used for protective and reinforcing plaster layer on top of the insulating boards.There adhesive is applied in two stages - before laying reinforcing mesh, and after, to create a solid and level foundation for further decorative plastering.For the first layer flow is about 2 kg / m², for the second - the same, or 3 kg / m², if the wall will not further plaster and covered with facade paint.

Total adhesive to perform the work required 9 (10) kg / m².

• Dyubelya- "fungi".About the length of their already mentioned.Type of begging (Hammer or screw-core) is selected depending on the wall material.