Insulation of the bath with harmless materials. Insulation of the roof of the bath Styrofoam as a heater in the steam room

September 3, 2016
Specialization: professional in the field of construction and repair (full cycle of finishing works, both internal and external, from sewerage to electrical and finishing work), installation of window structures. Hobbies: see column "SPECIALIZATION AND SKILLS"

Warming the bath from the outside with your own hands (as well as high-quality thermal insulation inside) is mandatory condition to maintain a high temperature in the steam room and ensure a comfortable microclimate in other rooms. Even walls made of energy-efficient materials (porous concrete, hollow ceramic bricks, glued beams) need to be insulated. And the structures erected according to traditional technology, this applies in the first place.

In this article I will give the algorithms that I myself use when performing external and internal thermal insulation of baths and saunas.

Thermal insulation of load-bearing structures

Exterior wall cladding with polymer panels

When starting thermal insulation work in the bath, many focus only on internal thermal insulation. This approach is fundamentally wrong, because by doing high-quality insulation with our own hands on the outside, we will provide additional protection against loss of thermal energy.

This means that in order to get the heat we need in the steam room and comfortable coolness in the dressing room, it will be possible to spend less energy (it doesn’t matter - firewood, gas or electricity). So the cost of insulation from the outside will pay off, and in the case of a bathhouse even faster than with a living space.

Thermal insulation of walls can be carried out according to two schemes. Universal variant no, but I prefer to finish buildings made of brick or concrete blocks with polystyrene foam or polystyrene followed by plaster, and to carry out the insulation of a wooden bath using the “ventilated facade” technology.

First, let's figure out how a brick bath needs to be prepared for finishing:

1. I clean the walls, checking the seams between the blocks and, if necessary, repairing them.
2. The outer surface is primed, protecting the brick from efflorescence, fungus, and improving adhesion with the adhesive composition. If we neglect the primer, then we will not have time to blink an eye, as from a brick under a layer of insulation with high vapor barrier characteristics (and polymer plates do not allow air to pass through very well), salt will appear, destroying the bearing surfaces.
3. I install a U-shaped base profile along the lower edge of the wall: it will prevent the insulation from sliding down under its own weight.

1. Panels of heat-insulating material - polystyrene, expanded polystyrene or dense mineral wool - are glued to the walls in a checkerboard pattern, using an adhesive mixture based on high-quality cement with waterproofing additives.

You need to choose a heater for a bath according to its resistance to heat transfer: this indicator depends on the type of material and on its thickness. If internal thermal insulation is planned, then 100 mm of polystyrene foam or 50 mm of extruded polystyrene is sufficient from the outside.

1. Next, I take a puncher with a long drill and drill through the insulation so that the drill goes deep into the wall by 40-50 mm. I fix the foam plastic with dowel-umbrellas, reinforcing the adhesive fasteners.

1. I perform plastering of the insulation, reinforcing the structure with an alkali-resistant polystyrene mesh.
2. I grout the plaster and paint the walls on the outside with weather-resistant paint.

Frame facade

If the bath is made of timber or logs, or erected according to frame technology, then I prefer to equip the so-called ventilated facade. The obvious pole of this design is vapor permeability (it largely solves the problem of excess humidity in the room), so when deciding which one to choose for frame bath insulation, it is worth focusing on plates based on mineral fiber.

The algorithm of work will differ significantly from the option described above:

1. To begin with, we need to put the walls themselves in order - clean, caulk the seams, treat all surfaces with antiseptic impregnations.

If there are signs of wood damage, then these areas must be sanitized, and with a strong manifestation of defects, the logs or beams must be replaced. All the same, it is pointless to insulate a rotten bath, since under a layer of heat-insulating material the process of wood destruction will go many times faster.

1. Then we install brackets on the walls, placing roofing material under their base or injure them.

1. We fasten the crate panels to the brackets. We make them either from a timber impregnated with an antiseptic, or from a galvanized steel profile. Despite the fact that the beam is more prone to deformation, I prefer to carry out the warming of the bath exactly according to wooden crate: after all, metal conducts heat better and therefore it can become a “cold bridge” .

1. Next, we lay the heat-insulating material in the cells of the crate. Deciding which one is better for a frame bath, I settled on mineral wool medium density(up to 45kg/m3). But I know of cases when the place of basalt fiber slabs on the walls outside (as well as in the internal cavities of the frame) was sprayed with ecowool - five years have passed since the repair, and there are no complaints about the quality of insulation.

Mineral wool perfectly keeps in the cells due to its elasticity, but when compressed, it somewhat loses its heat-saving properties. To avoid this, it is worth making the frame in strict accordance with the dimensions of the mineral wool boards (standard - 600 mm), and in order to prevent the insulation from falling out, additionally fix it with several dish-shaped dowels.

1. Insulation for frame, timber or log sauna be sure to cover with a windproof superdiffusion membrane. This material must be vapor-permeable, otherwise moisture will accumulate under the skin and moisten the heat-insulating layer.
2. Further, it all depends on what dimensions our crate has. If we did it with a margin and there is a gap of at least 20 mm between the insulation layer and the edge of the frame, then we immediately proceed to the sheathing. If there is no reserve, then we press the heat-insulating panels with the bars of the counter-lattice (I use parts with a section of 40x40): a block house, a false beam or other decorative material will be attached to them.

Roof insulation

The non-insulated bath roof is a source of about 20-30% of heat loss. Of course, we can block some of them by performing thermal insulation of the floor, but it is also desirable to finish the roof slopes with materials with low thermal conductivity.

We act like this:

1. If there is no waterproofing layer under the roofing material (according to the mind, it must be there, but you never know!) - we lay a moisture-proof vapor-permeable membrane, passing it over the rafters. To do this, it is almost always necessary to dismantle at least part roofing material, therefore, the waterproofing procedure should be performed at the stage of construction of the structure.

1. The rafters themselves and the elements of the roofing sheathing are treated with an antiseptic (again, this must be done earlier).
2. In the gaps between the rafters on the inside, we lay the heat-insulating material. Optimal choice for do-it-yourself roof thermal insulation - basalt fiber in slabs or rolls with a thickness of 50 to 75 mm.
3. From the inside, we block the insulation with a vapor barrier film, which we fix directly on the rafters. To further secure the entire structure, we either stuff the transverse bars of the counter-lattice onto the rafters, or we perform the lining of the roof with clapboard - in the second case, we will get a fairly neat looking attic.

Interior decoration

We warm the floor

The answer to the question of how to insulate a bath correctly from the inside is no less complicated. This set of procedures usually begins with work on the floor covering:

1. We cover the concrete base with roofing material, on which we install support bars for the log.

If the floor in the bath is done on the ground, then the soil must be compacted and covered with a layer of sand and gravel mixture with a thickness of 15 to 40 cm. The bedding is carefully rammed, and for greater stability it can be concreted.

1. We lay logs on the support bars, the ends of which we fix on the walls of the room.
2. We cover the space between the lags with a layer of expanded clay. The thicker this layer is, the less heat loss through the lower layer of air in the room will be.
3. We block expanded clay with a waterproofing film. In principle, it is possible to equip a rough flooring over the expanded clay layer - but this is not necessary.
4. Between the lags we lay panels of heat-insulating material. If we are finishing a dressing room or a rest room, then you can take polystyrene foam or even get by with foam plastic, but only suitable for a steam room mineral wool– it is important that the material is immune to high temperatures.

1. We lay a waterproofing vapor-tight membrane on top of the insulation. The quality of hydro and vapor barrier is very important: by providing it, we minimize the risk of contact of the insulation with water.
2. Next, we lay the draft floor, and then equip flooring solid board or ceramic tiles. The board is “warmer” and more pleasant to the touch, but the tile is easier to clean and less prone to swelling when wet, so the choice is yours!

Finishing the walls

When sheathing a steam room, a rest room and a dressing room with our own hands, we must take care not only of their insulation, but also of protecting the thermal insulation from moisture and high temperatures. From this point of view, the steam room is the most difficult room, so I will talk about the technology using its example:

1. I prime the walls with a moisture-proof antiseptic composition.
2. I mount the crate bars on the walls in such a way that the distance from the edge of the bar to the wall is approximately equal to or slightly more than the thickness of the heat-insulating material.

When choosing which is better to take a heater for a steam room, you need to remember that we need a non-combustible material with low thermal conductivity. Polymer plates are not suitable here, and I would not risk it with ecowool, so there is no alternative to mineral fiber up to 100 - 150 mm thick (less can be in the dressing room).

1. I lay the plates or rolls of insulation in the cells of the crate, making sure that the fibers are tested minimum load for compression.
2. From above I cover the thermal insulation with a vapor barrier material. For most rooms, an ordinary membrane is also suitable, but in a steam room a foil film or polyethylene foam with a metallized coating will be appropriate. Yes, the price of such products is quite high, but in addition to protecting mineral wool from moisture, they also act as a thermal mirror, reflecting heat into the steam room and providing solid energy savings.

1. Separately, I insulate the slopes: both windows and windows need to be made as airtight as possible, which will reduce the risk of drafts (in the bath, and on a steamed body - an almost guaranteed cold), as well as reduce heat loss.
2. Next, I equip the counter-lattice: stuffing thin slats onto the frame, which will ensure the formation of an air gap between the skin and the insulation.

1. I install on the control grille decorative panels. For a steam room, lining with clapboard made of alder, poplar or other hardwood, but for rooms where the air does not warm up to such a high temperature, you can take quite cheap pine.
2. I also impregnate the decorative sheathing with a moisture-proof compound to prevent it from rotting and reduce the deformation of wet wood during temperature changes.

Minimizing losses through the ceiling

And log, and frame, and brick bath also need thermal insulation of the ceiling. But if inside the ceiling is insulated approximately according to the same technology as the walls, then outside, i.e. from the side of the attic, you can use another technique:

1. We lay two layers of fiberglass on top of the draft ceiling - it will act as a barrier to liquid.
2. We prepare a heat-insulating solution: in a 1: 1 ratio, mix clay with sawdust or chopped straw, then fill the material with water and mix until a thick dough is obtained.

1. We pour the solution between the ceiling beams, making sure that the liquid does not seep through the fiberglass into the lower rooms.
2. We dry the clay (this is not a quick matter, it can take several weeks), and then we lay a layer of dense insulation.
3. We close the heat-insulating material with a moisture-proof membrane, after which we fill in the cement fixing screed.

Thanks to this technology, we form a multilayer cake with our own hands, which practically does not let heat through.

Conclusion

Insulation of a bath is a whole range of works that (naturally, subject to proper implementation) will minimize all heat loss, reduce the cost of heating a steam room, and, most importantly, ensure a steady heat, for which we, in fact, go to the bath!

The video in this article will help you understand the nuances of the technology, and with complex questions, you can always contact me or my colleagues in the comments below.

Styrofoam began to be produced not so long ago, in the 50s of the XX century. It consists of air bubbles enclosed in the thinnest shell of polystyrene. Since most of the material is air (up to 98% depending on the brand), the foam has excellent thermal insulation characteristics and is therefore often used as a heater.

Styrofoam as insulation

Its popularity is due not only to heat-insulating properties. There is a whole list positive qualities:

• Durability - up to 50 years under normal conditions and up to 20 years in severe conditions (with large temperature differences);
• Hydrophobicity. Styrofoam absorbs up to 0.2% moisture per day, i.e. You can tell it doesn't absorb it at all.
• Biological neutrality and stability. The temperature regime at which the material remains stable (does not collapse and does not emit any substances) is from -60 ° C to + 95 ° C. The safety of foam plastic is confirmed by the fact that products made from it use packaging food products used in children's toys. These are two industries in which the safety of the materials used has recently received a lot of attention. And no one ever talked about the dangers of Styrofoam.
• Low price. However, very cheap offers should be treated with caution: products must have certificates. Materials made with violations technological process, can be dangerous.
• Styrofoam is easy to work with. It is lightweight, cuts well, is easy to install, and does not require any additional protective equipment or devices.
• There is no environment for reproduction of fungi, disputes and bacteria, it is not damaged by insects.

It seems that everything is quite reasonable and understandable, but there are also negative properties: polystyrene is flammable and, when burned, releases substances dangerous to humans. This is true. But all burning materials release life-threatening substances. And in order to make the foam less dangerous in terms of fire safety, in recent decades, non-flammable additives have been added to it. As a result modern foam does not burn, but melts and is self-extinguishing, i.e. does not support combustion. Harmful substances they are released from the foam not during heating, but during melting, i.e. when the temperature is above 95°C. It should also be noted that the self-ignition temperature of polystyrene foam is more than + 490 ° C (for wood + 280 ° C). If you do not allow a fire, there will be no harmful emissions. At least that's what the manufacturers say. To believe them or not is a question, but no one has yet proven otherwise. And yet, polystyrene is harmful or not, whether to use it or not, everyone decides for himself.

Insulation of walls with foam plastic from the outside. Reviews are positive

Both the advantages and disadvantages of polystyrene include its complete impermeability to air and steam. This means that for rooms and houses with foam insulation, a good system ventilation.

There is one more negative quality of this material: its weak resistance to mechanical stress. Since air bubbles are enclosed in the thinnest polymer shell, it is easily damaged, dents, scratches, etc. appear on blocks or plates at the points of impact. Therefore, if the foam is used to insulate the foundation or facade, additional reinforcement and / or protective coating is necessary.

• 1 Is it possible to insulate a bath with foam plastic?
• 2 Insulation of the foundation with foam
  • 2.1 Preparatory work for insulation of the foundation with foam
  • 2.2 Installation of foam boards on the foundation
• 3
  • 3.1 Styrofoam insulation of the ground floor
  • 3.2 Insulation of the floor with foam plastic between the lag
• 4 Insulation of the roof of the bath with foam

Is it possible to insulate a bath with foam plastic?

From all of the above, we can conclude: it is possible to use polystyrene foam as a heater, but it is highly undesirable to use it in the steam room of a Russian bath and, moreover, in a steam room of a Finnish sauna: temperature conditions there such that the thermal insulation may well warm up to 95 ° C and above, after which the foam will begin to lose its chemical stability.

In general, foam is recommended to be used for thermal insulation of walls outside, or walls inside the room, but which do not go outside. This is due to the high thermal insulation ability of the foam. If you lay it on the wall from the inside, then outer wall will be isolated from heat almost completely, which will lead to a shift in the dew point inside the wall. That is, condensation will form inside the wall. In frost, it will freeze / thaw, which will lead to the rapid destruction of the material. Therefore, if the bath is insulated with foam, then only from the outside, or its internal partitions, but not from the side of the steam room.

Insulation of the walls of the bath with foam. It is better to insulate from the outside so that the dew point is in the insulation

The very insulation of the walls from the outside with foam plastic has very good reviews: it is cooler in the summer, warmer in the winter, the cost of maintaining a comfortable microclimate becomes less. Another plus: the room becomes noticeably quieter. But for normal well-being, a well-functioning ventilation system is important: excess moisture is not removed through the walls, and since many windows are plastic, then through the windows too. Remains the only possible variant: efficient ventilation.

If we talk about a bath, then there is no need to insulate a wooden bath with foam plastic: wood itself has excellent heat-insulating properties. But it is very possible to insulate a bathhouse made of bricks or building blocks with foam plastic.

Insulation of the foundation with foam

Since the foam has excellent thermal insulation abilities and is not afraid of moisture, it is successfully used for thermal insulation of foundations. True, to protect it from mechanical stress, a protective partition is needed. It is made either from boards, a cheaper, but also much less durable option, or from bricks (a half-brick wall).

Insulation of the foundation with foam

For loams and clay soils, insulation of the foundation with foam plastic is practically perfect option. Due to the fact that the foam almost does not absorb water, it protects the foundation from winter and spring heaving: it simply prevents water from seeping through and soaking into the foundation material. It is not recommended to use foam plastic only if flooding often occurs at a high level of groundwater: water can seep under the insulation layer, because it is almost impossible to achieve perfect tightness.

Scheme of foam insulation strip foundation

With a simple foundation geometry, foam boards are most often chosen. For middle lane In Russia, their thickness must be at least 5cm. But for better thermal insulation in the corners of the foundation it is better to lay slabs 10 cm thick - in these places the heat loss is the most significant.

Preparatory work on the insulation of the foundation with foam

Around the foundation, the soil is removed to the freezing depth (better - a little lower), the walls are cleaned and primed. You can buy a primer on the market, or make it yourself: you need molten bitumen, to which you need to add the same amount of diesel fuel or gasoline. Apply the resulting mixture to the foundation, wait for it to dry (about 1 hour). A layer of waterproofing must be applied to the foundation covered with a primer. It could be liquid rubber(applied with a brush) or rolled bituminous materials (surfacing using a torch). Then proceed to the installation of foam.

Installation of foam boards on the foundation

It is better to lay the bottom row of plates on a rigid base. If you are just planning a foundation, you can make a special ledge on which the foam plates will rest. If the foundation is already in place, but there is no ledge, gravel bedding, on which the foundation itself stands, can serve as an emphasis.

It is necessary to fix the foam plates either on bitumen-polymer mastic or polyurethane glue. But the glue should not contain acetone, gasoline and toluene, as they destroy polystyrene. The adhesive composition is applied pointwise or on the entire surface of the plate, but the joints must be glued. Some manufacturers make plates with an L-shaped lock (it also needs to be lubricated with adhesive), which makes the connection of the plates more tight and reliable. With such a connection, cold bridges are practically not formed and the tightness of the entire insulation becomes almost perfect.

Grooved foam (with a selected quarter) - avoids the appearance of cold bridges

Sometimes it is advised to lay the boards in two layers, shifting the seams relative to each other - in this way, losses through the joints of polystyrene boards are also reduced. But this method has opponents: they say that water will seep between the two layers of foam. Then the thermal insulation properties will deteriorate significantly. Such a probability, of course, exists, especially with vertical displacements of the soil (shrinkage), but it is difficult to judge how large it is.

After the foam is laid around the entire perimeter to the desired thickness, you need to apply another layer on top waterproofing material(all the same bituminous roll materials or liquid rubber). Above it is already possible to arrange a protective wall of brick. Sometimes boards are used. A good option is geotextiles. It also copes very well with loads from soils (it is laid under asphalt when constructing autobahns). Other options are possible. The main thing is to protect the foam from the load of soils.

The last stage of heat and waterproofing of the foundation (this is exactly what happens as a result if foam is used) is a blind area device. In general, thermal insulation of the foundation with foam plastic is quite troublesome, but as a result, your foundation is protected from moisture, and you don’t have to worry about heaving soils, and spend much less on heating.

Insulation of the floor in the bath with foam

It is possible to insulate the floor in the bag with foam plastic, especially under the screed: the floor will be warm, and the foam is not afraid of moisture.

Foam floor insulation

To do this, the soil is leveled if it is loose, compacted and left for 30 days. Then 10 cm of medium-sized gravel are poured and compacted, on top - 10 cm of sand, which is also compacted. A polyethylene film is laid on the sand, and foam sheets are already on it. The sheets are fastened with locks, and coated with the same bitumen-polymer mastic or solvent-free polyurethane adhesive. A polyethylene film is again laid on top of the foam, on which a reinforcing mesh is laid. base under concrete screed ready. The floor will be quite reliable and will withstand any load if the thickness of the screed is at least 6 cm. In terms of the level of heat and moisture insulation, there are few equals to it.

Insulation of the floor in the bath with foam

Floor insulation with foam plastic between the lag

If you insulate the floors between the lags, then it is advisable to cut the foam plastic exactly to size, and blow out the inevitable cracks mounting foam: heat escapes significantly into the crack. In this case, it is possible to use any type of foam, including granular, because the boards will be laid on top, and the entire load will fall on them. To improve the waterproofing properties, a plastic film is also laid under the foam and on top of it. In a steam room, this option of floor insulation can hardly be used, but in a locker room or dressing room - completely.

Insulation of the floor in the bath with foam

Insulation of the roof of the bath with foam

It is possible to use foam plastic as a heater over the steam room only with the second layer: if a layer of clay is applied to the ceiling, expanded clay is poured or mineral wool is laid, foam plastic can become the next layer of the cake. But in this situation, it is necessary to make the vapor protection of the ceiling of very high quality, otherwise the steam will “get stuck” in the lower layer of thermal insulation. The ventilation in the room should also work at “five” - to remove this very steam. So, if there are other options for warming the roof of the bath - use them.

In order to clearly demonstrate how effective foam plastic is compared to other materials, we found the following data: 6 cm thick foam plastic replaces:

• mineral wool 11cm thick;
• tree - 19.5 cm;
• dry foam concrete - 50cm;
• brick wall 85cm;
• concrete 213.2 cm.

Impressive. It is so? But to insulate a bath, foam plastic should be used either for external insulation of walls and facades or for insulation of rooms without high temperatures. Please note that under the ceiling in the washing compartment, the temperature often reaches + 90 ° C, which is already almost critical for polystyrene.

The Russian banya is a tradition of the whole nation as a whole. It serves not only as a place for washing the body, but is also used as a place where a person rests with his soul, is cleansed of various thoughts. And besides, visiting the bath has a great effect on human health. In order for a visit to the bath to become as comfortable as possible, it is necessary to carefully take care of the arrangement of the entire structure as a whole. Moreover, special attention must be paid to the stage of insulation and waterproofing. In this article, we will talk about this type of insulation, like foam. A guide to insulating the ceiling in the bath is here:.

Can styrofoam be used?

In the event that it was decided to insulate the bath with foam, then you should apply this species insulation when installing external wall insulation. Only in this particular case, this type of insulation will work one hundred percent. But, it is worth considering the fact that this type of insulation almost completely loses its properties due to humidity. This affects the fact that the outer side of the building is insulated with foam plastic, although it is also often humid outside, therefore, you will need to take care of the waterproofing of the material. Read the instructions on how to make the insulation of a wooden bath.

Styrofoam is provided on the construction market in several versions:

• rolls;
• plates;
• in liquid form.

Experts say that it is harmless to insulate a bath with foam, but only if the foam is not used to insulate the steam room. When the material is exposed to high temperatures, it releases toxic substances that can have Negative influence on human health. Therefore, foam plastic can be used, but only as an external insulation or for warming the dressing room. Read an overview of the types of doors for a wooden bath.

If we talk about polystyrene, then it is impossible to ignore such a type of Russian bath as a frame bath. At the moment, such buildings are practically not popular in Russia. Although in fact such baths are among the most affordable.

And besides, in order to build such a bath, it will be necessary to spend half the time than when building a bath from brick or timber. It turns out that if the savings are not enough to build a bath, then this option will be ideal.

Most important point lies in the fact that the structure of the frame type can be arranged with my own hands in just three or four days.

As for insulation, it is carried out even at the construction stage. To do this, it will be necessary to form a crate and a ceiling with walls. Yes, and the floors are actually prepared in the same way. Read the instructions on how to make a brick bath insulation.

But initially it is necessary to insulate the surface of the walls and ceiling. It is easier to insulate walls, because the insulation is mounted directly into the frame of the building. The only thing to consider when insulating walls is to use a thicker type of foam with a high level of density. Therefore, it will be necessary to calculate the structure frame itself.

Floor insulation with foam

Styrofoam is a material that has an incredible amount of positive qualities, such as:

In addition, this type of insulation simply fits under any type of floor, regardless of whether it is a concrete screed or wooden floors.

Penoplex as well as expanded polystyrene is a very comfortable material for any type of construction. The main thing you need to know is that the thickness of the material and its density should be taken into account. Depending on the installation location, use different types material.

Penoplex has excellent technical specifications, it can even be used as an intermediate layer of insulation when building a foundation.

Ceiling insulation with foam

In order to insulate the surface of the ceiling with foam, panels with a thickness of 20-40 millimeters should be used. In order to lay the material in a dense layer, it is necessary to form chamfers around the perimeter of each sheet. This material is an ideal material for thermal insulation of ceilings and roofs, because it has a low weight and high technical qualities.

Insulation of a bath from foam blocks from the inside

As for the premises of the steam room, foam blocks are often used for its insulation. high density, because this type of material is less active than other insulation in this category and is more durable.
In order to insulate the walls of the bath with foam blocks from the inside, they should be laid between the wall panels, so that they fill most of the space inside, the distance from the beam to the material should be about 7-13 centimeters.

Attention! In any case, in order to do everything right, it will be necessary to carefully waterproof all surfaces.

Penofol insulation

This type of insulation is suitable for isolating the room from steam and moisture. Also, it is often used in order to carry out the thermal insulation of the room.

It is also necessary to know the fact that such material is easy to use and install. And besides, it has a high level of wear resistance and reliability. Also, according to experts, penofol is a very affordable material.

Insulation with polyurethane foam

In the event that the owner of the building intends to use foamed polyurethane as a material for insulation, you need to know that this type of insulation can only be installed using metal brackets, nails or self-tapping screws.

Video

According to experienced professionals, the quality of the bath, standing on suburban area directly depends on the amount of money invested in its device. Moreover, the stage with the insulation of the structure has almost the most important role.

It goes without saying that you can constantly argue over how and with what material to insulate the bath. One thing is clear, if it was decided to insulate it, then you definitely need to start insulating the bath from the outside, this is the only way to achieve maximum comfort.

And a bath is a room in which the disappearance of even one percent of the desired temperature is noticeable, so the insulation of the ceiling here becomes a priority.

Styrofoam as an option for insulation

With any type of room insulation, many now prefer foam. This material is valued:

• ease;
• compactness;
• ease of installation;
• low cost.

How effective is such insulation and in what cases should only foam be used?

Insulation of the bath ceiling with foam plastic and nothing else for you necessary if:

1. The ceilings of the room are very low and making them even lower is inappropriate and illogical.
2. In rooms where a material that does not absorb moisture is needed.

Efficiency of foam insulation- a fact proven by time. Heat saving increases many times, there is no accumulation of condensate, there is no mold, insects do not start.

Pros and cons of the material

Styrofoam- nothing more than foamed polymers that formed capsules with gas at high temperatures and retained their shape when cooled.

As a substance formed with the help of gas, foam has a number of excellent thermal insulation properties:

• ease;
• moisture resistance;
• durability;
• soundproofing;
• resistance to shrinkage.

In addition, in the price lists, foam consistently occupies a position among the cheapest building materials. Just what you need for economical and fast warming.

However, don't get too enamored and think Styrofoam is perfect. Of course, it also has disadvantages, but to pay or not pay attention to the shortcomings of this heater is your choice.

The disadvantages of foam are:

• flammability (due to the nature of its formation - with the help of gas);
• not too long service life, which may be further reduced due to a violation of the installation technology;
• unsuitability for warming wooden rooms. In practice, this is possible, but only if there is high-quality ventilation;
• brittleness;
• release during combustion of toxic substances that can cause paralysis of the respiratory tract;
• poor quality of some brands of foam produced in artisanal conditions.

Are styrofoam and polystyrene the same thing?

Insulation of the ceiling of the bath with polystyrene foam can be somewhat diversified, while maintaining the fidelity of the choice of this particular material.

You could not help but hear about an improved form of foam - polystyrene foam. In fact, these are the same plates of capsules filled with a gaseous substance, only stronger, stronger, better.

Let's analyze Styrofoam quality:

• it is not as fragile as polystyrene, even with not very careful transportation, the corners of the polystyrene foam plate remain intact;
• this material does not ignite as quickly as foam filled with highly combustible gas;
• the operational life of polystyrene foam is from 15 to 35 years, polystyrene foam is from 10 to 20.

As for the price, expanded polystyrene is only 5-10% more expensive than its "big brother".

Technology

No matter how good the material is, failure to comply with the accuracy of the installation technology may eventually adversely affect the quality of heat saving.

Therefore, having prepared desired material, carefully read the step by step instructions.

Frame mounting

Required:

• foam sheets;
• metal profile or wooden bars 50x50;
• vapor barrier film.

Stages:

1. Clean the ceiling of dirt and dust, eliminate irregularities, if any. Treat the surface with an antiseptic.
2. Remove wiring. To do this, use a special protective corrugation.
3. Attach bars or a profile to the ceiling at a distance of 50 cm. Make sure that the shape of the attached bars takes the form of a large cage, each cell of which should correspond in size to a foam sheet.
4. Mount the foam with dowels or glue.
5. Treat joints and cracks with mounting foam.
6. Attach a vapor barrier to the insulation.
7. In conclusion, take care of the installation of drywall, wood or other material that matches the overall interior.

Adhesive mounting option

Required:

• foam sheets in an amount corresponding to the total area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe ceiling;
• adhesive compound.

Stages:

1. Clean the ceiling, treat it with an antiseptic and prime it for a better bond between the adhesive and the surface.
2. Prepare the adhesive composition or use a ready-made one.
3. Apply glue to a sheet of foam (in continuous lines along the edge and slaps in the center of the plate). Press the styrofoam sheet as tightly as possible to the ceiling and hold for a few seconds.
4. If you insulate the ceiling with polystyrene foam, then all sheets should be prepared in advance: scratch with an iron brush on the working side (the one on which you will apply the adhesive).
5. Start gluing the sheets from the middle of the ceiling in a checkerboard pattern.
6. For greater reliability, foam sheets after the glue has dried can be additionally attached with dowels.
7. Glue the armnet on top of the foam and putty.

So is it worth it to insulate with foam?

And yet, there is an opinion among experts that all the disadvantages of polystyrene are more far-fetched than real.

The popularity of foam sheets among developers is unmatched. And if we talk about insulation as a low-cost, simple and fast process, then it is hardly possible to find a material better than it.

Insulation of the bath ceiling with foam plastic can be carried out without problems by a non-professional, a person who first started repair work.

However, when buying foam boards you need to be very careful so as not to bring a pile of small balls instead of whole sheets. Use products from trusted manufacturers only.

Styrofoam began to be produced not so long ago, in the 50s of the XX century. It consists of air bubbles enclosed in the thinnest shell of polystyrene. Since most of the material is air (up to 98% depending on the brand), the foam has excellent thermal insulation characteristics and is therefore often used as a heater.

Its popularity is due not only to heat-insulating properties. There is a whole list of positive qualities:

• Durability - up to 50 years under normal conditions and up to 20 years in severe conditions (with large temperature differences);
• Hydrophobicity. Styrofoam absorbs up to 0.2% moisture per day, i.e. You can tell it doesn't absorb it at all.
• Biological neutrality and stability. The temperature regime at which the material remains stable (does not collapse and does not emit any substances) is from -60 ° C to +95 ° C. The safety of foam plastic is confirmed by the fact that products made from it use food packaging, are used in children's toys. These are two industries in which the safety of the materials used has recently received a lot of attention. And no one ever talked about the dangers of Styrofoam.
• Low price. However, very cheap offers should be treated with caution: products must have certificates. Incorrectly manufactured materials can be hazardous.
• Styrofoam is easy to work with. It is lightweight, cuts well, is easy to install, and does not require any additional protective equipment or devices.
• There is no environment for reproduction of fungi, disputes and bacteria, it is not damaged by insects.

It seems that everything is quite reasonable and understandable, but there are also negative properties: polystyrene is flammable and, when burned, releases substances dangerous to humans. This is true. But all burning materials release life-threatening substances. And in order to make the foam less dangerous in terms of fire safety, non-combustible additives have been added to it in recent decades. As a result, modern foam does not burn, but melts and is self-extinguishing, i.e. does not support combustion. Harmful substances from polystyrene are released not during heating, but during melting, i.e. when the temperature reaches above 95 ° C. It should also be noted that the spontaneous combustion temperature of the foam is more than +490 ° C (for wood +280 ° C). If you do not allow a fire, there will be no harmful emissions. At least that's what the manufacturers say. To believe them or not is a question, but no one has yet proven otherwise. And yet, polystyrene is harmful or not, whether to use it or not, everyone decides for himself.

Both the advantages and disadvantages of polystyrene include its complete impermeability to air and steam. This means that a good ventilation system must be designed for rooms and houses with foam insulation.

There is one more negative quality of this material: its weak resistance to mechanical stress. Since air bubbles are enclosed in the thinnest polymer shell, it is easily damaged, dents, scratches, etc. appear on blocks or plates at the points of impact. Therefore, if the foam is used to insulate the foundation or facade, additional reinforcement and / or protective coating is necessary.

From all of the above, we can conclude: it is possible to use polystyrene foam as a heater, but it is extremely undesirable to use it in the steam room of a Russian bath and, moreover, in a steam room of a Finnish sauna: the temperature conditions there are such that the thermal insulation may well warm up to 95 ° C and above, after which the foam will begin to lose its chemical stability.

In general, foam is recommended to be used for thermal insulation of walls outside, or walls inside the room, but which do not go outside. This is due to the high thermal insulation ability of the foam. If it is laid on the wall from the inside, then the outer wall will be almost completely insulated from heat, which will lead to a displacement inside the wall. That is, condensation will form inside the wall. In frost, it will freeze / thaw, which will lead to the rapid destruction of the material. Therefore, if the bath is insulated with foam, then only from the outside, or its internal partitions, but not from the side of the steam room.

Insulation of the walls of the bath with foam. It is better to insulate from the outside so that the dew point is in the insulation

The very insulation of the walls from the outside with foam plastic has very good reviews: it is cooler in the summer, warmer in the winter, the cost of maintaining a comfortable microclimate becomes less. Another plus: the room becomes noticeably quieter. But for normal well-being, a well-functioning ventilation system is important: excess moisture is not removed through the walls, and since many windows are plastic, then through the windows too. The only possible option remains: .

If we talk about a bath, then there is no need to insulate a wooden bath with foam plastic: wood itself has excellent heat-insulating properties. But a bathhouse made of bricks or insulated with foam plastic is very possible.

Since the foam has excellent thermal insulation abilities and is not afraid of moisture, it is successfully used for thermal insulation of foundations. True, to protect it from mechanical stress, a protective partition is needed. It is made either from boards, a cheaper, but also much less durable option, or from bricks (a half-brick wall).

For loams and clay soils, insulation of the foundation with foam plastic is almost ideal. Due to the fact that the foam almost does not absorb water, it protects the foundation from winter and spring heaving: it simply prevents water from seeping through and soaking into the foundation material. It is not recommended to use foam plastic only if flooding often occurs at a high level of groundwater: water can seep under the insulation layer, because it is almost impossible to achieve perfect tightness.

With a simple foundation geometry, foam boards are most often chosen. For central Russia, their thickness should be at least 5 cm. But for better thermal insulation in the corners of the foundation, it is better to lay slabs 10 cm thick - in these places the heat loss is the most significant.

Preparatory work on the insulation of the foundation with foam

Around the foundation, the soil is removed to the freezing depth (better - a little lower), the walls are cleaned and primed. You can buy a primer on the market, or make it yourself: you need molten bitumen, to which you need to add the same amount of diesel fuel or gasoline. Apply the resulting mixture to the foundation, wait for it to dry (about 1 hour). A layer of waterproofing must be applied to the foundation covered with a primer. It can be liquid rubber (applied with a brush) or rolled bituminous materials (surfacing using a torch). Then proceed to the installation of foam.

Installation of foam boards on the foundation

It is better to lay the bottom row of plates on a rigid base. If you are just planning a foundation, you can make a special ledge on which the foam plates will rest. If the foundation is already in place, but there is no ledge, gravel bedding, on which the foundation itself stands, can serve as an emphasis.

It is necessary to fix the foam plates either on bitumen-polymer mastic or polyurethane glue. But the glue should not contain acetone, gasoline and toluene, as they destroy polystyrene. The adhesive composition is applied pointwise or on the entire surface of the plate, but the joints must be glued. Some manufacturers make plates with an L-shaped lock (it also needs to be lubricated with adhesive), which makes the connection of the plates more tight and reliable. With such a connection, cold bridges are practically not formed and the tightness of the entire insulation becomes almost perfect.

Grooved foam (with a selected quarter) - avoids the appearance of cold bridges

Sometimes it is advised to lay the boards in two layers, shifting the seams relative to each other - in this way, losses through the joints of polystyrene boards are also reduced. But this method has opponents: they say that water will seep between the two layers of foam. Then the thermal insulation properties will deteriorate significantly. Such a probability, of course, exists, especially with vertical displacements of the soil (shrinkage), but it is difficult to judge how large it is.

After the foam has been laid around the entire perimeter to the desired thickness, another layer of waterproofing material must be applied on top (all the same bituminous roll materials or liquid rubber). Above it is already possible to arrange a protective wall of brick. Sometimes boards are used. A good option is geotextiles. It also copes very well with loads from soils (it is laid under asphalt when constructing autobahns). Other options are possible. The main thing is to protect the foam from the load of soils.

The last stage of thermal and waterproofing of the foundation (this is exactly what happens as a result if you use foam plastic) is a blind area device. In general, thermal insulation of the foundation with foam plastic is quite troublesome, but as a result, your foundation is protected from moisture, and you don’t have to worry about heaving soils, and spend much less on heating.

It is possible to insulate the floor in the bag with foam plastic, especially under the screed: the floor will be warm, and the foam is not afraid of moisture.

Foam floor insulation

To do this, the soil is leveled if it is loose, compacted and left for 30 days. Then 10 cm of medium-sized gravel are poured and compacted, on top - 10 cm of sand, which is also compacted. A polyethylene film is laid on the sand, and foam sheets are already on it. The sheets are fastened with locks, and coated with the same bitumen-polymer mastic or solvent-free polyurethane adhesive. A polyethylene film is again laid on top of the foam, on which a reinforcing mesh is laid. The base for the concrete screed is ready. The floor will be quite reliable and will withstand any load if the thickness of the screed is at least 6 cm. In terms of heat and moisture insulation, there are few equals to it.

Floor insulation with foam plastic between the lag

If you insulate the floors between the lags, then it is advisable to cut the foam plastic exactly to size, and blow out the inevitable cracks with mounting foam: heat goes into the cracks significantly. In this case, it is possible to use any type of foam, including granular, because the boards will be laid on top, and the entire load will fall on them. To improve the waterproofing properties, a plastic film is also laid under the foam and on top of it. In a steam room, this option of floor insulation can hardly be used, but in a locker room or dressing room - completely.

Insulation of the roof of the bath with foam

It is possible to use polystyrene as a heater over the steam room only with the second layer: if a layer of clay is applied to the ceiling, expanded clay is poured or mineral wool is laid, the foam can become the next layer of the cake. But in this scenario, you need to make the ceiling very high quality, otherwise the steam will “get stuck” in the lower layer of thermal insulation. The ventilation in the room should also work at “five” - to remove this very steam. So, if there are other options for warming the roof of the bath - use them.

In order to clearly demonstrate how effective foam plastic is compared to other materials, we found the following data: 6 cm thick foam plastic replaces:

• mineral wool 11cm thick;
• tree - 19.5 cm;
• dry foam concrete - 50cm;
• brick wall 85cm;
• concrete 213.2 cm.

Impressive. It is so? But to insulate a bath, foam plastic should be used either for external insulation of walls and facades or for insulation of rooms without high temperatures. Please note that under the ceiling in the washing compartment, the temperature often reaches +90 ° C, which is already almost critical for polystyrene.