Warm attic: do-it-yourself video installation instructions, features of floor insulation with foam plastic, expanded clay, price, photo

Oddly enough, but providing a warm attic is one of the easiest tasks when insulating a house. All the necessary construction has already been prepared by the construction itself, you just need to figure out the materials.

On the other hand, attic insulation is one of the most necessary tasks. All the heat from the house will rise up and simply be pulled out if the attic is not insulated.

Insulating the attic is a very important task of warming the whole house.

Content

Work with the maximum ratio of simplicity and necessity

Successful insulation of a private attic house is impossible without doing a lot of work with the installation of an insulated roof

Of course, when insulating, it will not be possible to do without special materials inside, but first we advise you not to forget about auxiliary external operations:

it is important to provide the roof with a ventilation duct with air outlet through the roof ridge;
be sure to carry out the insulation of the entire external volume under the tiles;
if there is a window in the attic, then carefully insulate it around the entire perimeter.

Helpful advice!
We advise you to treat the window opening with utmost attention.
If the window is not new, then it is better to replace it with a double-glazed window.
If the window is located at an angle on the slope of the roof, then install a special window for attics.
If the attic will be used permanently as a separate room, then we advise you to consider the possibility of laying general heating pipes here and installing radiators.

materials

The main role in the insulation will be played by correctly selected materials.

The following options are possible:

Styrofoam. Attic insulation with foam plastic is quite common, the material is simple, affordable and cheap. However, we do not recommend using it. It does not meet fire safety standards and is toxic. The attic is also high humidity, especially since foam plastic does not belong here.
Chipboards. Fiberboard can serve as a replacement for foam - it's still cheap, but it has good sound insulation and resistance to temperature extremes. Fiberboard is inferior to foam in terms of insulation, but is very easy to install with ordinary nails and a hammer.
Glass wool.Incombustibility, non-toxicity, low thermal conductivity have long earned fame for this material. But it’s too inconvenient to work with him - in no case can you do without special clothes, which you then have to throw away, a respirator and glasses.
Mineral wool. This material based on basalt chips can be considered the most successful choice as a heater for attics. The material is environmentally friendly and has good sound insulation. Perhaps its price is higher than the rest, but the difference is not at all an obstacle to use, given the availability and positive properties.

Front of works

Before even proceeding to the choice of material, it is necessary to designate for yourself the scope of future work.

In its maximum form, it is presented in the diagram:

A - rafters and sheathing of a pitched roof - these are the structures that are designed to hold the insulation boards;
B - vapor barrier - an indispensable element of the entire multilayer insulation structure, if possible, it is desirable to place the first layer of insulation even under the rafters and lay the insulation on it;
C - attic window, if you installed a special roof window, then you don’t have to take special care of its insulation, “everything is included” in the window design itself;
D - rails for fastening - they are desirable, but may not be needed if you choose the right width of the insulation panels exactly according to the distances between the rafters, then the panels will hold perfectly and by tension;

You can do everything with your own hands, you just need to prioritize and plan the distribution of materials (see description in the text)

Helpful advice!
We advise you to take a closer look at this method of fixing the insulation between the rafters - due to the tension force and no additional fasteners.
But to successfully solve the problem in this way, an accurate calculation of the width of the panels will be required - they must go into tightness, but in no case deform the structure of the rafters.

E - drywall sheathing with a claim to the finish coating, but you can leave the attic without such a coating at all if you are not going to use it constantly, or clad it later with another material;
F - plasterboard walls - the entire area of \u200b\u200bthe attic, including vertical walls, is subject to insulation;
G - metal frame made of plasterboard partitions; this is a good idea - "divide and conquer" - as one of the ways of warming, take it into service;
H - sheathing of a plasterboard partition and a heater between its two sides;
I - insulation on the floor, if there are logs, then mineral wool, if only a flat plank floor, then a dry warm leveling screed is perfect.

In the photo, the initial state of what you have to work with is rafters, logs, raw floor boards, then you can already start warming

Work progress

The entire course of work can be divided into a number of independent actions that can be performed in any sequence and, importantly, at any time, as needed, so as not to turn the attic into a steam room.

So let's prioritize:

First you need to do the ceiling and this is what is done first.
Then we insulate the walls. Also an urgent operation, but the amount of work on the walls largely depends on the design of the roof.There may be no walls at all, or they may smoothly merge into the roof or floor.
It's the floor's turn. If the floor is even and the ceiling of the living rooms is insulated below, then the insulation of the attic floor can wait. If the logs have already been laid, then nothing prevents you from even starting to insulate the attic with expanded clay. This material is used for warming the floors of basements and first floors, but can also be used in the attic.

Insulation options

It all depends on the design of the attic, but the two most famous methods are as follows:

Laying thermal insulation panels between the joists and rafters.
Here we do not forget about a few nuances:

- waterproofing is laid from below and there is a gap of at least 2 mm from it to the insulation panel.
- the thickness of the panels exactly corresponds to the height of the rafters, so that they do not have to be built up or create unacceptable voids above the insulation.
- the rafters themselves are the fixatives of the insulation.
- do not allow the insulation to sag, this can lead to a violation of the waterproofing and swelling of damp cotton wool.

The attic floor or walls are being insulated, the main idea remains unchanged - it is necessary to create a reliable multilayer structure

Helpful advice!
If in the attic there are rafters from a metal profile and in terms of laying between a heater, do not use anchor hangers to fasten the profile.
Only straight lines with a denser installation step - no more than 30 cm will be needed (in other situations, 60 cm is quite suitable).
The reason for this order is that the maximum permissible load of anchor hangers is 25 kg, and straight lines - 40.

The second way is to use complex thermal insulation with waterproofing.This method is applicable on both sides of the rafters, but it has one difficulty - it requires especially careful implementation of the vapor barrier due to the restrictions created in the air exchange.

Helpful advice!
If you chose fiberboard for floor insulation, then first lay two layers of roofing material.

Strive to ensure that the insulation is fixed between the lags on its own without additional adhesive tapes and staples

Possible mistakes

Pay special attention to the completeness and consistency of all work performed. Violation of these two principles is the most common mistake.

Other possible errors include:

Violation of ventilation. Make sure that the gap between the roof tiles and the external waterproofing is at least 4 cm.
The film of hydroprotection is fixed directly on a heater. A gap of 2 cm or more is required. Only in this case, the condensate will erode, and not pass into the insulation.

The insulation instruction necessarily includes well-thought-out ventilation, the scheme of which must be created at the earliest stages of construction.

conclusions

Let's not forget this "law from a school textbook" - warm air rises, and cold air goes down. If warm is constantly squandered at the top, then you will constantly feel below that it is “pulling from above”.

If the attic for you is only a place to play hide and seek, then the work requires only a struggle for warmth, without beauty, which is done quite quickly. If you want to make a decent attic out of the attic, then you can’t do without finishing operations after insulation.

Often, such a design, even without a finish coating, is enough. And then, it might be worth thinking about a water heating system, but this is already in “special cases” — Often, such a design, even without a finish coating, is enough.And then, it might be worth thinking about a water heating system, but this is already in “special cases”

A warm attic is a prerequisite for comfort in the house. There are quite a lot of tasks performed when insulating an attic. Therefore, collect all the material available to you on this topic in order to have a complete picture. A good touch to it will be the additional video in this article, which summarizes all possible situations.

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