Roofing pie for a cold attic. Attic technology Temperature conditions of a cold attic

There are two types of attic space - a cold attic and a combined attic or attic. In a cold attic, insulation is laid horizontally across the attic floor, and the temperature inside the cold attic is about the same as outside.

The temperature inside a cold attic should not exceed 4 °C outside air temperature (rules and standards for the technical operation of housing stock, decree No. 170 of September 27, 2003, clause 3.3.2), i.e. if the temperature outside is -15 °C, then in the attic it should be no more than -11 °C. If this difference is greater, then, for example, at an outside temperature of -5 ° C, the slope will heat up, the snow on the roof will melt and flow onto the eaves. The cornice will not heat up, because... there is no warm room underneath, and the water on it will turn into ice, forming icicles. How more ice will form on the eaves, the greater the chance of leakage, the higher the load on the roof and the higher the risk of ice breaking, which can lead to tragic consequences. All this reduces the service life of both the roofing covering and the roof as a whole.

Rice. 1 Ventilation of a cold attic.

To ensure normal temperature conditions in a cold attic, it is necessary, first of all, to insulate the floor between the attic and the living space. The thickness of the insulation is calculated based on several parameters, the main one of which is the location of the house. The second most important criterion for maintaining the temperature regime of the attic space is under-roof ventilation.

In addition to insulation and ventilation, the temperature regime of the attic space is affected by: uninsulated hatch covers for access to the attic, ventilation pipes for rooms (kitchen, bathroom) leading into the attic space, uninsulated hot water supply located in the attic, etc.

Roofing pie for a cold attic can be divided into two parts. The first part is along the floor between the attic and the living space. The second part is along the slope.

The first part of the roofing pie, depending on the type of ceiling, looks like this:

Rice. 2 Pie on the concrete floor.

Rice. 3 Pie on a wooden floor.

The vapor barrier serves to prevent moisture from entering the room into the insulation. On a concrete base, it is best to use bitumen roll material with fused overlaps. A film vapor barrier is used along the joists with the obligatory gluing of the overlaps with sealing tapes. As a vapor barrier, it is necessary to use vapor barrier films D-Folie B, D-Folie B 90 or D-Folie BR.

The insulation is laid in several layers with joints spaced apart to eliminate cold bridges.

The hydro-windproof membrane protects against heat loss and moisture ingress. Moisture can form due to condensation, snow blown into the attic space, and also due to possible leaks. Superdiffusion membranes D-Folie A 150 or D-Folie A 100 must be used as hydrowind protection.

In any case, regardless of the type of ceiling, it is not recommended to cover the insulation on top entirely with plywood or boards. If you occasionally need to walk through the attic space, it is better to provide paths from boards without covering all the insulation.

The second part of the roofing pie using flexible tiles in a cold attic looks like this:

Rice. 4 Roofing pie for a cold attic.

dockpie.ru

How to arrange a roofing pie under a soft roof: general principles and analysis of construction options

To an uninitiated person in the intricacies of construction, the roof appears in the form of an accessible coating that protects his household from weather adversity. In fact, this is a complex structure, each element of which must flawlessly perform the work assigned to it. The components are laid in layers like a culinary product that shares its name with the roofing system. Layers are laid in a certain order, violation of which threatens a noticeable decrease in consumer characteristics. The service life of the roof and the heating technology of the house as a whole depend on how correctly the roofing pie is constructed for a soft roof.

Types of soft roofing structures

Roofing pie is a generalized technical term that combines a number of structures with a similar “layered” structure. The combination of layers should protect the home owners from atmospheric attacks and protect the internal filling of the pie from premature deterioration.

The standard structure of a roofing pie includes the following required components:

Vapor barrier. Prevents the penetration of vapors from the interior of the house and the condensation of moisture on the building materials used in the construction of the roof;
Thermal insulation. Helps retain heat, protects against noise, winds, and cold temperatures coming from outside;
Waterproofing. Prevents the penetration of rainwater and melted winter precipitation into both the roof structure and the building;
Decorative coating, which simultaneously performs the work of wind protection.

The category of soft roofs includes materials with excellent waterproofing qualities. These include bitumen roll representatives, piece analogues, mastics and a new generation of membranes. A couple of decades ago they served only as a barrier against water, but now they also successfully play the role of decorative coatings. This is due to the improved external surface and the development of installation methods that allow super-thin materials to be attached to any type of base.

Combination of insulating and decorative properties made it possible to reduce the number of main layers in the roofing pie to 3, if one of the types of rolled materials is used for arranging the roof.

When laying bitumen shingles, waterproofing is not completely abandoned. However, it is laid as an additional waterproof layer and covers the roof either completely, if the slope of the slopes does not exceed 18º, or partially in strips along the overhangs, along the ridge and valleys, around pipes and at junctions on roofs with slopes steeper than 18º.

The following list of main roofing layers has the character general recommendations. In fact, it is refined by reducing or adding functional elements, because the scheme for forming an ideal roofing structure is influenced by a number of significant circumstances, such as:

type and purpose of the object being developed, i.e. is it a residential building or a domestic structure;
temporary or permanent use, determining the use or rejection of thermal insulation;
the shape of the roof and the steepness of its slopes, directly related to the choice of materials for the roofing;
type of base for installing a pie and laying a soft roof;
the presence of an exploited or unexploited attic;
regional climatic features, according to which the thickness of thermal insulation is determined;
compatibility of construction layers, because in case of incompatibility, separation or migration layers will be required.

A well-designed soft roof pie is constructed taking into account the entire range of the listed conditions. Without information about the specifics of the project, no one will give exact recommendations, but it is worth familiarizing yourself with the principle of construction, regardless of whether you will build the cake yourself or hired roofers will do its installation.

Principles of constructing a roofing pie

Let's look at the most common pie designs for soft roofing used in private construction. Flat and low pitched roofing structures They are rarely built over low-rise buildings. However, there are adherents of the strict cubic forms of the techno or high-tech style, and their numbers are steadily growing. Most often, flat roofs are erected over bay windows, attached terraces, utility compartments of the building, garages, etc. They are covered with bitumen-polymer materials or a membrane, laid on reinforced concrete floors or a base made of galvanized profiled sheet.

The most popular in private construction is bituminous shingles, used in the construction of pitched roofs with a slope of 12º or more. It is used mainly to cover the rafter system erected both above dachas and country houses. Let's start with it.

Roofing pie for flexible tiles

Soft tiles are used to cover buildings with cold attics and houses with insulated attics, the designs of which, of course, have radical differences. In the first case, there is no need to use insulation, in the second, thermal insulation is a mandatory component. Both options require a continuous sheathing made of antiseptic-treated boards, sheets of moisture-resistant plywood or OSB-3 oriented strand boards.

The simplest non-insulated option

The scheme for laying a soft roof over an uninsulated attic is extremely simple:

a counter beam installed across the rafters is nailed to the rafter legs. The recommended size of the beam is 50x50; it is attached with two rough nails to each rafter beam. The installation pitch of the counter beam depends on the pitch between the rafters. If the standard distance is 0.7-0.9 m, the block is nailed after 30 cm;
slabs of continuous sheathing are laid on the counterbeam in a staggered manner so that there are no cross-shaped connections between them. The edges of the slabs should rest on the counter-lattice elements. Fasten the slabs every 15 cm with rough nails to the block;
A self-adhesive waterproofing carpet is laid, the installation of which is carried out depending on the steepness of the slopes. When the slope is 18º or more, only the slopes, ridge, valleys, junction areas and pipe passages through the roof are covered with waterproofing. Less steep roofs are completely covered with an insulating carpet;
Soft tiles are installed on top of the waterproofing barrier.

If a continuous sheathing is constructed from boards, then the need for a counter-lattice is automatically eliminated. The boards are fastened directly to the rafter legs and laid with a gap of 3 mm between the elements.

Installation of an insulated roof

The pie for an insulated roof is much more complicated. Its design is complemented by thermal insulation. And if it exists, then you will need a vapor barrier material that protects the insulation from moisture accumulation. The result of moistening is a decrease in insulating characteristics and the accompanying processes of rotting with subsequent destruction. Ventilation is also needed to remove condensation from under the roofing, which is unable to pass drops dangerous to wood on its own.

Scheme for laying layers of roofing pie for insulated pitched roof, which involves the operation of the attic, is as follows:

With inside rafter system is attached directly to the rafters with a stapler vapor barrier membrane. It is laid parallel to the overhangs in strips from bottom to top. The strips are connected into a single web with double-sided tape;
according to the vapor barrier installed, again on the inside, a counter-lattice is constructed from a bar, the installation step of which depends on the material of the planned internal lining attics. For example, under plasterboard sheathing, it is advisable to place the sheathing bars at a distance of 40 or 60 cm;

With outside roofs, auxiliary struts are mounted between the rafter beams. They are required to hold the insulation boards. Place the spacers in increments 2-3cm smaller than the height thermal insulation board. So it is necessary that the thermal insulation is firmly fixed in the compartments created for it, “straightening out” after slight compression during the installation process;
The resulting semblance of a honeycomb is filled with heat-insulating material, the thickness of which should be 3-5 cm less than the thickness rafter legs. This necessary condition for proper ventilation of the roofing pie;
the counter-lattice is constructed again. It is nailed to the rafters along their direction to form ventilation ducts - roof vents;
a continuous sheathing is attached to the outer counter-lattice, on top of which an additional waterproofing carpet is laid;
soft tiles are laid.

To install a warm roof with soft tiles in the northern regions, sometimes the thickness of mineral wool insulation of 15 cm is not enough - a generally accepted standard for the middle zone. Then, on the outside, first a tier of counter beams is installed transverse to the rafters for laying the second layer of insulation, then a beam is installed along the rafters for installation of a continuous counter batten.

If you lay it down bitumen shingles they are planned on top of low slopes constructed from reinforced concrete slabs or arranged by means of a slope with cement-sand screed poured on top; the vapor barrier is laid on a concrete or cement-sand surface. On top of the vapor barrier, a board is installed on the edge in increments of up to 90 cm, and then the required number of tiers of counter-lattice.

Roofing pie with wooden elements cannot be closely adjacent to chimney pipes. The required distance from the pipe walls can be found in SNiP 41-01-2003. The empty space is filled with non-flammable mineral wool material, and an apron made of galvanized or laminated metal is installed outside around the pipes.

Stages and principles of constructing a roofing pie under soft tiles will present a video:

Roofing pie for rolled materials

For the arrangement of roofs with a slight angle of inclination of the slopes, with a spread from 1º to 12º, bitumen-polymer materials or roofing membranes. It just doesn't make much sense to install custom shingles on them. And the patterned aesthetics of flexible tiles on flat and almost flat roofs will delight only birds.

There are no significant differences in the set of layers for piece and roll material. The sequence is similar: vapor barrier → insulation → hydrobarrier - also known as decorative coating and wind protection. However, the installation of a roofing pie has its own specifics. Continuous sheathing and counter beams are not used. The layers are laid without auxiliary wooden elements on concrete floors, cement-sand screeds, corrugated sheets, prefabricated leveling structures. Therefore, we focus attention not on the sequence of installation actions, but on the installation features.

Principles of vapor barrier design

The following materials serve as a vapor barrier layer for laying roll materials:

bitumen and bitumen-polymer vapor barrier, fused onto a concrete or cement-sand base, including cement-sand insulation with vermiculite, expanded clay, perlite in the form of filler in case of a slope slope of more than 6º. If the slope is less, bitumen vapor barrier can be laid without gluing or fusing to the base.;
polyethylene reinforced or non-reinforced vapor barrier, laid loosely along the corrugations of the profiled sheet or glued to it if the slopes are inclined more than 6º.

In the construction of a soft roof using prefabricated screeds made of plywood or OSB boards, any type can be used vapor barrier material, but the recommended option is a bitumen-polymer vapor barrier with a polyester fabric base. However, it is also not forbidden to place polyethylene on a concrete surface, but before this you should create a separating layer of glassine.

The vapor barrier layer is laid in the form of a kind of pallet with an entrance to vertical planes adjacent walls and parapets. The height of the sides of the pallet is calculated as follows: the thickness of the thermal insulation layer plus 3-5 cm. Similar sides are installed around the intersection of the roof with chimney pipes and other communications.

Both vapor barrier options must be combined into a continuous sheet. Strips of bitumen and bitumen-polymer material are laid with an overlap of 8-10 cm on the sides and 15 cm at the end joints and welded with a gas torch. The connection of polyethylene strips is made using adhesive tape.

Rules for laying thermal insulation

You can insulate a soft roof with a roll covering using literally any material, but mineral wool boards and foam polystyrene are considered priority. On concrete bases and cement-sand screeds, the insulation system is laid in one tier, on corrugated sheeting in two so that the joints of the elements of the upper row are not located above the joints of the lower layer.

Rigidity mineral wool for single-layer insulation 40 kPa at a compressibility of 10%. To construct two-tier thermal insulation, it is not necessary to use slabs with equal rigidity. The bottom row can be folded with material with a strength rating of 30 kPa, the top row 60 kPa.

If a polymer membrane is used as a waterproofing and decorative roofing covering, a separating layer of fiberglass or geotextile must be laid between it and the polystyrene thermal insulation. Otherwise, the membrane will lose its consumer qualities before the time guaranteed by the manufacturer due to the gradual migration of plasticizers into the adjacent material. A separating layer is also required when installing an inverted ballast roof if polymer coating spreads over the bitumen vapor barrier layer.

Laying mineral wool slabs on corrugated sheets without preliminary construction of a prefabricated screed from plywood or OSB sheets can be done if the thickness of the thermal insulation is twice as large as the distance between adjacent corrugations. If reality does not meet this condition, a prefabricated screed is constructed before laying the insulation.

The installation of thermal insulation under a roll covering requires compliance with the following rules:

the thermal insulation material is attached separately from the covering laid on top;
at mechanically fastening, each thermal insulation board and its individual part is fixed at two points. The insulation is fastened to the corrugated sheet using steel self-tapping screws with a plastic sleeve in the shape of a fungus. Plastic bushings are not used if the slope of the slopes is more than 10º. In any case, they are attached to the concrete base with screws with dowels and metal plates;
The insulation boards are glued to bitumen-polymer mastic. Gluing is possible if the area of the surface “planted” on the adhesive composition is at least 30% of the area of the insulating board;
Insulation boards are laid with mandatory seam spacing so that weak areas are distributed evenly. Elements of the second tier, if there is one, are shifted relative to the first by at least 20 cm, both along the side and end lines;
seams in insulating carpets wider than 5mm must be filled with heat-insulating material.

The use of rigid insulation is justified economically and technologically. It allows you not to install a screed on top of the insulation, which is mandatory for fill-in thermal insulation.

If necessary, construct a roof slope to completely free the surface from atmospheric water and dirt, thermal insulation is supplemented with slope-forming devices. Most often they are made from wedge-shaped slabs of mineral wool or similar polystyrene foam parts, less often from backfill insulation followed by filling cement screed. A slope on a concrete base can also be done by pouring cement and sand, which is unacceptable for forming a slope on a base made of a profiled sheet.

Additional layers roofing material

An additional barrier against atmospheric water is installed in areas of high load. It is laid in strips along the ridge, overhangs and junctions with fillets constructed in advance, in valleys, around penetrations and points of internal drainage. It is constructed either from strips of bitumen-polymer roofing coating, or from a special self-adhesive hydrobarrier.

The construction of the roofing pie is completed by laying the rolled covering and fixing it by fusing, gluing or fastening with self-tapping screws with bushings or plates.

The presented schemes for constructing a roofing pie do not contain precise recommendations. We brought general rules, taking into account which will ensure flawless operation and long service life of the roof in middle lane. In the case of construction in northern latitudes, the proposed options require modification.

krovlyaikrysha.ru

What is an attic

The attic space is limited by the roof slopes and the ceiling of the residential floor. This place is often used to create additional living space.

There are two types of attics in private households:

Residential. It is called an attic. It can be equipped with a living room, study, bedroom, library, etc. The height of the room in this case should be at least 220 centimeters. In addition, it is necessary to provide ventilation, natural lighting, and insulate the slopes.
Non-residential. This attic space is usually used to accommodate technical equipment, storing old or unnecessary things. In this case, a 2-meter height will be sufficient, and there is no need to provide natural lighting. Instead of insulating slopes, they make thermal insulation attic floor.

When making a decision to repair or rebuild a house, you need to decide in advance for what purpose the attic will be used in order to make calculations and a design for the floor. The list depends on this necessary materials and the gap between the beams. They must provide the required strength and load-bearing capacity.

Functional purpose of floors

The design of the attic floor depends on the parameters of the structure and the purposes for which it is planned to use the under-roof space. The attic functions as a kind of air gap that separates the cold roof from the heated floors.

The floor in the attic performs a number of tasks:

carrier. On the ceiling located between the upper residential floor and attic space, is assigned a load-bearing function, so it is made reliable and durable, since people will move on it, they plan to place equipment on it and arrange storage areas;
insulating. In a cold attic, the temperature differs little from that outside the house. In this case, the floors in the attic have a thermal insulating function, thereby preventing the air from cooling on the residential floors. To retain heat, the attic floor needs to be insulated. It is advisable to entrust such work to professionals.

Features of the device and design of floors

Since attic floors perform two functions - load-bearing and insulating, they have a multi-layer structure. Each of the elements of the “pie” complements each other, which ensures the created structure has a long service life, strength and the ability to withstand heavy loads.

The construction of the floor in the attic requires the presence of the following layers:

Finish floor. This name is given to the floor covering, which is laid on a rough base. If it is an attic, then when installing the finished floor, linoleum, laminate, parquet, etc. are laid. IN non-residential premises the finishing floor covering may be missing.
Rough base. It is a boardwalk that is mounted on logs. The subfloor is lined with edged boards 4–5 centimeters thick or, to save money, with unedged boards.
Lags. These are durable, smooth wooden elements, laid perpendicular to the floor beams to create a floor covering. When installing an attic floor on wooden beams, insulation is placed between the joists, which is protected from below with a layer of vapor barrier, and covered with waterproofing material on top. If you do not use insulating layers, then repairs will be required in a few years.
Beams. The frame of the floors is built from thick and strong beams, which are either mounted on the projections of the walls or built into them. They must support the entire weight of the structure.
Headlining. From the side of the rooms, the ceilings are decorated finishing material, for example, natural wood or plasterboard.

Types of attic floors

To construct the ceiling of a cold attic, materials differing in weight, durability, cost and load-bearing capacity are used.

There are several types of floors depending on what they are made of:

Wooden elements. For their manufacture, you can use beams with a cross-section of 150x150 or 200x200 millimeters. The advantage of this option is that wood is quite durable and at the same time relatively light material, so wooden elements do not put additional load on the foundation of the house. Besides this, their big advantage can be called low price and availability. But such an attic floor is used when the size of the building does not exceed 6 -10 meters, since it maximum length lumber.
Metal products. Metal I-beams are distinguished by their strength and ability to withstand heavy weight without deformation. But they weigh a fair amount, so they are rarely used in wooden houses, but for brick and aerated concrete buildings they are the best option.
Reinforced concrete products. Molded floor beams made from reinforced heavy-duty concrete are used to multi-storey buildings, since they are heavier and the same length.

Of all the above types of floors, in private low-rise housing construction, in most cases, preference is given to wooden beams. They have optimal ratio between price and quality. If the calculations are carried out correctly and the technology is followed, repairs to the ceiling will not be required in the coming years.

Requirements for the device of the pie

Since the safety of staying in the house depends on the quality of installation and repair of attic floors, a number of requirements are imposed on their arrangement.

To know the maximum value permissible load that the structure can withstand, it is necessary to perform the appropriate calculations, and then, based on their results, they begin to develop a project from which it will be clear how to properly insulate the attic floor in the house.

The requirements relate to:

Load capacity. It directly depends on the material used to make the beams and the gap between them.
Distances between load-bearing elements . Maximum permissible value for this parameter in accordance with building codes equals 4 meters.
Resistance to temperature changes. It is necessary that the beams can withstand such changes without problems. The fact is that the difference between the air temperature in the residential floors and in the attic always exceeds 4 degrees.
Isolation. The attic floor covering of a cold attic should protect the premises of the household from the penetration of cold and moisture from the under-roof space.

During the design process, you should take into account the requirements for the beams used to arrange the floor in the attic so that the result is reliable and durable. The distance between them must be calculated based on the loads exerted on them.

Technology for creating an attic floor using wooden beams

If you have experience in construction work, you can install the ceiling of a cold attic using wooden beams yourself. This process is performed at the final stage of roofing work.

The sequence of actions will be as follows:

Installation of load-bearing beams. For a small private house, wooden floors made from timber with a cross-section of 150x150 or 200x200 millimeters are suitable. They are laid on concrete or brick walls.
Installation of lag. They are placed on the edge perpendicular to the beams in increments of 60 centimeters. The logs are made from boards with a cross section of 150x50 millimeters.
Laying thermal insulation. The insulation is placed between the joists - it will protect against the penetration of cold from the attic.
Installation of rough and finished floors.
Covering load-bearing beams on the side of the room to decorate the ceiling surface.

When insulating the attic floor, you should not forget about installing hydro- and vapor barriers.

kryshadoma.com

Cold attic design

When building the roof of a house, many people think about making a cold attic or attic underneath it? The easiest way to organize a roof is with a cold attic space. Construction of an attic will cost several times more and require more labor.. Although, it is undeniable that the attic will significantly expand the living space.

Cold attic roofs have the following main components in their pie::

roof covering;
attic external walls (applicable for gable roofs with gables);
insulated ceiling between the living space and the attic.

Ventilation is provided by eaves and ridge vents. The air passing through the eaves openings is called supply air, and the air leaving through the ridge is called exhaust air. Additionally, ventilation can be done through dormer windows on the gables or roof slopes. The windows are equipped with louvered grilles to allow the ventilation intensity to be adjusted.

Dormer windows are located on opposite slopes of the roof so that there are no unventilated areas.

Dormer windows can be rectangular, triangular and semicircular in shape. Their lower part should be at a height of no more than 0.8-1.0 m from the floor of the attic, and the upper part should not be lower than 1.75 m from the floor in the attic. They can also serve as an exit to the roof of the house to inspect the roof, ventilation and chimney elements.

Steam and thermal insulation of a cold attic

For a roof with a cold attic, it is most important to minimize heat loss through the attic floor. For both wooden and reinforced concrete floors Vapor barrier is mandatory. It is laid on the ceiling itself and protects the insulation from vapors that can condense in the heat insulator after passing through the ceiling of the living room. Slabs and slabs can be used as insulation bulk materials. The ceiling pie consists of a vapor barrier, floor beams and insulation.

The following types of heat insulators are often used in ceiling coverings::

expanded polystyrene and foam boards;
mineral wool slabs or mats;
expanded clay granules;
fuel or granulated slag;
sawdust with lime or clay;
pumice.

The thickness of the required insulation layer is selected depending on the calculated winter temperature using the table below.

Winter temperatures are calculated according to SNiP 2.01.01-82 (building climatology and geophysics) or selected by regions of the Russian Federation from the corresponding climate maps.

The insulation is laid between the joists or ceiling beams, and a boardwalk is made on top for the attic passages. Joists are usually 50 mm thick, and decking boards are 25-35 mm thick.

For ventilated attic spaces, soft or semi-solid heat-insulating materials are considered the most optimal.

Attic waterproofing device

Waterproofing roofs with a cold attic, according to many experts, is a controversial issue. Some say that waterproofing must be present under the roofing material, while others categorically recommend that it be abandoned. Here, a lot depends on the type of roofing material and the angle of inclination of the roof slopes.

Metal roofs are most susceptible to corrosion, which occurs due to possible small leaks or condensation. Therefore, we once again draw your attention to the fact that ventilation plays one of the main roles in the fight against condensation formed.

For gently sloping metal roofs Experts recommend installing superdiffusion membranes. It will prevent moisture from entering the outside of the roof when snow or rain blows in. No matter how well the roof is laid, there is always the possibility of minimal leaks. That is why, by paying a little extra, you will receive additional protection from moisture getting on the insulation in the ceiling of a cold attic.

Possible leaks or condensation entering hydrophobic insulation materials significantly reduce their thermal insulation properties.

If, for example, slate is used as a roofing material, then waterproofing can be abandoned. There is also corrugated sheeting with an anti-condensation coating on the market, which can hold up to 1 liter of water per 1 m2. For our part, we recommend always using waterproofing membranes, because this is the cheapest and easiest additional way to protect your roof from possible leaks.

When installing waterproofing membranes use a counter-lattice. It serves as a fixing strip and, due to its height, provides the necessary clearance for ventilation of the under-roof space. The installation of lathing in a cold attic is no different from insulated roofs. The dimensions of the sheathing and its pitch determine the type of roofing being installed.

Cold attic temperature

To prevent ice and icicles from forming on the roof, it is necessary to maintain the correct temperature and humidity conditions in the attic. If the thickness of the thermal insulation material is insufficient, significant heat losses occur through the ceiling. Warm air, heating the roof covering, causes snow to melt and ice dams to form. By choosing the right insulation layer, this can be avoided.

The effectiveness of a heat insulator can be assessed by measuring the temperature of the top layer of insulation. Digital Thermometer immersed in insulation by 10-20 mm. The temperature readings taken should correspond to the values in the table below.

As you can see, the design of a cold attic pie is not particularly complex in design. The main task is to ensure the necessary intensity of ventilation and the thickness of the thermal insulation layer in the ceiling.

A room in the attic of a private household is used for various purposes: storing temporarily unnecessary things, installing equipment or furnishing living rooms. Depending on what the free space under the roof is used for, the method of constructing the attic floor is chosen.

What is an attic

The attic space is limited by the roof slopes and the ceiling of the residential floor. This place is often used to create additional living space.

There are two types of attics in private households:

Residential. It is called an attic. It can be equipped with a living room, study, bedroom, library, etc. The height of the room in this case should be at least 220 centimeters. In addition, it is necessary to provide ventilation, natural lighting, and insulate the slopes.
Non-residential. Such attic space is usually used to house technical equipment and store old or unnecessary things. In this case, a 2-meter height will be sufficient, and there is no need to provide natural lighting. Instead of insulating the slopes, they insulate the attic floor.

When making a decision to repair or rebuild a house, you need to decide in advance for what purpose the attic will be used in order to make calculations and a design for the floor. The list of necessary materials and the gap between the beams depend on this. They must provide the required strength and load-bearing capacity.

Functional purpose of floors

The floor in the attic performs a number of tasks:

carrier. The floor, located between the upper residential floor and the attic space, is assigned a load-bearing function, so it is made reliable and durable, since people will move on it, they plan to place equipment on it and arrange storage areas;
insulating. In a cold attic, the temperature differs little from that outside the house. In this case, the floors in the attic have a thermal insulating function, thereby preventing the air from cooling on the residential floors. To retain heat, the attic floor needs to be insulated. It is advisable to entrust such work to professionals.

Features of the device and design of floors

The construction of the floor in the attic requires the presence of the following layers:

Finish floor. This name is given to the floor covering, which is laid on a rough base. If it is an attic, then when installing the finished floor, linoleum, laminate, parquet, etc. are laid. In non-residential premises there may be no finishing floor covering.
Rough base. It is a boardwalk that is mounted on logs. The subfloor is lined with edged boards 4–5 centimeters thick or, to save money, with unedged boards.
Lags. These are strong, level pieces of wood that are laid perpendicular to the floor joists to create a floor covering. When installing an attic floor on wooden beams, insulation is placed between the joists, which is protected from below with a layer of vapor barrier, and covered with waterproofing material on top. If you do not use insulating layers, then repairs will be required in a few years.
Beams. The frame of the floors is built from thick and strong beams, which are either mounted on the projections of the walls or built into them. They must support the entire weight of the structure. A flat roof can also be made using wooden beams, which is quite practical.
Headlining. On the side of the rooms, the floors are decorated with finishing materials, for example, natural wood or plasterboard.

Types of attic floors

To construct the ceiling of a cold attic, materials differing in weight, durability, cost and load-bearing capacity are used.

There are several types of floors depending on what they are made of:

Wooden elements. For their manufacture, you can use beams with a cross-section of 150x150 or 200x200 millimeters. The advantage of this option is that wood is quite durable and at the same time relatively light material, so wooden elements do not put additional load on the foundation of the house. In addition, their big advantage is their low price and availability. But such an attic floor is used when the size of the building does not exceed 6-10 meters, since this is the maximum length of lumber.
Metal products. Metal I-beams are distinguished by their strength and ability to withstand heavy weight without deformation. But they weigh a fair amount, so they are rarely used in wooden houses, but for brick and aerated concrete buildings they are the best option.
Reinforced concrete products. Molded floor beams, made from reinforced heavy-duty concrete, are used for multi-story buildings, since they are heavier and the same length.

Of all the above types of floors, in private low-rise housing construction, in most cases, preference is given to wooden beams. They have the optimal balance between price and quality. If the calculations are carried out correctly and the technology is followed, repairs to the ceiling will not be required in the coming years. Ventilation is also necessary in the attic of a private house, the arrangement of which will require additional knowledge.

Requirements for the device of the pie

Since the safety of staying in the house depends on the quality of installation and repair of attic floors, a number of requirements are imposed on their arrangement.

In order to know the maximum permissible load that the structure can withstand, it is necessary to perform the appropriate calculations, and then, based on their results, they begin to develop a project from which it will be clear how to properly insulate the attic floor in the house.

The requirements relate to:

Load capacity. It directly depends on the material used to make the beams and the gap between them.
Distances between load-bearing elements. The maximum permissible value for this parameter in accordance with building codes is 4 meters.
Resistance to temperature changes. It is necessary that the beams can withstand such changes without problems. The fact is that the difference between the air temperature in the residential floors and in the attic always exceeds 4 degrees.
Isolation. The attic floor covering of a cold attic should protect the premises of the household from the penetration of cold and moisture from the under-roof space.

During the design process, you should take into account the requirements for the beams used to arrange the floor in the attic so that the result is reliable and durable. The distance between them must be calculated based on the loads exerted on them.

Technology for creating an attic floor using wooden beams

If you have experience in construction work, you can install the ceiling of a cold attic using wooden beams yourself. This process is performed at the final stage of roofing work.

The sequence of actions will be as follows:

Installation of load-bearing beams. For a small private house, wooden floors made from timber with a cross-section of 150x150 or 200x200 millimeters are suitable. They are laid on concrete or brick walls.
Installation of lag. They are placed on the edge perpendicular to the beams in increments of 60 centimeters. The logs are made from boards with a cross section of 150x50 millimeters.
Laying thermal insulation. The insulation is placed between the joists - it will protect against the penetration of cold from the attic.
Installation of rough and finished floors.
Covering load-bearing beams on the side of the room to decorate the ceiling surface.

When insulating the attic floor, you should not forget about installing hydro- and vapor barriers.

For this it is necessary all heat sources, coming from the house, block heat insulator - attic floor insulation - put a "fur coat" on the house, keeping the house warm, and not give it to the attic.

There must be an attic cold - have the same air temperature inside as well as outside.

Then the snow will not melt on the roof, gathering in the snowdrifts, and icicles won't fall on the head.

ATTENTION! Need to remember golden rule: if you don’t want to climb onto the roof again clear the snow from it And knock down icicles- necessary properly insulate it.

After all, the purpose house roofs - act as an “umbrella” over the house (under no circumstances are they “hot water bottles”!). The role of a “hot water bottle” is played by heating the house. And the most important task - separate the "hot water bottle" from the "umbrella".

At all delete or close all sources of heat entering the roof of the house- because she must confirm her "title" - cold roof.

In houses with cold attic roofs only insulated attic floor being the floor of the attic above the ceiling of living quarters.

Roofs with a cold attic, which are discussed in this section of the site, contain:

attic covering with roof,
external attic walls performed with holes- for ventilation with outside air through openings in the walls;
insulated attic floor top floor.

Before starting work - space in the attic should definitely ventilate.

Natural ventilation(ventilation) attic performed via under-eaves and ridge vents. Lower (under-eaves) vents serve as a supply air, A upper (under-ridge) vents serve exhaust ventilation- thereby creating necessary draft.

ATTENTION! Application in cold attics solid structures , dividing sections of the building(long support panels, high purlins or ribs, etc.) NOT ALLOWED.

Insulating the floor For attic space can serve coatings (see table 1 below):

polystyrene foam boards, foam plastic boards PSB-25, fiberboard, foam silicate(foam concrete is not an insulating material);
construction felt, mineral boards, rolled mineral wool;
expanded clay gravel, fuel slag And pumice.

Before performing work for attic floor insulation need to:

Go through and check all roof and ceiling joints for the presence of cracks (to protect against leaks).
All gaps must be filled (tow).
All wooden structures must be covered with fire retardant and anti-rot solutions.

During repairs coverings from asbestos cement sheets need to PAY ATTENTION on the gaps (cracks), formed by waves of asbestos cement sheets. If there are such, then they MUST BE COMPLETED lime mortar mixed with fibrous substances.

For sealing junction points asbestos cement sheets for walls and parapets necessary check the presence of protective aprons, A to the pipes - collars made of galvanized roofing steel. Overlap of dissimilar elements coverings for aprons it should be not less than 15 cm.

If you are completing a house, almost the finishing work has already been done and you don’t know whether to take on the attic or whether this matter can wait, and in general what is needed at this stage - this article will help you. Here we will look at the insulation of the attic floor with materials different types, with step-by-step illustrations, expert advice and helpful videos.

We will also reveal many important points why insulation is so necessary and what the attic floor pie should actually be like on wooden beams and on reinforced concrete slab- step by step.

What insulation is suitable for the attic?

The attic floor needs to be insulated when the attic space is not planned to be used for housing. Those. we are talking about a cold attic, the roof slopes of which are not insulated at all. But not all the same materials are suitable for covering, so they are selected for slopes.

Mineral wool: no harmful dust

So, when insulating an attic floor with mineral wool, it is correct to use the so-called tension method. Its essence is that the insulating material is first laid - and so that it fits between the beams.

After this, a slab or roll insulation made of mineral wool, with a total thickness of about 150 millimeters, and it is covered on top vapor barrier film. After this, it’s plywood, which should be no thinner than 18 millimeters.

Expanded polystyrene and polystyrene: ease of installation

The insulation of the attic floor using expanded polystyrene is also of high quality, the main advantage of which is that there is no need for vapor barrier, and all gaps are easily sealed with polyurethane foam.

Blown-in insulation: fashion and rationality

Recently, insulation of attic floors using the blow-in method has become especially popular.

The main advantage of blown-in insulation is that it automatically fills all the voids that exist and creates an even, continuous layer. In which there are no joints, no seams and no adjoining, and for which there is no need to cut separate small pieces of prickly insulation in order to plug something.

Today, to insulate cold attics in Russia, two types of blown-in insulation are mainly used: ecowool and blown-in wool.

Ecowool consists of up to 80% cellulose fibers, which are produced from ordinary waste paper, and 20% from additives such as Buran as a fire retardant and boric acid as an antiseptic. This insulation has high thermal conductivity.

But blown-in cotton wool is obtained by grinding ordinary mineral materials for thermal insulation, which for some reason did not pass product acceptance.

For example, they did not have sufficient density or correct fiber structure. And such material is crushed and packaged under high pressure, and therefore it is easy to transport it to the site, where everything will be loosened again upon arrival.

But still, ecowool is most often used as a material. The insulation process itself looks like this: one person must stay next to the installation and monitor it normal operation while simultaneously loading material. And the second person goes up to the attic with a hose, makes a cross-shaped cut on the vapor barrier (just between the beams), inserts the hose into this cut, and fills the cavity with material.

Plus, relatively inexpensive bulk materials are used to insulate a cold attic:

What insulation parameters should you pay attention to?

We in no way encourage you to purchase the most expensive thermal insulation materials to insulate your attic floor. But please note that the larger and longer any famous company produces materials for this purpose, the more it pays attention to quality, changing their volumetric weight, improving its products and increasing thermal insulation coefficients. And this already says something.

Otherwise, always pay attention to the parameters of insulation materials that have important for wooden floors, and have none for concrete – and vice versa.

Parameter No. 1. Biostability

The point is to ensure that such insulation, which often remains open, does not harbor bugs or other living creatures. This is especially true for mice, which love to live in a warm and dry (and, most importantly, deserted) attic.

Another important requirement to attic insulation - this is water resistance. Raindrops or simply moisture that accidentally fall into it should not lead to the process of rotting.

Glass wool is recognized as one of the most durable insulation materials:

Parameter No. 2. Thermal conductivity

The main requirements for attic insulation are the ability to maintain thermal insulation properties for a long time.

When purchasing insulation, also pay attention to this interesting point: modern manufacturers of thermal insulation materials always indicate in the technical specifications three coefficients of thermal conductivity of the material: in a dry state, at temperatures of 10° and 25°, and humidity categories A and B.

You need to look at the thermal conductivity coefficient in a dry state, or at a temperature of 10 degrees, because this is the normal climate in the attic. For a more accurate and detailed thermal calculation, you will need a SNiP table.

Now let's note this moment. When choosing when purchasing insulation, you will probably be advised to take insulation with the lowest possible degree of thermal conductivity. But in fact, this only makes sense for residential attics, because when you have to insulate roof slopes, you cannot lay too thick materials between the rafters. Therefore, here we need materials that will conduct heat as poorly as possible, but at the same time have a small thickness.

But for the attic floor, the thickness of the insulation is not a critical factor, and you can save on this. Just take cheaper insulation, but thicker, albeit with high thermal conductivity. Everything is compensated by the height of the insulation itself.

Parameter No. 3. Weight

Depending on the chemical composition, each insulation has its own volumetric mass. Thus, materials such as basalt, glass and any other inorganic and organic compounds are most often used as a basis for fibers. From their type myself heat insulating material becomes either light or heavy. And the shape of all these materials is ensured precisely by the elasticity of the fibers: how they straighten between the floor beams.

Note that heavy insulation materials hold their shape better due to the rigidity of their fibers. And the best stability for insulating attic floors is provided by foam insulation, which in this parameter is equivalent to hard stone wool. But there is a point: the same mineral wool insulation that was inserted between the floor beams can easily straighten out and press tightly against the wood, but foam insulation will not do this, and voids are formed - the bridges are cold. Therefore, you will have to additionally use a can of foam to close all the cracks.

But if you insulate the attic floor on a reinforced concrete slab with foam-based materials, then there will only be advantages. Not to mention the fact that the concrete floor of the attic itself already has considerable weight and creates a serious load on the walls and foundation of the house, and using lightweight insulation for it is just a big bonus.

And unlike a concrete floor, an attic floor can withstand a fairly limited load. Therefore, the weight of the insulation in this regard is also not the last point. After all, there are already many variations here: the same cubic meter of thermal insulation can weigh either 11 kilograms or all 350 - this is the norm.

One of the heaviest insulation materials is basalt wool:

Parameter No. 4. Moisture resistance

Rain moisture that accidentally gets into the insulation or roof leaks should not start the rotting process. It’s bad if after six months or a year the new insulation begins to decompose from the inside, producing bad smell dampness.

Therefore, insulation of attic floors over wooden beams and concrete is quite often done using polystyrene foam or expanded polystyrene, which are known for their almost zero hydrophobicity.

Parameter No. 5. Environmental friendliness

One more point: the attic insulation should not emit any toxic or pungent odor substances, despite the fact that, perhaps, no one will walk in such an attic.

It's all about ventilation: sooner or later, insulation molecules are picked up by the air and carried into living spaces, which can be unsafe for the residents of the house. Therefore, choose insulation that meets sanitary standards.

Parameter No. 6. Saving the form

Another important point– this is the form of stability of the selected insulation. Thus, special laboratory tests have shown that over time, heat loss through the cracks between the slabs or matte insulation can reach 40%. And this despite the fact that the material itself during the same time may not change its thermal conductivity coefficient at all, if it remains dry.

Therefore, the stability of the shape and size of the material over time is very important. For a concrete attic floor, such gaps will not be critical, because here the floor itself is quite heat-insulating, which cannot be said about the attic floor.

But the problem is that in the technical information on modern heat insulators a parameter such as shape or stability cannot be found.

Parameter No. 7. Fire safety

And the last point: the attic insulation must meet all requirements fire safety. Take the same popular ecowool, which is made not just from ordinary waste paper and pieces of newspapers. It would seem that everything is simple and ingenious, why don’t you also cut the paper smaller and just fill the attic with it? Would it be worse? After all, the principle of looseness is also involved here, like in animal fur, when air molecules get stuck between small elements.

Let's put it this way: yes, the insulating properties of this method will be no worse, but it is old dry paper and wood that most often leads to unexpected fires. That is why modern cellulose insulation is necessarily treated with special chemicals to prevent fire.

If we are talking about the flammability of materials, then it is important that the insulation not only does not burn, but also has attenuation. Just remember that at the epicenter of the fire everything burns, both iron and concrete, but if a spark falls on the attic floor, the insulation should not catch fire. That's what we're talking about.

This is what the attic insulation cake itself should look like:

Vapor barrier issues: how, on which side and is it necessary?

For insulation of wood and concrete roofing, the vapor permeability of the insulation is of great importance. Thus, all insulation materials that are manufactured today in the form of slabs and rolls can be divided into “cotton wool” and “foam,” as construction contractors like to do.

We include thermal insulation materials made of organic and mineral fibers as “cotton” materials - these are mineral wool, stone wool and glass wool insulation. All these materials are formed by the hardening of plastic masses of various chemical origins. And all these materials have approximately the same thermal conductivity coefficient: within 0.04.

All these materials consist of fibers that are intertwined. They do not form any closed pores, and water vapor easily penetrates and escapes through them. Therefore, all cotton insulation materials are vapor-permeable materials. Why, during production, their fibers are additionally coated with a special water-repellent substance, and the insulation also turns out to be hydrophobized: the water molecule from water vapor is not allowed to penetrate inside and wet the insulation. It can only cling to its surface, and when a critical mass accumulates, it transforms into drops and rolls down. It turns out that hydrophobized cotton insulation is not a wet, vapor-permeable material.

Therefore, until now, scientists from all over the world cannot come to an unambiguous conclusion: the vapor permeability of building insulation is good or bad. Let's just say that if you are installing an attic floor on wooden beams, you better lay vapor-permeable materials on it so that wooden rafters, which took on moisture from the lower living spaces (and water vapor always rises upward), could easily transfer it to the insulation. And they will easily come out of the insulation - just through ventilation is enough. But in terms of insulation of concrete floors, there is not much difference. But there is a point here: when using vapor-permeable insulation It is important that the ventilation of such an attic is organized according to all the rules, and a separate ventilation system would not hurt.

Note that there are no fibers in foam insulation, since such material is literally produced from thin air. All foam insulation consists of a cellular structure, with closed bubbles and not closed ones, like a kitchen sponge. Therefore, such heat insulators can be either vapor-permeable or non-vapor-permeable. For example, extruded polystyrene foam, which is better known to us as polystyrene foam, allows water vapor to pass between the balls, but extruded polystyrene foam does not.

What’s interesting is that you can use not only one type of insulation, but two at once to compensate for each other’s shortcomings. But at the same time, thermal insulation material with lower vapor permeability must necessarily lie in front of insulation with high vapor permeability. That is, first polystyrene foam, then cotton wool. Otherwise, in the opposite case, a material with less vapor permeability will become a certain vapor barrier for another material, which will simply begin to rot and the moisture will have nowhere to escape.

How to insulate a concrete attic floor

If we are talking about insulating an attic floor made of concrete, then the thermal insulation must necessarily be in the form of two or three layers with overlapping joints of each lower layer. Moreover, it is very important that the entire surface is leveled so that there are no irregularities of more than 5 millimeters anywhere - this is not difficult to achieve with the help of modern leveling mixtures.

For concrete attic floors, extruded polystyrene foam slabs are ideal for thermal insulation. They don’t need a vapor barrier, but if you’re putting in polystyrene foam, it’s not extruded polystyrene foam, and then, of course, it’s needed.

Additionally, if you then need to walk on such an overlap, you can do cement-sand screed up to 4 centimeters and put two layers plasterboard sheets. Just be sure to make paths from masonry mesh for such a screed along which you will walk. Be sure to seal the joints between the polystyrene foam boards with tape so that cement laitance does not leak between the boards.

The attic floor itself can be insulated both at the manufacturing stage and at almost any time during the operation of the house itself. Of course, for the attic it is much more correct to insulate the ceiling before you move into your new home.

More details about the process itself:

How to insulate a wooden attic floor

So, there are two main ways to insulate an attic floor: laying a heat-insulating layer inside the attic floor structure, and laying insulation on top of it. For a cold and uninhabited attic, it is not necessary to cover the insulation with something on top and build a full floor. But then be sure to leave walking ladders- separate paths from sparse flooring throughout the entire area of the attic, this is necessary for roof maintenance.

A vapor barrier must be placed under the insulation, in the form of a trough, so that it can protect the insulation from water vapor that comes from the lower living quarters. But there is an exception to this rule: if the insulation was laid with good resistance, for example, it is foam or extruded polystyrene foam, then a vapor barrier is not needed here. But if we are talking about an attic with a particularly humid regime, for example, above a kitchen or sauna, then a serious vapor barrier layer needs to be installed here.

Another method is tension, when the vapor barrier only sags slightly between the beams. The disadvantage of this method is that the insulation between the beams is not inserted tightly enough.

And if the ceiling is also made from ready-made companies, then this option is not suitable at all, because such voids quickly become so-called cold bridges. Therefore, in Russia, the more popular method is in which the insulation is first laid, then a vapor barrier is covered, and only then with the finishing flooring.

So, here's what the whole insulation process looks like:

Step 1. A vapor barrier is secured between the beams using a construction stapler.
Step 2. Next, mineral wool slabs are cut so that their width corresponds to the pitch of the beams.
Step 3. These slabs are carefully inserted into the gap between the beams.
Step 4. While the ceiling below is not yet ready, so that the insulation does not fall between the beams, it is supported by rough bars or a strong thread stretched specially for this purpose.
Step 5. Next, a diffuse membrane is quickly installed on top of the insulation - so that steam can easily escape through it, and drops from above from the slopes do not penetrate inside.

But let us also note the following point about the last step. Many experts believe that no diffuse membranes or windproof films are needed for insulation, because in a cold attic the thermal insulation will dry due to natural ventilation convection air currents that easily penetrate through openings and dormer windows.

How to leave walking ladders in insulation

If you use soft thermal insulation materials to insulate the attic floor, you need to make walking ladders over them - but only so as not to create cold bridges. Therefore, it is better to take either hard materials or insert the ladder legs directly into the insulation.

That's all the tricks for insulating attic floors of different types!

Are you insulating your house for winter and don’t know how to insulate the attic floor using wooden load-bearing beams? Having gained experience in this matter, I will accurately convey the technical aspects of thermal insulation, and also describe step by step the procedure for carrying out the work.

Why insulate an attic?

We must not forget that a significant part of heat loss occurs through the roof. Therefore, when constructing buildings with cold attics, it is very important to pay attention to proper thermal insulation of the ceiling between the heated room and the attic.

I'll try below accessible language explain how attic insulation affects the internal microclimate and overall heat loss in the house:

Purpose of the attic. Any unused attic under a sloping roof is, in fact, a buffer technical floor between the street and the living space. Its purpose is to smooth out significant differences air temperature inside the house and outside;
Temperature conditions. At any time of the year, during the day the air temperature inside the attic will be several degrees higher than outside. Thus, in winter there will almost always be negative temperatures in the attic, and on sunny summer days there will be intense heat;
Heat losses in winter. When the temperature of any substance increases, its density always decreases. Therefore, in heated rooms, heated air from household heating devices, always rises up to the ceiling. If the ceiling has insufficient thermal insulation, then in the cold season, all the heat from the room will go outside through the attic;

Excess heat in summer. On hot summer days this process will occur in reverse. The air in the attic will become very hot from the hot roof in the sun, and then transfer its heat through the uninsulated ceiling into the apartment.
Reverse air circulation. After touching an uninsulated ceiling, the heated air quickly cools down, and due to the increase in density, it sharply sinks down. Indoors, this leads to excessive reverse air circulation and the constant formation of drafts, which have an adverse effect on the health of residents;
High humidity. When heated, humid air comes into contact with a cold, uninsulated ceiling, small drops of condensation may form under the ceiling. This will lead to an increase in air humidity in the house, and will also contribute to the appearance and development of mold on the walls and ceiling;

Economic factor. Confirmed heat loss through an uninsulated roof is at least 20-30%. It means that proper insulation attic floors on wooden beams will save up to 30% of fuel during each heating season. Air conditioning in summer period, will also require lower costs;
Damage from a “warm” attic. Among other things, the penetration of warm air into an uninhabited attic, from time to time, can lead to unpleasant consequences:

As warm and cold air mixes, condensation will begin to form in the attic. Drops of water will settle on all surfaces, which will lead to rotting and destruction of the wooden supporting structures of the roof;
From the warmth of the attic, the snow masses on the roof slopes will gradually begin to melt. Thawed water will freeze as it flows down. This can lead to the formation of large icicles along the edges of the roof, as well as freezing of rain gutters and downspouts.

All the factors described are typical not only for residential buildings. They should be taken into account when designing and constructing any outbuildings on the site in which the heating system will be used (for example, a garage, bathhouse, barn, etc.).

Stage 1: Selecting insulation

When choosing materials for ceiling insulation, you should be guided by several criteria. In addition to low thermal conductivity, attic insulation must have the following qualities:

Moisture resistance and mechanical strength. The material should not be deformed or destroyed under the influence of mechanical load, and should not change its properties in the event of direct contact with water;
Heat resistance. The insulation must be absolutely non-flammable and should not be destroyed under the influence of high or low temperatures;

Light weight. In order not to create additional load on the load-bearing structures of the building, the thermal insulation of the attic floor should be quite light, so you need to choose insulation with a low specific gravity;
Vapor permeability. To ensure normal temperature and humidity conditions in residential premises, all finishing and building materials must freely allow air and water vapor to pass through;
Environmental Safety. Insulation for residential buildings must be hypoallergenic and chemically neutral. It should not contain harmful volatile compounds or toxic substances;
Lack of organic matter. I recommend using exclusively materials based on mineral or polymer based. They do not contain organic matter, therefore they are not susceptible to mold, and are not suitable for food for small rodents and insect pests.

Taking into account all these factors, several types of thermal insulation materials can be used to insulate attic floors:

Mineral wool. Produced in the form of rolls or rigid mats, from intertwined frozen fibers of molten sedimentary rocks. Mineral basalt wool is characterized by all of the above qualities, so it can be considered the most suitable material. Below I will give some recommendations for its use:

Basalt wool itself is very soft. To prevent it from being pressed or dented while walking, plank flooring should be laid on top of it in the attic;
When choosing insulation, I advise you to give preference to rigid slabs that are covered on one side with aluminum foil;
They need to be mounted with aluminum foil inside the room. It simultaneously reflects heat and acts as a vapor barrier layer.

Glass wool. It has a similar manufacturing technology, only molten glass is used as the raw material for its production. I do not recommend using this material for insulating residential buildings for the following reasons:

Glass fibers are more fragile, so they can break under load;
The price of glass wool is much lower, but after creasing or getting wet, it partially loses its heat-insulating properties;
Small particles of glass penetrate deeply into a person's skin and cause severe irritation.

Expanded clay. This bulk insulation is produced in the form of small round pellets of light brown or red color. Expanded clay balls are formed as a result of sintering special varieties of red clay under high temperature conditions.

Expanded clay has the following characteristic qualities:

The internal structure of the material has many closed pores, so it has low thermal conductivity;
Each pellet is covered on the outside with a dense glassy layer of baked clay, so moisture practically does not penetrate inside it;
Small crumbly expanded clay pellets freely fill the entire volume, so they are convenient to use for insulating hidden cavities and hard-to-reach places in building structures;
Thanks to its mineral base, this material does not burn at all, does not emit harmful substances, is not susceptible to mold, and is not suitable for rodent food.

Styrofoam. This polymer thermal insulation material is made by hot molding from small round granules of polystyrene foam. It is usually produced in sheets measuring 1000x1000 mm, which can be from 10 to 150 mm thick. The following features are characteristic of polystyrene foam:

Of all existing types of insulation, it has the lowest thermal conductivity;
The foam contains no organic substances, so it is absolutely not afraid of water, does not rot and does not contribute to the formation of mold;
By itself, polystyrene foam does not burn and does not support combustion, however, when exposed to high temperatures, it can emit toxic gases and acrid thick smoke;
Due to the polymer base and closed porous structure, foam sheets do not allow air and water vapor to pass through. For this reason, it is not very good to use for insulating living rooms and rooms with high humidity air.

Extruded polystyrene foam Abbreviated as EPPS. It has the same composition as polystyrene foam, but is made by hot extrusion from a molten mass of polystyrene foam. Specifications These two materials are also very similar, however, EPS still has some differences:

Expanded polystyrene has a porous, uniform structure and a higher specific density;
Due to this, it has higher thermal conductivity, but at the same time is more durable, and therefore is able to bear higher weight loads;
For this reason, I recommend using it for insulating unheated attics that will be used for storing seasonal items or household equipment.

Foil polyethylene foam. It is also called “Penofol” in another way. This roll material consists of thick foam polyethylene film, which is covered on one or both sides with a thin layer of aluminum foil. I recommend using it in combination with other types of insulation, because by itself it has specific properties:

The porous structure of polyethylene foam provides a low heat transfer coefficient, so it functions as an additional insulation;
Polyethylene film does not allow air, drops of moisture and water vapor to pass through at all, so Penofol can be used as waterproofing;
Mirror aluminum foil reflects infrared heat waves well. In other words, it does not allow radiant heat to pass through itself, and returns it back to the room.

Wood sawdust. This one is cheap and available material, is still often used to insulate ceilings in bathhouses, heated barns or small country houses. It is applied to wooden floor from the attic side, in the form of a homogeneous thick mixture of sawdust with liquid clay mortar. Despite the seeming primitiveness of this method, it has its advantages and disadvantages:

Sawdust or small shavings can be bought inexpensively, or even taken for free, at almost any large sawmill;
There can be no problems with clay either, so such insulation is easy to prepare with your own hands in the required quantity at any time;
The mixture of sawdust and clay has a low specific gravity, and after hardening it becomes quite hard. Therefore, it does not exert a significant load on the load-bearing beams, and allows you to walk on it with your feet;
Due to the mineral components, such a coating is permeable to air and steam, however, due to sawdust, mold may form on it, or mice may chew on it.

All mineral-based thermal insulation materials, to one degree or another, are capable of allowing water vapor and air to pass through. To protect such insulation from the formation of condensation or moisture penetration from the outside, they must be installed using a vapor-permeable waterproof membrane.

Stage 2: Preparation of materials and tools

In addition to insulation, for the work you will need lumber, waterproofing, as well as the usual set of carpentry and carpentry tools:

Two hammers: one medium, weighing 200-300 grams, and one heavy, weighing 800-1200 grams;
Longitudinal and transverse hacksaw for wood. Instead of a cross saw, it is more convenient to use an electric cutting machine;
A carpenter's plane, a large wooden mallet and a set of chisels;
As for electric tools, you need to have an ordinary household drill, and it is advisable to have a cordless screwdriver with a set of replaceable attachments;

To fasten rolled materials (waterproofing, vapor barrier), I recommend using a construction or furniture stapler with a set of metal staples;
You will also need a straight metal ruler, a tape measure 3-5 meters long, building level and a simple rope plumb line;
To work near the ceiling, it is most convenient to use a folding stepladder. If you don’t have one, you can use a high, strong table or homemade trestle made from scrap boards for this purpose;
Lumber will be needed wooden blocks section 62x62 mm, and planed edged boards 25-30 mm thick;

As a waterproofing layer, you can use a film of foamed polyethylene and a vapor-permeable waterproof membrane;
To seal the joints of the panels, you will need metallized aluminum tape, which is usually used in ventilation systems;
Materials for finishing ceiling, each homeowner chooses at his own discretion. This could be lining board, drywall, laminated OSB or plywood, or other finishing materials;

If you plan to use mineral or glass wool for insulation, then I recommend purchasing a special protective suit that is designed to work with these materials. Otherwise, from small fibers of glass, on open areas severe skin irritation may occur.

Stage 3: Filing the rough ceiling

During construction attic floor or construction sloping roof, you can do without expensive and heavy concrete slabs ceilings Instead, the entire load from the roof is carried by wooden load-bearing beams made of logs or timber, with a cross-section of at least 120x120 mm. They are usually laid on top of two main exterior walls, perpendicular to the long side of the house.

Such beams serve load-bearing structure for the ceiling of the top floor, and for the floor of the attic. The same beams will also be used for installing insulation between the residential building and the attic. This type of overlap is called hemming, because both rough and finished ceiling, hemmed from below to the load-bearing beams.

Before insulating the attic floor, you need to mount the rough ceiling:

Illustration	Description of work
	Installation of a rough ceiling. To hem the rough ceiling, you should use dry edged boards 25 mm thick, or plywood sheets 10 mm thick or more.
	Hemming boards. They must be secured to the lower plane of the supporting beams and beams around the perimeter of the room. Hemming boards must be fastened without gaps or cracks, close to each other. For fastening, use galvanized self-tapping screws 5-6 mm.
	Waterproofing. When the entire rough ceiling is hemmed to the load-bearing beams, panels of foiled polyethylene foam need to be secured to it from below. This can be done using a stapler. "Penofol" will perform the functions of heat and waterproofing. It should always be placed with a foil layer towards the warm room.
	Sealing joints. To prevent moist air from the room from entering the insulation, the ends of the polyethylene film must be wrapped on the walls by 150-200 mm. The joints between the panels must be glued with metallized tape on an aluminum base.
	Attaching the sheathing. From below, across the entire area of the rough ceiling, nail a counter lath made of wooden slats 15-22 mm thick. It is needed to provide ventilation air gap between Penofol and the finished ceiling. The distance between the slats should be about 400-600 mm. In the future, a finishing ceiling covering will be attached to them from below.

Before starting work, all wooden structural elements must be treated with antiseptic and fire-retardant impregnations. Antiseptics are needed to protect wood from rotting and mold development. Fire retardants give dry wood fire retardant properties.

Stage 4: Installation of thermal insulation

After filing the rough ceiling, the transverse load-bearing beams will be on the side of the attic. Insulation will be laid in between them.

Depending on the thermal insulation materials used, further installation technology may have some differences. Therefore, below I will briefly discuss the use of the most common types of insulation.

Laying mineral wool. Mineral insulation materials, when wet, partially lose their properties. To prevent condensation from forming in the mineral wool, the entire thermal insulation layer of the cold attic floor must be permeable to air and water vapor:

Illustration

Description of work

Vapor barrier. First, you need to lay a vapor-permeable waterproofing membrane on top of the rough ceiling.

Its peculiarity is that it freely allows water vapor molecules to pass through, but does not allow bound liquid water molecules to pass through.

The membrane panels must overlap each other by at least 150 mm;

Installation of insulation. Place sheets or rolls of mineral wool in the spaces between the wooden beams. If it is very soft, then it does not need to be squeezed or squeezed much.

Lay another layer of vapor-permeable membrane on top of the mineral wool.

To prevent it from moving over time, it must be stapled to the beams and walls, throughout the entire area and along the perimeter of the attic.

Installation of foam plastic. Polymer-based insulation does not have breathable properties, so it does not allow air and moisture to pass through. There is no point in using a waterproof membrane in this case:

Illustration

Description of work

Laying foam. Foam or extruded polystyrene panels can be laid between the cross beams, directly on top of the sub-ceiling boards.

I advise laying them in two layers, so that the joints of the sheets are located in different places and do not intersect with each other.

Polyurethane foam. To prevent the insulation sheets from moving to the sides, they can be glued to the sub-ceiling using a special glue for polystyrene foam or polyurethane foam.

Thus, it is necessary to fill the entire area of the attic floor with insulation.

If there are gaps and cracks between the sheets of foam plastic, then they must also be blown out from a balloon with polyurethane foam.

Clay with wood shavings. Insulating the attic floor with a sawdust-clay mixture does not require any additional materials, and is also quite simple:

Illustration

Description of work

Preparation of the solution. To make the sawdust-clay solution plastic, the clay must be soaked in water 2-3 days before starting work.

To prepare the solution, you need to take 3-4 volume parts of sawdust, and 1-2 parts of dry red clay without large solid particles and foreign impurities.

Mix the soaked clay with water until a liquid, flowing solution is obtained;

Add sawdust to the resulting mixture and mix thoroughly until smooth.

To protect against mold formation, a small amount of copper sulfate can be added to the prepared solution.

Laying sawdust-clay mixture. Lightly moisten the supporting beams and boards of the rough ceiling with liquid clay milk.

After this, fill all the gaps between the beams with sawdust-clay mortar and leave for several days until completely dry.

Expanded clay backfill. I want to say right away that expanded clay does not have very good heat-insulating properties, therefore, in individual construction, such insulation of floors is rarely used. At the same time, it is considered inexpensive, unpretentious and the easiest to install:

Illustration	Description of work
	Preparatory work. Expanded clay pellets do not absorb moisture, and therefore are not afraid of water ingress or condensation. Therefore, they can be used both with and without a waterproof membrane. To prevent condensation from seeping through the ceiling into the house, I still recommend laying a waterproofing membrane under the pellets;
	Filling of pellets. Expanded clay pellets should be poured on top of the rough ceiling boards and evenly distributed in a thick layer over the entire area of the attic. No covering material is required on top of expanded clay.

To prevent expanded clay pellets from bunching up and spreading throughout the attic, a retaining plastic geogrid is used. It needs to be stretched in the spaces between the load-bearing beams, and then expanded clay should be poured into its cells.

Stage 5: Arrangement of the floor in the attic

Many residents use the cold attic in their private home as a storage room for storing long items, seasonal items and all sorts of unnecessary rubbish. In order for a person to safely walk on the insulated floor, a durable subfloor must be installed in the attic.

The choice of material for installing the floor in the attic will depend on the type of insulation used:

Illustration	Features of application
	Mineral wool and polystyrene foam. These materials themselves are very soft. To prevent them from being destroyed or wrinkled while walking, the top floor covering must be sufficiently rigid. In such cases, the load-bearing beams should be laid OSB sheets or plywood with a thickness of at least 18 mm. You can also use unplaned edged boards with a thickness of 25 or 30 mm.
	Extruded polystyrene. It has higher rigidity, so it can withstand significant loads. To prevent it from being pressed when walking, it is enough to put a light flooring of thin boards or plywood 5-9 mm thick on top of it.
	Under the weight of a person, they will crawl in different directions. To prevent this from happening, you need to lay 10 mm thick plywood sheets or light wooden ladders made of boards on top of the beam floor.
	Sawdust-clay insulation. After the solution hardens, it becomes hard like cement. A person can move freely on its surface, even without installing additional flooring.

When installing rough flooring in the attic, you should always leave gaps 15-20 mm wide between boards or sheets of plywood. This is done so that moisture and condensation can freely evaporate from the insulation.

Conclusion

Using this operating algorithm, you can easily insulate the attic floor in your own home. More visual information on each method of insulation can be viewed in the attached video in this article, and I suggest leaving all your comments and questions in the comment form.

Roofing pie for a cold attic. Attic technology Temperature conditions of a cold attic

How to arrange a roofing pie under a soft roof: general principles and analysis of construction options

Types of soft roofing structures

Principles of constructing a roofing pie

What is an attic

Functional purpose of floors

Features of the device and design of floors

Types of attic floors

Requirements for the device of the pie

Technology for creating an attic floor using wooden beams

Cold attic design

Steam and thermal insulation of a cold attic

Attic waterproofing device

Cold attic temperature

What is an attic

Functional purpose of floors

Features of the device and design of floors

Types of attic floors

Requirements for the device of the pie

Technology for creating an attic floor using wooden beams

What insulation is suitable for the attic?

Mineral wool: no harmful dust

Expanded polystyrene and polystyrene: ease of installation

Blown-in insulation: fashion and rationality

What insulation parameters should you pay attention to?

Parameter No. 1. Biostability

Parameter No. 2. Thermal conductivity

Parameter No. 3. Weight

Parameter No. 4. Moisture resistance

Parameter No. 5. Environmental friendliness

Parameter No. 6. Saving the form

Parameter No. 7. Fire safety

Vapor barrier issues: how, on which side and is it necessary?

How to insulate a concrete attic floor

How to insulate a wooden attic floor

How to leave walking ladders in insulation

Why insulate an attic?

Stage 1: Selecting insulation

Stage 2: Preparation of materials and tools

Stage 3: Filing the rough ceiling

Stage 4: Installation of thermal insulation

Stage 5: Arrangement of the floor in the attic

Conclusion

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