The better to insulate a private house – the choice of thermal insulation material

For homeowners, keeping their private residence warm is of utmost importance, particularly in regions with severe winters or variable weather patterns. In addition to keeping you and your family comfortable, proper insulation lowers energy bills and raises the overall value of your house. Whether you are renovating an old home or building a new one, selecting the appropriate thermal insulation material can make a huge impact.

Selecting the best insulation material for your home can be overwhelming with so many options available. While durability or eco-friendliness are important to some, affordability is the top priority for others. Perhaps you’re debating whether to use more contemporary options like spray foam or more conventional materials like fiberglass. Each kind of insulation has advantages and disadvantages that vary based on your needs.

We’ll examine the most widely used insulation materials in this post and assist you in choosing the ideal one for your house. Whether you’re starting from scratch or remodeling an existing building, we’ll go over everything you need to know about the various insulation types, including their advantages and disadvantages. By the end, you’ll know more about which choice fits your sustainability, climate, and financial objectives.

Selecting the appropriate insulation material can help you live a healthier lifestyle and lessen your influence on the environment in addition to keeping you warm. We’ll also talk about a few other things to think about, like fire safety and moisture resistance. Together, we can identify the ideal insulation option for your house.

Material	Advantages
Fiberglass	Affordable, non-flammable, widely available
Spray Foam	High insulation value, air-sealing, resistant to moisture
Mineral Wool	Fire-resistant, soundproofing, eco-friendly
Rigid Foam Board	Durable, water-resistant, high R-value
Cellulose	Eco-friendly, good coverage, easy to install

Your budget, the climate where you live, and the particular insulation requirements of your home all play a role in selecting the best insulation material. The popularity of fiberglass and mineral wool can be attributed to their low cost and ease of installation. Particularly for external walls and foundations, foam board insulation offers high energy efficiency, but spray foam offers superior air sealing and flexibility for difficult-to-reach places. Sheep’s wool and cellulose are environmentally friendly options because they are manufactured from recycled materials. The ideal insulation for your home ultimately strikes a balance between cost, efficacy, and environmental impact, so before choosing a material, carefully consider the advantages and disadvantages of each one.

What characteristics are important when choosing thermal insulation

A private home or apartment’s facade decoration material selection is based on three primary factors:

1. Real thermal conductivity of insulation. Denoted by the Greek letter λ (lambda), measured in units W/(m • ° C). The smaller the λ coefficient, the better the thermal insulation properties of the material.
2. The ability of insulation to pass water vapors – vapor permeability. Indicated by the letter μ, units of measurement – mg/(m • h • PA). The higher this indicator, the more fumes penetrates through the thickness of thermal insulation.
3. Material density ρ, kg/m³. Thermal conductivity and insulation strength depends on it. For example, the external insulation of the walls is more dense basalt fiber in the slabs, on the roof – roller mineral wool.

A crucial aspect. When building materials are dry, their thermal conductivity is much lower than when they are wet. She is the one who enjoys pointing out sellers to entice clients. The Table of Appendix T to SNiP 23-02-2003 "Thermal Protection of the Buildings" indicates the correct coefficient λ of different heaters under operating conditions (he is also SP 50.13330.2012).

By using the following formula, one can easily determine the layer thickness if they know the true thermal insulation indicator (λ).

• R is the normative thermal resistance of thermal insulation, m² • ° C/W;
• Δ – the thickness of the insulation material, m.

Building codes control the value of R. A suburban country house’s walls, for instance, ought to have a heat transfer resistance of r = 3.15 m² • ° C/WT. Should the exterior of the cottage be insulated using stone wool with a thermal conductivity of λ = 0.06 W/(m • ° C), the cladding’s thickness would be 3.15 x 0.06 = 0.189 m or 190 mm.

However, the technology of work depends on the ability to deal with the vapor permeability of different insulators, so understanding which insulation is better to warm the house depends on it as well. Other subtleties exist. For instance, "Foamyx" is incompatible with wooden walls because it does not miss the couples at all. Prior to selecting thermal insulation, we suggest researching the matter.

About the steamability and point of dew

On this subject, there is a ton of contradicting information available online. Hot debates occur in construction forums about the dreadful point of dew, which causes water to appear and freeze inside walls, fungi to grow, and bacteria to proliferate. Let’s attempt to make things clearer.

During the winter, there is more moisture inside residential buildings than outside. This indicates that the water vapor’s partial pressure is higher and the air is stronger. What occurs when two zones with varying pressures meet and are divided by our home’s wall:

1. Couples from a zone with high partial pressure (rooms) strive to bake in the second zone with low pressure (street), because the partition is not aomatic.
2. As the thickness of the wall from the inside passes out the temperature decreases. The cooling air is no longer able to hold a large amount of steam in itself, at a certain moment condensation begins. The very point of dew arises – the temperature at which saturation occurs, the excess vapors pass into the liquid state, fall out with condensate.
3. The condensation zone and the dew point are constantly moving depending on the difference in external/internal temperature, the pair content in the air environment.
4. When the walls of the house are properly insulated, only a small part of the moisture is condensed, this. The dew point enters the thermal insulation layer, the condensate is safely eliminated due to the vapor permeability of the material.
5. If an impenetrable obstacle (for example, a plastic film), which coincides with the condensation zone, occurs in the way of evaporation, moisture falls on the border of 2 materials. She has nowhere to get off, the wall is damp. A similar effect is observed in the absence of ventilation – the air oversaturated with steam condenses in the cold wall without any insulating barriers.

Note: This is the procedure that joins extruded polystyrene foam at the intersection of a wooden wall, beam, or log. The first allows moisture to pass through easily, while the second completely blocks steam. Water is drained from the tree, causing it to rot and turn black. The result is to create a space between the two heterogeneous materials that is ventilated.

Initial conclusion: You can choose any type of insulation for the house’s floors, walls, and ceilings, but it’s crucial to pay attention to insulation technology. Recall that the dew point is always found in the walls; the issue is with the volume of condensation and how it escapes to the outside. The only exception is a fully functional external isolation made of extruded polystyrene foam, where condensation cannot occur.

Thus, the following three suggestions:

1. Insulators, poorly permeable for moisture, it is better to use from the outside and not be attached to the wood to wood.
2. For internal thermal insulation, use polymers, but provide effective supply and exhaust ventilation in the rooms that remove wet air.
3. Materials with open pores (mineral wool) need ventilation with street air, which will remove the steam excess and the condensation formed from the thickness of the insulation of excess.

Keep in mind that residential buildings always require ventilation. You can avoid issues with wet corners and "crying" windows by investing in a good hood.

4 varieties of insulation

Thus, four categories of materials are utilized for thermal insulation in residential and commercial buildings:

• fibrous with open air pores – mineral and basalt (stone) cotton wool, glass wool;
• polymer – ordinary polystyrene foam (aka foam), extrusion polystyrene foam, products made of foamed polyethylene;
• Folding – expanded clay, vermiculite, a mixture of clay with sawdust and so on;
• Liquid – foamyizol, polyurethane foam, ecowata.

Remark. The most widely used varieties of thermal insulation in private home building are enumerated here. Arbolite, foam glass, crushed stone in perlite, and other materials are far less common.

A lot of multilayered combined building materials have been available recently. For instance, facade thermal panels are being installed on the walls of multi-story buildings more and more. The so-called warm blocks or sip panels, which have an insulating layer inside, are another example. However, the aforementioned basic heaters are still utilized in the manufacturing of these goods. Think about each kind of thermal insulation separately.

Pros and cons of fibrous materials

It is easy to infer from the name that these insulations are made of fibers that have been bonded together using artificial phenol-formaldehyde resins. Products with fibers pass steam easily because their pores are open. We enumerate these insulators’ types and attributes:

• Mineral wool thermal conductivity 0.055–0.06 W/(m • ° C), vapor permeability – from 0.37 to 0.69 mg/(m • h • PA) depending on the density and shape of the release (slabs, roll);
• Vata basalt, λ = 0.05–0.053 W/(m • ° C), μ = 0.5-0.53 mg/(m • h • PA);
• glass wool, λ = 0.043–0.061 W/(m • ° C), μ = 0.41–0.6 mg/(m • h • PA).

Suggestions. For the average homeowner, the numbers for vapor permeability and thermal conductivity alone don’t mean much. However, you can make certain inferences if you contrast them with the indications of other insulation.

It is evident that while the properties of mineral, stone, and glass wools vary slightly, their operational characteristics are essentially the same. All three materials are non-combustible, but they can withstand different temperatures. Cotton wool made of fiberglass melts at 250–300 degrees, basalt fiber begins to collapse at 600–700 degrees, and mineral wool starts to collapse at 350 degrees.

Three types of thermal insulation are produced: rolls, slabs, and mats (the latter are used to insulate technological pipelines, not residential walls). Rolling heaters have a density of 35–60 kg/m³, while plates have a density of 60–200 kg/m³. The benefits of materials with porous fibers:

• non -combustibility – the main plus of such thermal insulation, the basalt wool of the corrugated structure is a leader among all insulation in heat resistance;
• Due to the high vapor permeability, fibrous insulators are “friends” with any walls – brick, wooden, reinforced concrete, are constantly used in frame houses;
• Plates with a density of 80 … 110 kg/m³ absorb sound well, can act as noise insulation;
• Glass and mineral wool do not eat rodents in the slab (in the soft cotton wool of the low density of the mouse can do holes).

Mineral wool insulation lies in the middle of the thermal conductivity and price range between bulk materials and polymers. Only plates are used to warm the building’s exterior walls; rolls are intended to insulate attics and roofs from heat. Sheathing walls and overlapping living rooms from the inside is not feasible because carcinogens such as binder resins and harmful dust are released by cotton wool.

The following are fibrous insulation’s remaining drawbacks:

• Open pores of any cotton need to be protected from the penetration of excess moisture, otherwise it will be nourished with water and will lose all insulation properties;
• At the same time, the withdrawal of moisture from the mineral wool formed as a result of condensation should be provided;
• low strength;
• Over the years, the wall insulation is destroyed and slowly slides down if it is not fixed;
• glass wool does not burn, but melts in any fire, in addition it emits the smallest particles of glass;
• mineral wool slabs are heavier than polymer, this will become noticeable if you compare the density of the materials.

Facade insulation technology eliminates the first two deficiencies. Cotton wool is always shielded from moisture or sedimentation by a unique waterproofing, such as a diffusion membrane (which goes through the pairs outside) or, in the event that the installation is done "wet," a layer of plaster mixed with construction adhesive.

Properties of foamed polymers

Utilizing specialized technology, polystyrene and polyethylene are foamed to create these heaters. Three different kinds of polymers are used to insulate floors, walls, and ceilings from heat:

• Poli -polystyrene foam (otherwise – polystyrene), thermal conductivity – from 0.041 to 0.045 W/(m • ° C), steam permeability – 0.05 mg/(m • h • PA);
• Poli -polystyrene is extruded (often called "foam" by the name of the company), λ = 0.037–0.039 W/(m • ° C), μ = 0.02 mg/(m • h • PA);
• Foam polyethylene, he is “foam”, λ = 0.042–0.044 W/(m • ° C), μ = 0.02 mg/(m • h • PA).

Citation. Extrusion and foam Foamed polyethylene is produced in rolls, and polystyrene is made as slabs.

Polymers, as you can see, retain heat more effectively than mineral wool. Comparing the thermal resistance of a 10 cm thick layer of R foam to that of a similar layer of cotton wool, which is 0.10.06 = 1.67 m² • ° C/W, reveals a noticeable difference.

We enumerate every benefit of the materials:

• Foam insulation is the cheapest option for insulation of the external walls of the house (excluding only clay);
• Small weight, density of polystyrene foam is 15 … 35 kg/m³, “foam” – 20 … 40 kg/m³, polyethylene foam – 30 … 50 kg/m³;
• Polymers are durable, the service life is at least 50 years, provided that direct sunlight will not fall on them;
• They are not afraid of water, because they are weakly absorbed by moisture;
• distinguish harmful substances in small quantities, especially when heated;
• Rolonon polyethylene – a durable and flexible insulator, is often equipped with a foil that reflects infrared heat;
• Foam and “extruder” with a density of over 25 kg/m³ are quite durable, with difficulty.

Polymer insulation’s resistance to moisture: a stick with two ends. Outside walls of the basement, base, and foundation can safely be insulated with polystyrene plates. That being said, wood rots and cannot be sheathed with "foam" for structural wooden work. Materials can be used indoors, but ventilation must be provided; otherwise, pairs will be lost.

Let’s now discuss the shortcomings:

1. Polymers are afraid of high temperature, and foam is just a combustible. Self -shally extrusion polystyrene foam melts when heated to 220 ° C.
2. Polystyrene products are instantly destroyed from the direct effects of acetone, solvent or gasoline. An example of the manufacture of liquid sealant from foam is described in one of our articles.
3. Mice with pleasure gnaw foam insulation, arrange nests in it. “Foamyx” rodents “love” less, polyethylene practically does not touch.
4. Thin foamed polyethylene is not suitable for a full insulation of the enclosing structures of a residential building.

Since polymer insulation does not stop sound waves from passing through, it is also not a good choice for sound insulation. The comparison of foam and mineral wool will be covered in the video that follows:

The disadvantages of bulk insulation

It is very uncommon to find these materials for wall insulation. In the past, they were blasted into the space between the brick cladding and the supporting structure; nowadays, the space is either filled with polyurethane foam or foam is added during construction.

Three different types of bulk materials are used for gender and attic floor insulation:

1. Ceramzit with a density of 200 … 800 kg/m³ with thermal conductivity of 0.11 … 0.21 W/(m • ° C), moisture permeability – 0.21 … 0.26 mg/(m • h • PA).
2. Vermiculite crushed stone 250 kg/m³, λ = 0.13 W/(m • ° C), μ = 0.26 mg/(m • h • PA).
3. A mixture of clay with sawdust or reeds.

Note: We have excluded the operational characteristics of the clay mixture from the list because they are not indicated in SNiP. It is useless to cite unreliable information from the Internet.

There are just three benefits to using a fermented heater: it is durable, non-combustible, and environmentally friendly. Cons appear as follows:

• Thermal conductivity is too high;
• large weight;
• The poured layer is easily blown with the wind (except clay);
• decent cost (if we are talking about buying materials).

An easy calculation verifies the last paragraph. As we discovered above, R = 2.22 m² • ° C/WT will be the heat transfer resistance of the 100 mm layer of foam. Using expanded clay, you would need to pour a layer that is 2.22 x 0.11 = 0.24 m = 240 mm in height (using the previously provided formula).

Please take note that we used the optimal thermal conductivity indicator for 200 kg/m³ of expanded clay gravel. Consider the expense of purchasing and transporting three times as much heavy insulation as polymer. Plus work on filling.

Next, we’d like to give a thorough comparison of the different video materials. One observation: the speaker is crafty and occasionally provides false information in an effort to paint polymers in the worst possible light.

About liquid thermal insulation

These materials are unique in that they are applied by machine. That is, using specialized equipment, liquid insulation is sprayed onto the wall or roofing slope. Such isolation comes in three varieties:

1. Polyuertan foam is applied in the form of foam, which in the air expands several times, filling the allotted space.
2. Ecowata is sprayed in a similar way, only does not expand, since it is made of cellulose.
3. Liquid foam – “foam” – is used to fill air cavities.

Citation. Polyurethane thermal insulation has a thermal conductivity of 0.04–0.041 W/(m • ° C) and a steam passage capacity of 0.05 mg/(m • h • PA). The ecovata’s properties are almost identical to those of mineral wool, and the "foam" is comparable to regular foam.

In addition to being incredibly strong and efficient insulators, liquid polymers are also "friends" with wood because they allow moisture to pass through, albeit in tiny amounts. Because Ecowata doesn’t release any harmful substances, it is utilized indoors.

The primary disadvantage of insulation is its high cost because of the machinery. It is true that insulation can be completed in practically a single day. Two or three more work shifts will be dedicated to priming the surface and installing the frame. The thermal insulation layer is covered with a waterproofing film on the exterior before being finished with a less expensive material, like siding or lining.

It’s important to take a number of factors into account when selecting the best insulation for your home, including installation ease, budget, and climate. Since no single material is ideal for every circumstance, it’s critical to comprehend the advantages and disadvantages of each choice. In addition to keeping your house cool in the summer and warm in the winter, insulation lowers energy costs and carbon emissions.

Materials like mineral wool or fiberglass work very well at retaining heat if you live in a colder climate. They can also aid in noise reduction, which is advantageous if you reside close to a busy road. If you live in a warmer climate, you might want to think about using foam insulation because it expands to fit in small spaces and is excellent at keeping heat out.

The budget is yet another crucial factor. While spray foam can be more expensive but provides better insulation, fiberglass and cellulose are typically more affordable options. Examine the long-term advantages as well. Although spray foam may initially cost more, its longevity may save you money by lowering the need for replacement or additional insulation.

Your choice may also be influenced by how simple installation is. Mineral wool or fiberglass batts or rolls could be your best option if you’re a do-it-yourselfer because they’re easy to install. Consider spray foam for a more polished look; this usually calls for specific tools and knowledge.

The ideal insulation for your home ultimately comes down to your personal requirements and tastes. Give careful thought to your desired level of energy efficiency, your budget, and your climate. You can make your home comfortable and environmentally friendly at the same time by choosing the appropriate insulation.

Video on the topic

How to properly insulate the facade of the house. Foam or mineral wool?

How to warm a house, which insulation is better not to use.

All about insulation of the foundation of a private house. The cheapest and simplest insulation option

How best to insulate the house