If your attic is occupied and heated, the roof must be thermally insulated. Otherwise, the roof becomes a guaranteed way for heat to escape in winter and for heat to enter the interior in summer. We will describe the most widespread and proven method of thermal insulation of a pitched roof – inter-rafter and under-rafter.
We insulate pitched roofs only if the attic is usable. Otherwise, it is enough to lay airtight thermal insulation on the ceiling under such a roof or to strengthen the existing layer. It pays off because a lot of heat can escape through the roof. When insulated, its U value should not exceed 0.15 W/(m2K).
Insulation of the pitched roof on the attic side
After the attic is finished, the attic cladding and possibly the vertical wall cladding must first be dismantled. This is because you need to get to the insulating material. The most suitable material for attic insulation is light, flexible mats made of mineral wool. Their density rarely exceeds 26 kg/m3. They are sold rolled up in packages with a width of 20 to 125 cm. Their length ranges from 2 to 18 m. After unpacking and unfolding, they must be stretched for a few minutes to reach the manufacturer’s expected thickness. It ranges from 5 to 20 cm after stretching. The declared coefficient of thermal conductivity of the mats varies between 0.031 and 0.045 W/(mK).
How to lay the insulation:
Between the rafters
In the case of insufficiently insulated roofs, the insulating material is laid only between the rafters. But that requires another layer of wool under the rafters. For this purpose, steel profiles are first screwed to the rafters, and supporting profiles, also made of galvanized steel, are screwed to them. After creating a kind of grid, wool is placed under the profiles, which ensures that the boards or mats form a tight package without gaps. The cotton wool does not need to be fixed, it will be firmly wedged between the profiles and rafters. It will increase the insulation of the slope and at the same time contribute to the elimination of thermal bridges, such as uninsulated rafters. After such thermal insulation, the total thickness of the wool insulation should reach at least 30-40 cm.
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Vapor barrier installation
After the insulation comes the vapor barrier. The vapor barrier film is attached to the steel profiles using double-sided adhesive tape. The foil strips are laid with an overlap of approx. 10 cm and the joints are additionally taped with special tape. It also seals the joints between the foil and non-insulated elements on the inside – walls and floor. Finally, the sloping and vertical walls are finished again, for example with plasterboard. The disadvantage of the described method is that it reduces the volume of the soil space. An additional 10-15 cm of insulation must be added to ceilings, pitched ceilings and external walls, not including cladding materials.
Long-term investment and home value
By insulating, you decide how much your house will be worth in the future. In addition to thermal comfort, effective insulation with mineral wool also affects acoustic comfort, fire safety, reduces emissions of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide into the air by more than half compared to uninsulated houses, and enables fuel consumption to be reduced, which, when converted to coal, can result in savings of 30 to 80 % of the need for this raw material. Let’s not forget that by choosing between materials and solutions, the use of which will allow us to meet the minimum requirements in terms of energy savings and thermal insulation, we will save a lot of money. In addition, with the products and solutions that make our house energy-efficient, we also decide what the value of the building will be in a few or more years. New houses must be energy efficient, which means using insulating materials with high thermal efficiency. By choosing wisely, we can save a lot, but also take care of comfort, health and the environment.
Source: mdpi.com, polreff.org
2023-08-04 22:37:00
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