Insulating a steam room with your own hands. Wooden baths: insulation of a bathhouse made of timber from the inside or outside, insulation with a steam room, mineral wool or something else, and is it necessary at all? What is the best way to insulate a steam room from the inside?

Does it make sense to insulate a steam room?

A cold bath is nonsense, and there is hardly a person willing to argue with this. That is why every bathhouse owner tries to avoid any heat loss - from extra expenses for heating, difficulties with heating and maintaining heat, spoiled pleasure from the bathing process will not please anyone.

It is necessary, regardless of what kind of bath we are talking about - wooden, brick or frame. And it is best to pay attention to this issue at the construction stage, although it is possible to insulate the steam room in ready sauna. Let's look at some of the nuances of the process of thermal insulation of a steam room with your own hands.

What to consider when insulating a bath

When insulating a steam room with your own hands, you should definitely take into account the following factors:

The need for ventilation - not only the health, but also the life of people in the steam room depends on properly arranged ventilation;
Non-toxic and environmentally friendly materials - with high temperatures toxic substances harmful to human health should not be released;
Resistance of materials to high temperatures and humidity - they should not lose their heat-insulating qualities and durability when heated and exposed to moisture;
Environmental friendliness of the insulation - it must interact well with the human body without causing any negative reactions of the body;
Compliance fire safety- in the presence of high temperatures this goes without saying.

Basic rules for do-it-yourself thermal protection of a steam room

It is customary to insulate a steam room from the inside - there are reasons for this. As a rule, the bathhouse is not used every day. The room cools down when not in use, especially in winter. And when we start heating the bathhouse, most of the initial heat goes to heating the walls. When thermally insulating a bathhouse from the inside, the cost of heating the walls is significantly reduced.

Considering high humidity, you should definitely remember the need for a waterproofing layer. Wooden and frame baths require this to a greater extent than brick ones, but this does not mean that the insulation of the steam room is brick bath does not require waterproofing at all. Otherwise, hordes of mold and fungi will begin to roam between the insulation and the wall from the inside, which is completely undesirable.

Do-it-yourself materials for insulating a steam room from the inside

There are many options for insulation for baths. Basalt wool is most often used for walls and ceilings. Unlike all other materials, it has an ideal set of properties that make it an indispensable heat insulator for the walls and ceiling of a steam room:

High thermal insulation qualities;
Non-hygroscopic, which is very important for high humidity conditions;
Durability;
Non-flammability;
Environmental friendliness;
Non-toxic;
Resistance to changes in temperature and humidity;
Affordable price is an extremely important point for many of us.

It is customary to use foil as a waterproofing agent - it will not only protect the insulation layer from moisture penetration, but will also reflect heat inside the steam room. Currently, foil insulation is produced - basalt wool with a layer of foil glued on. This greatly simplifies the process, especially when doing the work yourself.

For thermal insulation of the floor, penoplex and expanded clay are used. Penoplex (or expanded polystyrene) is a porous material consisting of air and foamed polystyrene. It is extremely lightweight, waterproof, environmentally friendly and holds heat well. Expanded clay (burnt clay) is a porous granular mixture consisting of oval granules. Has high temperature resistance, small specific gravity, resistance to fungi and rotting, environmentally friendly and easy to work with.

Insulating the ceiling from the inside with your own hands

It is correct to start insulating a steam room from the ceiling, then move along the walls to the floor. The ceiling is one of the most important areas of insulation. As is known, warm air tends upward, and in the case of an improperly insulated ceiling - outward. Therefore, the insulation layer for the ceiling is taken twice as thick as for the walls. Let's take a step-by-step look at the thermal insulation process itself:

We lay out the ceiling with rolled paper, which we fasten with a stapler;
We fill the top with bars with a cross section of 5 cm x 5 cm. They should be installed according to the width of the insulation roll;
We place basalt wool between the bars so that it fits tightly to them;
Place foil on top of the cotton wool. We glue the joints with a special aluminum tape - in no case with tape;
We fasten the foil with strips, onto which we stuff the lining on top.

Do-it-yourself insulation of steam room walls from the inside

We insulate the walls using the same materials as the ceiling.

We nail vertical bars to the walls the width of the insulation roll. In the case of a wooden wall, this can be done using self-tapping screws, but if the wall is made of brick, using dowels.
We lay out the walls between the bars with basalt wool, making sure that it fits tightly between them;
We cover the insulation on top with foil, securing it to the bars with special strips. The foil must tightly seal the insulation layer to avoid moisture penetration and mold;
We cover the top with clapboard or any other wood covering. It is better to treat wood with a special impregnation that increases its durability.

Insulation of the floor in the steam room

Thermal protection of the floor in the steam room is performed with penoplex or expanded clay. When choosing penoplex as insulation, you should pay attention that it is a brand that can withstand compressive loads well - this is necessary when insulating the floor.

The principle of thermal insulation is the same for any type of insulation. First we put concrete screed, then necessarily a layer of waterproofing, on which we lay a layer of heat insulation. We cover the heat insulator on top with a screed with a reinforcing mesh, and then cover it with the floor.

Conclusion

Insulation of a steam room, as experience shows, should always be done from the inside - this will help to avoid unnecessary financial expenses on unjustified heating of the walls. As you can see, all the work can be done with your own hands. Use your hard work, ingenuity, and patience - and the result will exceed all expectations!

Wooden baths were built in Rus' from time immemorial and did not need additional insulation. However, previously the householder himself could harvest the wood, dry it, process it, and set up a bathhouse.

Today you have to trust third-party companies, so shortcomings only emerge during operation. And if the tree turns out to be unable to retain heat, you need to think about additional insulation.

This article will focus exclusively on insulation. wooden walls, because the rest ( , ) have already been discussed in other articles on the site, among which , especially stands out, and are also analyzed separately.

In addition to the internal, there is also an external one, which has to be periodically updated. The resulting cracks can be filled with tow, jute, natural moss, or you can use modern materials, but only those intended for wood.

IMPORTANT! Plumbing sealants, putty and foam not suitable for sealing cracks in a bathhouse made of logs or timber. They are inelastic and designed to constant size cracks (and in wood it changes), they have poor adhesion to wood, insufficient heat resistance, harmful emissions and other disadvantages. Over time, they crumble out of the cracks.

After caulking, a lathing frame is made on the antiseptic-treated wall.
Insulation with or without foil is placed in the gaps.
If the insulation is without foil, a layer of vapor barrier is added.
Left ventilation gap to the thickness of the counter-lattice.
Produced external finishing, for example, clapboard.
You can use Penotherm - foil insulation. For timber 10-15 cm thick, 5 mm Penotherm is sufficient.

More information on internal insulation in the article:.

Insulation of a bathhouse made of timber from the outside

But still, as a rule, insulation of a bathhouse made of timber from the outside is not required.

Insulation of a steam room in a wooden bath

Just as in most cases a wooden bathhouse does not need any insulation other than sealing the cracks, its steam room is able to perform its functions without additional effort. Unless the owner sets the task of making a sauna out of a bathhouse, which differ in temperature and air humidity. But even in this case, it is enough to simply lay a layer of foil or foil-coated kraft paper without installing any insulation.

The foil is placed behind the lining, but never end-to-end, but with a ventilation gap so that the lining can dry out. There should also be an air gap between the foil and the timber wall. If you are making a “thermos” from a steam room, you should not use coniferous wood in the lining, so as not to get burns from the resin.

So to speak: insulating a steam room in a wooden bathhouse, if you don’t talk about using foil, is a very strange event.

Do you need foil in the steam room?

The debate about foil will never end; it has many supporters and opponents. But, as a fact, a steam room with foil becomes hotter, and the steam in it becomes harsher. Therefore, it is a matter of the owner's taste. On the other hand, mistakes during its installation can be costly; if the wood gets wet, mushrooms and rot will develop. As experts say: try steaming without foil, you will always have time to put it on.

Insulation materials

baths made of timber should have vapor permeability characteristics similar to wood. For this reason, all variations on the theme disappear foam plastic– it does not allow moisture to pass through and condensation will form where it touches the wood.

Polyurethane foam highlights harmful substances, therefore not suitable.

Mineral wool have suitable vapor permeability and can be freely used for external applications, but phenolic impregnations of most types of mineral wool during internal insulation of a bath will evaporate at high temperatures, and these are carcinogens. There is basalt wool, to which no impregnation is added at all or very little is added - it is suitable.

In conclusion, it remains to say that insulation wooden baths– this is most often an unnecessary event. Insulating a bathhouse made of timber, in addition to sealing cracks, is always a necessary measure. So, it’s worth trying to do without first extra costs labor and money.

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Thermal insulation of the steam room is a must in any bathhouse, regardless of the material it is made of. It is best to devote time to this matter at the construction stage, although this can also be done in a finished bathhouse. You will learn how to insulate a steam room in a bathhouse with your own hands from our article.

Content:

The steam room is the most important room of the bathhouse. It should not be cold, and such a statement can hardly be disputed. Every prudent bathhouse owner tries to minimize any heat losses in her pairs department, since extra heating costs, problems with heating the room, maintaining heat in it and the discomfort of bath procedures usually do not please anyone. To ensure reliable thermal insulation of the steam room, it is necessary to go through several stages of work to insulate its walls, floor and ceiling.

Features of reducing heat loss in the steam room

To avoid unnecessary costs for lighting the stove and retaining heat in a steam room, you need to consider several simple rules bath layouts:

The area of the building is determined depending on the number of visitors simultaneously present in it and the number of its rooms - steam room, locker room and others. The size of the steam room is usually 4-6 m2.
The locker room location is planned to be closer to front door baths This will keep cold air from entering the steam room.
To preserve heat, the entrance from the steam room to the adjacent room can be designed in the form of a vestibule.
The doorway for the steam room is made with a high threshold and a width of no more than 0.7 m.
The sauna stove is located closer to the exit.
To reduce heat loss through the window, the latter is made of double-glazed glass and is placed at a height of 1 m from the floor of the paired compartment.

Thermal insulation materials for steam room insulation

Natural raw materials and artificial products are used as thermal insulation and sealing materials for the steam room.

Natural raw materials include: tow, which is used to fill cracks, sphagnum, which acts as an inter-crown sealant, construction frame moss - wall insulation. These materials are environmentally friendly and do a good job of protecting rooms from heat loss. However, they are subject to rapid rotting and are a treat for insects. For this reason, it is recommended to treat natural insulation with antiseptics, and their use is undesirable for steam rooms.

Artificial materials Expanded clay and polystyrene foam boards, basalt wool and regular foam. All of them are characterized by moisture resistance, biological safety, long-term operation and high degree thermal insulation. Expanded clay slabs are used to insulate the floors of steam rooms, polystyrene foam slabs are used for their attic floors, and basalt wool is used for walls and ceilings.

Foil insulation is currently used to insulate and waterproof the walls and ceiling of the steam room. It is a roll of basalt wool with a layer of aluminum foil glued onto it. When using this material, the process of insulating structures is greatly simplified - the foil protects the insulation from moisture and promotes the reflection of heat from the enclosing structures into the room.

Insulating the ceiling of a steam room in a bathhouse

To insulate the ceiling in the steam room we will use modern method, which involves the use of foil material as a vapor barrier layer.

The work consists of five stages:

Insulation is attached to the ceiling beams using a stapler, with a layer of aluminum foil facing the inside of the room, which simultaneously serves as a heat-reflecting screen. This will reduce the cost of heating and maintaining the heat of the steam room by 2-3 times. The joints of the overlapping insulator panels are glued with aluminum tape. Other vapor barrier materials are also used for baths, but they are not as effective.
The ceiling sheathing supporting the insulation is secured with screws across the ceiling beams. Lathing is necessary for installing the outer ceiling cladding. WITH inside In the ceiling of the room, an air heat-reflecting gap is left between the future cladding and the foil insulation sheets.
The selected insulation is installed from the attic side between the ceiling beams. It should be tight, without the slightest gaps.
A polyethylene film is laid and secured over the insulation to protect it from moisture and dust from the street. To avoid mechanical damage to the multilayer thermal insulation in the attic, a rough plank floor is laid over the beams.
At the last stage of work, the ceiling of the steam room is sheathed along the lathing wooden clapboard. The material for it can be hardwood - linden, aspen, etc. What material to choose is up to you.

When insulating a steam room in frame bath such ceiling insulation is necessary, and for log house- optional. There are enough boards 6 cm thick, fixed to ceiling beams, and a layer of mineral wool of 15 cm.

Thermal insulation of steam room walls in a bathhouse

Before internal insulation walls in the steam room, it is necessary to seal all joints and gaps in them using sealant. After the composition has dried, thermal insulation can begin. Its process is similar to ceiling insulation, but has some nuances. The walls are insulated horizontally along the perimeter of the steam room, moving from the top to the floor. Moreover, the strip of foil overlaps the slope left when insulating the ceiling. The insulated wall of the steam room must have three layers of protection: waterproofing, thermal insulation and a vapor barrier membrane.

The operating procedure is as follows:

To eliminate the possibility of vapor condensation forming on the walls, the enclosing structures of the steam room are covered with a waterproofing film.
The thermal insulation layer of mineral wool is laid in a timber sheathing, which is pressed onto the wall using waterproofing and an intermediate layer of clean paper.
The vapor barrier layer protects the insulation from exposure humid air. For this purpose, a foil membrane is used, which is attached over the insulation to the sheathing using a stapler. The overlapping joints of her canvases are taped with metal tape.
At the last stage, on top of the membrane to wooden frame The walls are fixed with lining made of hardwood.

Unlike insulating a steam room in a brick bath, wooden building will require less heat-insulating materials, since the wood itself has similar properties.

Important! Before external cladding walls, thin slats need to be stuffed onto the sheathing to create an air gap, which, together with the foil membrane, will create a heat-reflecting effect.

Insulating the floor of a steam room in a bathhouse

Concrete floors are stronger and more durable than wooden ones, as they are not afraid of moisture. Tiles laid on a screed are very easy to care for. But tile is cold material. Wooden floors are much more suitable for a steam room. To reduce heat loss, both types of floors require insulation.

Insulation of a wooden floor in a steam room

Structurally, a wooden floor is different from a concrete floor, but their thermal insulation has the same principle. The whole system looks like this: foundation, floor beams, logs laid on beams, layer vapor barrier material, subfloor, insulation, waterproofing layer, finished floor.

After installing the logs and laying the vapor barrier material, the space between the floor beams is filled with insulation. They can be sand, slag, expanded clay, fiberglass or mineral wool mats and polystyrene foam. Waterproofing and a finished floor are laid on top of the insulation.

Thermal insulation of a concrete floor in a steam room

The diagram of a concrete insulated floor in a steam room is as follows: foundation, concrete floor, waterproofing layer, insulation, concrete screed, ceramic tile or wooden floor.

You can see that such a floor is similar to a kind of “sandwich”, consisting of a pair of layers of concrete and insulation laid between them. The floor of a bathhouse built on a columnar foundation is insulated in the same way. The difference here is that the monolithic base is replaced by a reinforced concrete slab laid on a frame made of metal channel.

The work of insulating the floor in a steam room consists of several stages:

Laying the base of the lower layer of the floor is made of concrete mixture, having a crushed stone fraction of 20-35 mm. The thickness of the concrete pad is 120-150 mm.
Waterproofing is installed after the concrete has polymerized. The materials for it can be roofing felt, roofing felt and bitumen mastics. Before applying the latter, the base is painted with a special primer. Waterproofing is laid on concrete surface after treating it with two or three layers of bituminous material.
For installation of insulation, mineral wool, perlite, boiler slag with a layer of 250-300 mm, polystyrene foam, expanded clay with a layer of 100-150 mm, etc. are used.
The second layer of the floor is laid on heat-insulating material. The concrete of this layer uses a finer fraction of crushed stone.

The finished floor can be covered with a platform made of wood. After completing the bath procedures, it is removed, washed and dried.

How to insulate a steam room in a bathhouse - watch the video:

As you have seen, insulating a steam room is easy to do yourself. Use your patience and hard work, and the result will definitely come!

Climatic comfort in a bathhouse is achieved at a certain humidity and air temperature (50 g/m3, up to 60*C). Maintaining such comfort is achieved by using finishing building materials with a high rate of thermal insulation and vapor barrier (aluminum foil or foil on fiberglass). Based on the thermal insulation properties of the material, you can determine how to insulate a steam room (steam room, wash room) in a bathhouse from the inside to ensure climate stability and comfort. Maintaining a constant climate involves energy costs. Walls, ceilings and floors must not only have good vapor barrier, but also the room they form must have a volume that allows the air to be heated at a comfortable time.

Approximate diagram of steam room insulation

What material to choose for insulation

Mineral wool slabs and mats are used for walls (ceilings). Properly performed insulation of floors (ceilings) will provide protection against condensation and accumulation of excess moisture. Soft fiberglass mats with aluminum foil will solve this problem. Wood of any species is an excellent finishing heat-insulating material for walls, floors and ceilings in all rooms of the bathhouse. The main thing is to choose quality wood. Expanded clay, expanded sand, basalt wool and polyisocyanourethane foam (thermopyr) have excellent thermal insulation.

A concrete floor on porous aggregates in the washing room serves as a kind of insulation. This thermal insulation design has little effect on the climate and floor temperature. 30 degrees is quite comfortable for a person. Its main task is to drain water into the sewer. The use of polystyrene foam (expanded polystyrene) is limited to the walls and ceilings of the dressing room and dressing room. To solve the question of how to insulate a steam room in a bathhouse, you need to know such properties of materials as thermal conductivity and vapor permeability.

Lowest thermal conductivity the following materials at 10(-4) kW/m x deg:

Still air - 0.24;
Expanded polystyrene - 0.3;
Pine - 1.4.

Thermal insulation in the steam room

The most low vapor permeability in 10(-6) kg/m x sec x atm:

Aluminum foil - 0
Steel – 0;
Glass – 0;
Polyfoam – 0.1:
Pine – 2;
Expanded clay concrete – 3;
Mineral wool – 7.

Various ethylene films, glassine and roofing paper do not allow steam to pass through. Such materials are placed on top of thermal insulation layers in the walls. Roofing paper (glassine) smells unpleasant when heated. Expandable polystyrene is durable (up to 20 years), does not allow moisture to pass through, absorbs it well and prevents the growth of bacteria.

More durable extruded polystyrene is even less moisture permeable

The most popular are multilayer foil insulation such as polystyrene coated on both sides with aluminum foil or foil polyethylene () up to 1.2 cm thick. At a melting point of about 120 degrees, it emits toxic gas. The same effect from foil cardboard and vapor barrier film prevents the accumulation of condensation at the junctions of the thermal insulation of the walls and the ceiling in the steam room.

We insulate the walls, ceiling and floor in the steam room from the inside

How to insulate a steam room in a bathhouse?

Regardless of the material of the walls, ceiling and floor of the steam room (brick, timber or concrete), the main insulating element is interior decoration with insulation (mineral wool + 1 cm lining). This does not mean that a wall made of timber is not capable of insulation. Heating a steam room made of timber or brick to the required temperature will require more time and heat, since you will have to heat the wood or brick at the same time. Steam room optimal sizes from 15 cm timber will require 120 kW.hour. heat to heat up to 100 degrees at the ceiling. With an additional layer of 4 cm insulation and 1 cm lining, the heat requirement will become 15 kW. hour. Climatic comfort in a bathhouse depends almost entirely on the steam in the steam room.

The main thermal insulation material for the steam room will be a material with thermal conductivity parameters up to 0.5 x 10(-4) kW/m x deg

It is necessary to raise the finished floor to + 0.150 and the entrance door thresholds to + 0.350.

Insulation of the floor in the steam room

To ensure the required thermal conductivity of the bathhouse enclosing structures, it is necessary to reduce heat loss through the floor of the steam room. The steam room is the most heated part of the building, so it is necessary to insulate the floor in the steam room. Considering that in winter the ground freezes to a depth of 1 m, therefore, the better we insulate the floor, the less losses there will be. Under the entire steam room we dig a hole up to 60 cm deep from the level of the clean floor. Having leveled the soil in the pit, we prepare the base with sand 5 cm thick. On the finished base we place a main layer of thermal insulation made of polystyrene foam 20 cm thick. Treat the joints between the sheets with mounting foam or glue for polystyrene foam. We make two layers of 5 cm each from cement mortar mixed with foam chips and vermiculite (50:50).

After the base solution has hardened, fill it with concrete, mesh reinforced 10 x 10 cm, grade M 200, 25 cm thick, with iron reinforcement (on the second day of hardening, the surface is sprinkled with a very thin even layer of dry cement M500) of the upper surface with a slope towards the sewer riser.

After the solution has hardened, fill the base with concrete

Having finished everything construction works(but not earlier than two weeks), laying plank floors. For non-leaking floors use floorboard with a quarter of a general slope towards the sewer. Leaky floors are made from floorboards with cracks. It is necessary to provide for the possibility of removing the floor boards for drying in the sun.

In existing bathhouses, the floors can be various designs. The most common types of steam room floors are leaking floors along the ground or into a concrete ventilated funnel (ladder). It is necessary to decide how and with what material you can insulate a leaking floor in a steam room. A do-it-yourself insulation option is to make a concrete floor made of M200 concrete 25 cm thick with thermal insulation made of foam plastic 20 cm thick. Or a floor made of expanded clay concrete with masonry reinforcement mesh 100 x 100 mm. Old sand needs to be replaced as it is not capable of being a base for a floor. After finishing concrete works lay a plank, non-leaking floor with water draining into the sewer (as shown in the photo).

Plank floor with drainage

For a leaking floor, reinforce the concrete surface with a slope towards the sewer.

Thermal insulation of ceilings in the steam room

Construction modern baths and saunas are maintained using reinforced concrete slabs floors. The thermal conductivity of the slabs is not low enough for a steam room. Therefore, to create comfortable temperature additional thermal insulation is required. Bars 10 x 10 cm along the entire length are attached to the slab with dowels at intervals of 50 cm from each other. The bars should press fiberglass or vapor barrier film to the bottom surface of the slab, which prevents condensation from accumulating at the junctions of the thermal insulation of the walls and the ceiling in the steam room. The outermost bars along the perimeter of the steam room should press the fiberglass to the walls.

Basalt or kaolin wool 10 cm thick is laid between the bars. A 1 cm thick lining with nails with flattened heads presses the main vapor barrier layer of foil. On attic Additionally, a vapor barrier film + thermal insulation made of expanded clay 15 cm thick is installed.

The photo shows the order of the layers of thermal insulation of the ceiling in the bathhouse

Insulation of steam room walls

The walls of the steam room are insulated in the same way as the insulation of floor slabs. When insulating walls made of timber (logs), they require the use of special structural elements. Before properly insulating the walls of a bathhouse in a steam room from the inside, you need to know what deformation occurs with the timber when temperature and humidity change over two years of operation. To compensate for linear expansions, it is necessary to provide sliding fastening supports between the wall material and the material of the insulation structure. The better such supports work, the fewer gaps there will be in the timber wall. If all the walls of the bathhouse are made of timber, then it is necessary to provide for a shrinkage of 20 cm when installing insulation and inserting door and window openings not only a steam room, but also a washroom with a locker room.

Lathing option

In the 6 x 6 cm vertical bars of the sheathing for the lining, vertical grooves 20 cm long for nails are made every 50 cm. The load-bearing bars of the sheathing with grooves are made vertically every 50 cm. Nails through the slots in the bars are nailed to the wall made of timber, pressing the vapor barrier film, which prevents condensation from accumulating at the joints in the steam room. The nails are placed taking into account the possible shrinkage or swelling of the timber in the middle of the groove when insulating the steam room. And for the remaining walls above the middle of the groove. Does it need to be so complicated?

insulation design? Yes need. This allows you to prevent the log from hanging on the nails of the sheathing after moving it in the grooves of the sheathing, which increases heat loss.

The nails move when they shrink and return when they swell with moisture. Maximum length(20 cm) travel is located under the ceiling. The insulation is cut to size. It should fit snugly against the sheathing bars. Use in the steam room polyurethane foam Not recommended. Vapor barrier sheets (penofol) are attached with a furniture stapler to the sheathing bars. The surface covered with foil should be directed indoors. Cover the joints with aluminum tape. For creating air gap Between the vapor barrier and the lining, a counter-lattice made of 2 cm thick bars is used.

Selecting a skin

Is it possible to cover a steam room with plastic rather than wood? Yes. But steaming will not be comfortable. Not even any type of wood is suitable for such premises. Preference is given to linden, alder, aspen and abash. When heated, such wood maintains a temperature of close to 36 degrees, does not darken, and does not burn human skin. After steam treatment, a pleasant smell specific to each tree is released. The choice of wood depends only on the taste of a particular person.

Lining with foil in the steam room

To preserve the characteristic properties of the finish, each element is necessary in advance:

Cut to size;
Plan, rounding the corners of the workpieces;
Sand, drilling the fastening points with nails;
Impregnate with a solution (borax, sodium fluoride);
Dry at a temperature of 60 degrees until the humidity does not exceed 10 degrees;
Saturate the brush generously with a water-repellent compound (heavily diluted PF varnish).

A Russian bath with a steam room is a guarantee of health and longevity, but in order for healing procedures to bring maximum benefits, it is necessary to choose the right insulation for different designs baths, taking into account different functionality, humidity conditions room material individual elements. In addition, it is necessary to know the technology of the insulation process, the observance of which will not only preserve heat in the bathhouse, but also significantly reduce the consumption of energy fuel. To determine which insulation is best for a bathhouse, you need to know the positive and negative sides each type of thermal insulation material.

Kinds modern insulation materials

What insulation can be used in a bathhouse

Manufacturers offer a wide range of heat-insulating materials, but do not forget the traditional insulation methods used for centuries, which can still be used in bathhouses today. Among modern insulation materials of artificial origin, the following are popular:

sheets of extruded polystyrene foam (penoplex);
simple foam plastic;
polyurethane foam;
mineral wool products;
ecowool;
expanded clay gravel and expanded clay concrete slabs;
combined insulation in the form of basalt mats or polystyrene material with foil coating.

Despite the high thermal insulation qualities of all these materials, for different rooms bath structure, it is necessary to choose the insulation that meets the requirements of safety, environmental friendliness and durability.

Styrofoam

Polystyrene foam for insulating the ceiling of locker rooms and rest rooms

Expanded polystyrene (colloquially polystyrene foam) is used to insulate the walls of a bathhouse outside, the attic floor or the floor in a steam room. The advantages of this material include:

high degree of resistance to moisture;
immunity to microorganisms and mold;
does not support open fire;
low specific gravity;
low cost;
simple processing.

Negative characteristics include the “love” of mice for polystyrene foam, as well as the release of toxic substances plastic material in case of fire in the bathhouse. Therefore, it is not recommended to use it to insulate a steam room. By chewing the material, mice and rats thereby reduce its thermal insulation characteristics. With regard to the release of toxic fumes, we can say that people do not stay in the steam room for too long, and the use of such insulation is quite acceptable. Besides, modern industry produces special types polystyrene foam, which are approved by SanPiN for use inside residential and public buildings. For example, various decorative elements of the interior - moldings, fillets, baseboards, etc.

Extruded polystyrene foam

This material has all the properties that are inherent in foam plastic, but with a smaller thickness of the product, it is able to maintain the same thermal insulation characteristics. Extruded polystyrene foam is more durable than polystyrene foam due to its dense structure, as a result of which its service life increases significantly. The material is non-flammable insulation. When sparks of fire hit it, it does not support further combustion. A negative factor is its increased cost compared to the price of its counterpart. However, it is still not recommended to use it to insulate a steam room from the inside, just like foam plastic, since these materials can withstand temperatures without losing their properties higher than +75 degrees, and as you know, in a steam room the temperature can sometimes reach significantly higher degrees.

Polyurethane foam

Insulation of walls with polyurethane foam by spraying

Polyurethane foam in the form of liquid insulation appeared on the building materials market not so long ago. The essence of its application is to spray a polyurethane two-component liquid, which, when interacting with air, turns into foam consisting of 90% air bubbles. After a few minutes, the foam hardens, increasing almost tenfold in volume.

Foamed polyurethane has a whole bunch of positive properties:

high heat and sound insulation qualities;
strength, flexibility and elasticity;
resistance to the effects of deformation processes;
environmental safety, since the material is made from clean products, when heated, no harmful substances or unpleasant odors are released from it;
ability to easily withstand sudden changes temperature regime from +100 degrees to -90, which allows the material to be used as thermal insulation for a Russian bath or Finnish sauna.

Foamed polyurethane used as insulation, in addition to all of the above, is a completely fireproof material, covering everything with a dense layer wooden elements, allowing the fire to spread. It also protects the wood of buildings from the penetration of harmful insects, which naturally extends the service life of the bathhouse.

Compared to other types of insulation, polyurethane foam is easily and quickly applied to any surface, regardless of its configuration. With skillful action, the thickness of the insulating layer can be different.

TO negative factors The use of this type of insulation means that it can only be used if there is a special device that sprays liquid. And its acquisition or rental requires certain financial costs and skills in handling it.

Mineral wool products

Insulation of the attic floor mineral wool

Mineral wools vary in source material, which can be:

fiberglass;
melt material natural stone rocks - basalt, dolomite, diabase and others;
waste from the metallurgical industry in the form of slag.

Almost all of these types of mineral wool can be used as insulation for steam rooms, washing rooms and other structural elements of a bathhouse building. However, compared to polystyrene materials, the thickness of the mineral wool insulation layer increases. Basalt wool is more popular, given its technical characteristics.

Basalt insulation

Floor insulation with basalt wool

The advantage of this material is:

high thermal insulation ability;
resistance to sudden changes in temperature;
the material is not exposed to fire;
has good mechanical strength, low specific gravity;
basalt wool can be easily installed on structures of any configuration, eliminating the formation of cold bridges at the joints;
duration of the operational period.

But this material also has its drawbacks, which are the fear of water and the fact that rodents are not at all afraid to make their burrows in it. Wet basalt wool loses its thermal insulation qualities, and when the wet material comes into contact with wooden structures in the latter the process of decay begins. Therefore, it is not recommended to use basalt insulation for a bathhouse, and specifically for a steam room.

Glass wool

Glass wool is used outside the bathhouse

Glass wool, having the same technical characteristics, like basalt material, differs from it in that it is not as susceptible to moisture. It tolerates the process of laying and transportation well, crumpled fibers are completely restored.

Mice and rats do not touch it, it fits well, but its use entails difficulty in installation due to the release of small fibers that irritate human skin and are dangerous if they get into respiratory organs. In addition, the disadvantages of this material include:

short service life;
lower degree of thermal insulation compared to other types of insulation;
the presence of formaldehyde resins in some brands.

Slag

The insulation is made from blast furnace slag, which is not distinguished by its environmental friendliness and safety for human health. Among the advantages of slag wool it should be noted:

relatively high ability to retain heat and dampen sounds, but to a lesser extent than that of;
low cost;
resistant to rodents, mold and other microorganisms;
simple and easy installation, comparable to installation of other types of mineral wool.

Disadvantages:

High coefficient of moisture absorption. When wet, it can release acid, which has a destructive effect on metal constructions and fasteners, causing them to corrode.

Low resistance to sudden changes in temperature, which is typical for rooms such as bathhouses.

Difficulty in laying, given the excessive fragility of the fibers, which have the same sharp and prickly edges as glass wool.

The presence in the insulation composition of such hazardous substances, as – phenol, formaldehyde.

Ecowool

Insulation with ecowool using a mechanized method

The material is made from recycled materials, which is waste paper, fluffed up and treated with fire retardants and antiseptics. It has a gray or light gray color, loose fibrous structure. The advantages of this fairly new type of insulation include:

good heat and sound insulation properties;
resistance to high temperatures;
does not maintain an open fire for a long time;
resists rotting processes well; environmentally friendly, if you do not take into account its impregnation with fire retardants and antiseptics. But these substances are low-toxic and non-volatile.

The material can absorb moisture, but also easily releases it into the surrounding space when a certain level of air dryness is reached. After drying thermal insulation properties ecowools remain at the same level. Before applying ecowool to the surface of the insulated structure, the material must be slightly moistened. The lignin contained in its composition, under the influence of water, binds the fibers together and adheres well to any surface. Can be used to insulate attic floors using the dry method. It is not recommended to use it inside bathhouses, since the material will not have time to dry after each use of the bathhouse.

Expanded clay

Expanded clay as floor insulation

For insulating attic floors, floors, filling cavities when brickwork with “wells”, expanded clay gravel of various fractions is used. In terms of thermal conductivity, this material is inferior to many types of insulation, but its main advantage is its low price and versatility. In addition to the bulk insulation method, expanded clay granules can be used as a filler for lightweight concrete.

Foil insulation

Foil insulation based on mineral wool

Whatever type of insulation is chosen, when installing it, be sure to lay vapor barrier film. Foil insulation combines both vapor barrier and thermal insulation. But besides this, it also works as a reflector of thermal radiation, preventing heat from escaping through various cracks and loose fittings of structures. The material is manufactured in various versions:

from basalt fiber;
foamed polyethylene;
mineral material;
extruded polystyrene foam.

Foiled polyethylene foam insulation

The thinnest aluminum foil is glued to each material on top. The shiny side of the insulating material should face the inside of the room. Can be used for all bath structures and premises.

The main point of the article

When insulating a bathhouse, you must use different kinds thermal insulation materials, which are most effective for premises of various functionality and meet certain requirements - durability, low cost, the ability to retain heat inside a bathhouse building, and to be safe for human health.