Toilet      03/03/2020

We insulate the internal walls of the house. Proper insulation of the walls of the house from the inside. Insulation with polystyrene foam using wooden slats

Both builders and manufacturers argue about whether it is possible to insulate houses from the inside. insulation materials, but everyone agrees that in most cases the walls will not be insulated from the inside the best solution- if possible, it’s better to do it external thermal insulation Houses. However, if there is no choice, you should carefully study the features and rules for choosing and installing insulation so that the internal thermal insulation is effective, safe and durable. How to insulate the walls of a house from the inside and how to do it?

Indoor walls can be insulated only in cases where the façade of the building cannot be changed or outer surface there is no access to the wall. It is recommended to avoid insulating walls from inside the house because it has a number of significant disadvantages:

  • The dew point moves indoors. The wall begins to freeze through its entire thickness, the cold meets warm air at the junction of the wall and the insulation, and condensation forms on its surface. This has many negative consequences: wet wall fungus may develop, the effectiveness of the thermal insulation material decreases, it lags behind the wall and collapses; In addition, the decorative finish deteriorates.
  • A frozen wall loses its heat-accumulating properties. It becomes difficult to control the air temperature in the room - it begins to warm up faster due to the operation of heating devices or direct exposure sunlight out the window and cool faster when ventilated.
  • It is impossible to provide 100% thermal insulation, since it will not be possible to insulate the walls from the inside over their entire surface - cold bridges will remain at the intersection external wall With internal partitions.
  • The humidity in the room increases. This, again, contributes to the formation of mold and is generally harmful to health. To ensure good air exchange, you will have to constantly ventilate the apartment, which will lead to increased heating costs.
  • The useful area of ​​the apartment decreases - especially if, due to climatic conditions in the region, it is necessary to install a thick layer of insulation for the walls of the house.
  • If thermal insulation work is not carried out before starting renovations in the room, it is necessary to dismantle the entire decorative finishing, which complicates the work and makes it more expensive.

The most dangerous consequence internal thermal insulation becomes condensation inside the room, which leads to accelerated destruction of walls and damage finishing materials. This can be partially avoided by accurately calculating the required thickness of the insulation layer and choosing the right material. Thus, insulating a house from the inside is expensive and unsafe, but sometimes unavoidable.

How to avoid condensation

If you still had to deal with internal thermal insulation, then before you figure out how to insulate the house from the inside, you need to understand whether negative consequences can be avoided. Dry walls inside the house can be ensured by protecting the area where the dew point forms from moisture.

To do this you need:

  • Use a high-quality multi-layer membrane for waterproofing. Plastic film will not work. In addition, it must be laid correctly - overlapping, with sealing of the joints.
  • Choose insulation with minimal vapor permeability. If the material from which the walls of the house are made is higher, then the moisture formed between the insulation and the surface of the wall will not condense, but will come out.
  • Install the insulation close to the wall. To do this, glue must be applied to it in an even, continuous layer, and not in beacons.

  • Provide forced ventilation premises, as well as install windows with air exchange valves.
  • Accurately calculate the thickness of the insulation layer. You cannot rely on average parameters, since it is possible to properly insulate walls only by taking into account all the characteristics of a particular material, room and climatic features of the region.
  • Treat the insulated wall with antifungal and antibacterial agents. You can use a special antiseptic primer. You can start working only after the wall surface is completely saturated and dry.

When insulating an apartment from the inside, it is very important to get rid of all possible cold bridges. They form at the joints of insulation slabs and in those places where the wall connects to ceilings and internal partitions. To improve the efficiency of insulation, you need to lay thermal insulation material with a call to interior walls, floor and ceiling.

Selection of thermal insulation material and insulation installation technology

Mineral wool

It is not recommended to choose this material, since it will not be effective enough to insulate a wall in an apartment from the inside. However, cotton wool is the easiest to use and cheaper than other options, so they often resort to using it.

Vata exists in two versions:

  • rolls;
  • basalt slabs.

If there is no other choice, it is better to use cotton wool in the form of slabs - this insulation is denser, has better thermal resistance, and does not settle over time. The rolled variety of cotton wool has too high a vapor permeability rate and absorbs moisture well, so the walls insulated with it will probably get wet. However, there is a possibility of moisture penetrating under the insulation when using slabs with a density of 75 kg/m3 or more. You can reduce the risk of condensation by using a good vapor barrier material and correctly installing thermal insulation.

Insulation from the inside with mineral wool is carried out as follows:

  1. At a distance from the wall surface, a frame is constructed from wooden slats or an aluminum profile.
  2. The first layer of mineral wool is laid under the frame. It is necessary to glue it to the wall as tightly as possible.
  3. The second layer of basalt wool slabs is laid between the frame slats with the joints offset relative to the first layer.
  4. A layer of vapor barrier membrane is laid.
  5. Drywall is mounted on the frame.

Due to the nature of mineral wool, vapor barrier needs to be given Special attention when internal insulation of the walls of the house is carried out. Can not use plastic film, a more efficient vapor-tight multilayer membrane is needed. TO wooden frame it can be attached with a stapler, always with an overlap; It is glued to the profile with double-sided tape.

The overlap when laying the membrane should be at least 100 mm, the joints should fall on the frame elements and be securely glued. The vapor barrier should extend to surfaces adjacent to the wall. The places where the membrane comes into contact with surfaces should be additionally sealed. Liquid sealant is applied to a wall, pipe or other structure, then a membrane is pressed to the junction; After the sealant has dried, the membrane is fixed with tape.

High-quality installation will reduce, but will not completely eliminate, the risk of condensation when using mineral wool. It is better to consider other, polymer, types of insulation for walls from the inside.

Expanded polystyrene and EPS

Expanded polystyrene, or foam plastic, is much better suited for insulating walls in an apartment from the inside. This is facilitated by the following characteristics:

  • low thermal conductivity due to the presence of air in the cells of the material;
  • low vapor permeability and almost no hygroscopicity;
  • high strength, including compression and tensile strength;
  • small weight;
  • Easy to process with your own hands - you can cut the material with a regular knife.

Regular or extruded polystyrene foam of sufficient density, even with a relatively small thickness, will provide sufficient effective thermal insulation premises. It is recommended to choose it not only because of its ease of installation, but also because it can be used to insulate an apartment from the inside most effectively: it does not allow moisture to pass through, so condensation will not appear. The main thing is to properly glue the foam boards, sealing the joints and ensuring a tight fit to the wall.

When using expanded polystyrene for thermal insulation of residential premises, it is important to take into account some of its disadvantages. So, it practically does not protect against noise. In addition, when burned, it releases toxic compounds into the air. Another disadvantage is the high cost of EPS, but it is compensated by the fact that there is no need to lay a vapor barrier membrane, and you definitely won’t have to redo the thermal insulation due to the destruction of the insulation, as is the case with improper installation of stone wool.

Polystyrene insulation for walls inside an apartment should have a high density - 25–30 kg/m3. The density can be determined by the marking, which looks like “PSB-S-25”, where 25 means the desired parameter.

Installation of polystyrene foam boards on an internal wall is carried out as follows:

  1. The wall surface is cleaned, primed and dried.
  2. Insulation boards are glued in rows with offset joints. It is advisable to use polyurethane glue, which is applied to the entire surface of the polystyrene foam board.
  3. Additionally, the plates are fixed with special plastic dowels.
  4. The joints are sealed silicone sealant, large gaps are filled polyurethane foam.
  5. Reinforcing fiberglass fabric is overlapped over the insulation. On top of it you can lay plaster for decorative finishing. Another option is to immediately glue drywall instead of reinforcement.

There is another installation method. At the long ends of the PPS slabs, grooves in the form of corners are selected. The two slabs are joined and the seam is sealed. Then it is inserted into the groove wooden plank. The resulting structure is fixed to the wall using self-tapping screws. This method is more convenient, since insulating the room in this case can be done faster and more economically. In addition, the boards can be used as a frame for attaching drywall.

Should we consider other options?

There are also more modern insulation materials for walls from the inside - polyurethane foam, heat-insulating plaster, polyethylene foam and even ceramic-based thermal paint. Among them, only the first material is worthy of attention; other options are actually of little use for insulating an apartment from the inside. Polyurethane foam is ordinary foam, similar to mounting foam, which is applied to the surface to be insulated using a special sprayer.

The good thing about the material is that it reliably adheres to any surface, penetrates into all cracks, is monolithic and vapor-tight. It hardens quickly and does not form any cold bridges. However, polyurethane foam is quite expensive, and you won’t be able to work with it yourself.

Thus, if you need to insulate walls from the inside, it is best to use expanded polystyrene. This heat insulator has the most suitable characteristics, and installing it yourself is not difficult. If the insulation technology is followed, it will effectively protect the house from the cold.

Sometimes it happens that the heating works well, there is a three-chamber double-glazed window, there are no cracks or drafts, but the room is cold. A similar situation can especially often occur in a corner apartment. This is caused by large heat losses. One of the solutions in this case may be additional insulation of the apartment from the inside.

Inside or outside?

It is most correct to mount the insulation from the outside. In this case, the thickness of the thermal insulation layer will be significantly smaller, and the likelihood of condensation formation is reduced to a minimum.

Internal insulation, although not the best option, still has the right to life, especially in the following cases:

  • administrative ban on performing façade insulation work;
  • the presence of an expansion joint;
  • availability of electrical or gas communications;
  • the exit of the wall that needs insulation into the elevator shaft;
  • the location of the apartment is above the first floor.

The last point requires a little explanation. If insulation is done with your own hands, then on the first floor the thermal insulation can be attached both from the outside and from the outside. inside. As the number of floors increases, the use of steeplejack equipment is required and only the option of internal insulation is suitable for independent work.

Types of insulation

Today there is a large selection of what can be used for thermal insulation:


  • mineral basalt wool;
  • glass wool;
  • expanded polystyrene (foam);
  • extruded polystyrene foam (EPS);
  • foamed polyethylene.

Fibrous materials

Mineral wool and glass wool belong to the class of fibrous insulation. They are mats or rolls of compressed fibers. There is air inside between the fibers.


A characteristic feature of such materials is a sharp decrease in thermal insulation characteristics when wet, which entails the need to use additional vapor barrier on the room side.

The only option when mats can be used without additional protection- this is placing them inside the wall.

The insulation is placed between the outer and inner layers made of brick or concrete.

Foam materials

Polystyrene foam and EPS, similar in properties, in the form of plates have a closed cellular structure. Air enclosed inside cells isolated from each other is a good heat insulator.

A significant advantage of such materials is that they are not afraid of moisture. No additional protection is required when using them.


More recently, a new roll material– foamed polyethylene with a thickness of 2 to 10 mm, foiled on one or both sides with aluminum. It can be used as an auxiliary material for improvement thermal insulation properties the entire wall structure.


Foil polyethylene, in addition to its direct insulation function, is capable of creating a vapor barrier and a screen that reflects infrared heat from heating devices into the room.

Basic schemes for performing work

Insulating the walls of an apartment by simply covering them from the inside with a thick layer of thermal insulation is a very risky undertaking. There is a high chance that your efforts will be wasted.


Zones favorable for condensation will form in the internal layers of the structure. Moisture, regardless of the type of insulation used (a little faster for cotton wool, slower for EPS), will come to the surface of the final finish in the form of wet spots, and then fungus and mold. To keep the wall dry and warm, there are two solutions.

Construction of an additional wall

In this case, “well” masonry with internal insulation is reproduced. At some distance from the main wall, an additional partition is erected from brick or wall blocks. Thickness varies between 100 – 150 mm. Insulation is installed in the resulting gap.


Inside, the possible dew point will be located either in the thickness of the outer wall or at its border with the insulation. The entire mass of the inner wall remains dry.

External wall heating

An electric floor heating mat is attached to the insulated surface, which automatically turns on when critical temperatures are reached. Thermal insulation and final finishing are installed on top of the heating mat. In practice, such a scheme is implemented quite rarely due to the high costs of electricity during the cold season.


A similar principle arises when insulating walls. panel house with an internal central heating system. Circulating through pipes hot water heats the wall from the inside and prevents condensation from forming.

It is enough to install the required layer of missing thermal insulation to obtain the desired effect.

Performing thermal insulation work

Depending on the climatic zone where the building is located, the material and thickness of the walls, the composition and design of insulation of the internal surfaces of the room will vary. Possible options it will be very a large number of. To obtain optimal results, it is necessary to carry out at least approximate calculations in each specific case before starting work.


To get a general idea of ​​the progress of work, you can consider the process of insulating a brick and concrete wall using EPS.

Material selection

One of the brands under which EPS is produced is penoplex. This is a material with a thickness of 20 - 100 mm, dimensions 600 x 1200 mm. Distinctive feature is the presence of a fold around the perimeter, ensuring a tight fit between adjacent sheets.


Attaching penoplex to the surface is much simpler than in the case of mineral wool. There is no need to build a frame or use plastic “fungi” to fix the insulation. It is quite possible to get by with construction assembly adhesive“liquid nails” (for a more or less smooth surface) or an adhesive solution based on a ready-made dry mixture (if necessary to smooth out small irregularities).

Determining the thickness of the insulator

How much insulation should I put in the wall? The answer to this question can be given by a heat calculation that takes into account the type of building, construction material, climate zone and heating system parameters.

When doing work with your own hands, such calculations are often problematic to make. In practice, they are most often limited to approximate, average values.

So, for a brick wall with a thickness of 300 - 500 mm, it is enough to put 100 - 150 mm of penoplex inside.


This design will be able to withstand up to -30°C. IN panel houses with an in-wall heating system, 100 mm of insulation will be sufficient.

The process of doing thermal insulation with your own hands begins with preparing the base. Surface brickwork and the joints with the floors are examined to identify through cracks. If necessary, they are sealed with mortar or foam.


In order to secure the insulation, an auxiliary wall is erected at a certain distance from the external wall. Thermal insulation sheets are installed into the resulting gap.

Another option for carrying out the work involves fixing penoplex to the surface of a permanent street wall using adhesives. Then an additional wall is erected close to the resulting layer.

Thermal insulation of reinforced concrete wall

In panel houses, the likelihood of cracks occurring at the junctions of individual blocks is quite high. For a corner apartment, finding and sealing cracks in joints is a necessary condition. Through through cracks, heat will be blown out into the street, despite the insulation.

In large-panel housing construction, central heating radiators are often hidden inside. During heating season the surface always remains warm.

This feature allows you to significantly simplify the thermal insulation scheme. Penoplex is attached directly to the internal surfaces of the walls. Finishing can be done directly on the insulation.

The dew point will be located deep in the wall closer to the street. Favorable conditions no condensation is created. A layer of insulation and interior decoration will remain dry throughout the entire period of operation.

External walls are the most important element of a building, which, in addition to performing a load-bearing function, also protects the interior of the house from adverse weather conditions. Modern multilayer structures make it possible to rationally use energy resources and significantly save on heating and building maintenance, which cannot be said about “traditional” brick or panel buildings of the Soviet period. But the time has come to count the money - all that remains is to insulate what we have. In the article we will consider current issues insulation of walls from the inside.

Is it even possible to insulate a room from the inside? In professional circles there is serious debate on this matter. Manufacturers of thermal insulation materials and practicing builders have not yet come to a consensus on whether it is possible to insulate from the inside; this is a very risky undertaking. At the same time, everyone agrees that the best option in all respects is facade thermal insulation.

What should an ordinary person do if he is faced with the problem of serious heat loss through external walls, because the information is extremely contradictory, and there was no choice - there is no way to insulate from the outside. There can be many reasons for this situation: the apartment borders on unheated premises (elevator shaft, corridors, staircases), behind the outer wall there is an expansion joint between two close standing houses, the facade has an expensive finish, the building is an architectural monument or is located in the historical part of the city, the authorities regulate urban planning activities in their own way - they simply prohibit the insulation of facades.

Some clarity on this issue, of course, is brought by GOSTs and SNiPs in force in the countries of the post-Soviet space, which strongly recommend placing “cold” layers indoors, characterized by high thermal conductivity and minimal vapor permeability - concrete, brick, stone. The place for the insulation is unambiguously defined - this is the outer side of the enclosing structures. Moreover, even regulatory documents have exceptions. For example, in P3-2000 to SNiP 3.03.01-87 “Design and installation of thermal insulation of enclosing structures of residential buildings” in section No. 7, dedicated to design solutions, it is said that it is allowed to insulate the walls of individual apartments multi-storey buildings, if installation of a heat insulator from the facade is impossible for certain reasons.

What are the disadvantages of insulating from the inside?

Let's figure out why internal insulation has so many opponents and what pitfalls await us. There are several negative aspects, some of them are not critical, you can put up with them, while others can have very serious consequences and force you to approach the issue of insulation from the inside with extreme caution:

  1. A heat insulator placed on the inner surface of the wall “eats up” the usable area of ​​the home. For example, if in a room measuring 4x5 meters we use 50 mm of insulation on two external walls, we lose 0.5 m 2 from the total twenty squares.
  2. Work on insulating walls from the inside can only be carried out in a completely cleared room that has been taken out of service for some time.
  3. The matter will not end with installing insulation on the walls. In addition, it is necessary to take a number of serious measures to protect the enclosing structures from condensation and organize additional ventilation.
  4. If everything is done correctly, then this method of insulation cannot be cheap, as it might seem at first glance.
  5. This is not to say that the technology is simple and accessible. Repeat if everything is done correctly.
  6. But the most important thing is the special thermophysical processes that take place in walls that are insulated from the inside. All the well-known “horror stories” related to the internal insulation of residential premises are indeed a fairly common phenomenon. The occurrence of water stains, the spread of fungus and mold, the destruction of finishing and load-bearing elements- all these are the consequences of illiterate changes in the thermal envelope of the room, which entailed violations of the humidity state of the walls.

A secret covered in cotton wool. What happens in an internally insulated wall?

All processes that interest us take place not only in minus temperature, but also in the autumn-spring period with a slight plus outside the window. It is not surprising that the main problems with walls insulated from the inside appear in winter, when serious differences between the temperature outside and inside the room are possible. It is the outer walls, or, as they are also called, “enclosing structures,” that act as a buffer that absorbs the impacts of the elements.

It is necessary to consider the influence of temperature on multilayer structures only in conjunction with changes in their humidity. In fact, water is ours main enemy. It is this that, when frozen, expands and destroys building masses, as well as their connections; it is she who, penetrating into the insulation layer, negates its thermal insulation characteristics; This is a prerequisite for the existence of harmful fungi and microorganisms.

What is the relationship between temperature conditions and the humidity of the wall, you ask? Now we have come close to considering the phenomenon when, under certain conditions, water vapor from the air reaches critical saturation, and water appears on cold surfaces in the form of condensate. The temperature at which condensation forms on structures is called the “construction dew point.” It directly depends on the relative humidity of the indoor air. The higher the humidity, the higher the dew point, the closer it gets to the actual temperature (at 100% they are equal). To calculate the exact dew point indicators, a rather complex formula is used. Code of Practice SP 23-101-2004 “Design of Thermal Protection of Buildings” contains a table of dew point temperatures for various values ​​of humidity and indoor temperature.

If we take into account the sanitary rules for the operation of residential premises (GOST 30494 and SanPiN 2.1.2.1002), the normalized temperature in the home should be about 20-22 ° C, and relative humidity air no more than 55%. According to the table, the dew point will be +10.7 °C. This means that where there is such a temperature in a multi-layer wall, moisture from the air can turn into water and fall out as condensation.

Obviously, with significant changes in outside temperature, the dew point moves inside the wall, closer or further from the interior of the room, since on the one hand we warm up the wall, turning on the heating in winter, and from the street it is cooled. This is a kind of tug of war.

The specific location in the building envelope where condensation may occur largely depends on the thermal characteristics of the wall, the thickness and materials of each layer, and their relative position.

1 - wall without insulation; 2 - wall with insulation from the inside

If the structure is not insulated, the dew point is inside the wall, thermal cameras show that it emits heat, the room is cold even when the heating is on full power- we are losing heat.

When the heat insulator is located externally, the mass of the load-bearing wall is completely heated, accumulates heat, and the dew point shifts to the zone of the insulation, which must be freed from the moisture formed in it - this is where the technology for constructing ventilated facades arose.

A wall insulated from the inside freezes completely, since it is “fenced off” by a heat insulator from internal heat. This significantly reduces service life load-bearing walls. The dew point in most cases is located on the inner surface of the enclosing structure, but as the temperature rises environment can move into the wall mass. As a result, moisture forms between the wall and the insulation, which worsens its thermal insulation characteristics. Freezing, it can destroy the adhesive connection of the thermal insulation layer with the base. There is a risk of the wall becoming wet and mold and mildew appearing.

How to minimize the negative consequences of insulating walls from the inside

SP 23-101-2004 “Design of Thermal Protection of Buildings” states: “It is not recommended to use thermal insulation on the inside due to the possible accumulation of moisture in the thermal insulation layer, however, if such use is necessary, the surface on the room side must have a continuous and durable vapor barrier layer "

So, our task is to make the wall warm and dry; for this we need to protect as much as possible the place where the dew point is from the penetration of water vapor. To achieve this, a whole range of measures are being taken:

  1. The insulation layer is covered with high-quality vapor barrier films with sealing of joints and junctions.
  2. A heat insulator with the lowest vapor permeability is used. Ideally, it will be smaller than that of the enclosing structure. Then the steam can gradually be released outside.
  3. The insulation layer is glued with a minimum gap from the wall, preferably not in a “lighthouse” way, but on a comb.
  4. Insulated walls are lined with moisture-resistant plasterboard.
  5. Additional air exchange is organized to reduce humidity in the room. Mechanical ventilation systems are used, windows are equipped with control valves.

It is important to completely eliminate possible cold bridges. The fact is that when installing a heat insulator from the inside, we do not have the opportunity to insulate the junction of the ceilings and internal walls with the enclosing structures. That is why insulation must be carried out by extending to adjacent walls and ceilings, then they should also be carefully insulated from vapors and, possibly, structurally decorated with boxes and false columns.

Which heat insulator to use

Mineral wool

Practice shows that in the vast majority of cases, people insulate walls from the inside using mineral wool. It is placed without any vapor barrier between the frame studs of plasterboard systems. In addition, rolled wool is often used, not intended for vertical structures, with a clearly insufficient thermal resistance coefficient. Such insulation is done easily and very quickly, it is incredibly cheap, but not at all effective, and even harmful.

Note that cotton wool, to put it mildly, is not very suitable for insulation from the inside. Fans of this material they enthusiastically call it “breathable”, but in our case this is precisely its main drawback. Not only is there unhindered access to the location of the dew point through the fibers, but the ability of mineral wool to absorb moisture also causes many problems. Of course, you can count on the fact that the cotton wool will never get wet; use special mineral boards, which in terms of thermal characteristics are identical to expanded polystyrene foam. You can carefully glue them and try to create an absolutely airtight vapor barrier on the inside of the room. But the risk of moistening the insulation and inner surface the walls remain, then all efforts will be reduced to zero, the moisture will find its way out into the room, through drips or fungus. This is because the vapor permeability of any enclosing structure is many times worse than that of cotton wool.

Some craftsmen attempt to completely seal mineral wool slabs - they also use an inner layer of vapor barrier, make “pillows” by sealing the wool in a polyethylene sleeve. But other problems arise: the insulation is not fixed to the wall - gaps appear at the dew point locations, the slabs are difficult to fit to each other without damaging the shells, and the technological chain becomes more complicated.

Expanded polystyrene and EPS

On this moment expanded polystyrene is one of the best materials for insulating walls from the inside, so from year to year it is increasingly used both in Russia and in many European countries. The popularity of expanded polystyrene is explained by its excellent operational and thermal characteristics. Its undeniable advantages are:

  1. Low thermal conductivity.
  2. Minimal water absorption and vapor permeability.
  3. Ability to withstand high loads, both compressive and tensile.
  4. Easy to cut and install;
  5. Light weight of slabs.

So, using foamed or extruded polystyrene foam, we can increase the thermal insulation structures with the minimum possible thickness of the insulating layer. Not only do polystyrene foam and EPS do not absorb moisture and do not lose their insulating properties, but they also do not allow water vapor to pass into the dew point zone; additional film vapor barrier will simply be superfluous. Of course, for this it is necessary to reliably isolate the junctions of the slabs and their junction with the enclosing structures. This is quite easy to do using polyurethane foam. Moreover, some manufacturers produce slabs with stepped edges, so that the insulation fits together without any gaps at all. Expanded polystyrene can be successfully mounted on a wall using a facade system, using simultaneously adhesive compositions and fixation with disc dowels.

As we have already noted, the adhesive layer also performs an insulating function; polyurethane adhesive in the form of foam has proven itself especially well. The high strength of the material allows for finishing options for insulated walls wet method directly on the heat insulator, without using frame technologies, while it is simply impossible to overload the wall due to the low specific gravity of the material. So, square meter The insulating layer made of expanded polystyrene is 2-2.5 times lighter than a similar thickness made of mineral wool.

There is one small drawback - polystyrene foam has poor soundproofing properties. Problems of possible destruction of the heat insulator at temperatures above 80 degrees and insufficient resistance of polystyrene foam to the effects of many organic solvents, in our case, are probably not critical.

Polyurethane foam

This durable and lightweight material is also well suited for insulating walls from the inside. It has excellent insulating properties due to its cellular structure. The thermal conductivity coefficient of polyurethane foam is from 0.025 W/(m K), which is one of the best indicators. The pores of polyurethane foam are filled with air or inert gas, each such cell is hermetically sealed. That is why moisture is not absorbed into the material and does not pass through it - this is an excellent waterproofing of the enclosing structure.

Low thermal conductivity, minimal moisture absorption, maximum vapor barrier - this is what we need. But that’s not all; polyurethane foam coating gets its special properties thanks to in an unusual way its application. The fact is that it is applied by spraying a liquid two-component substance, which foams on the surface being treated and hardens within a few seconds.

  • Polyurethane foam “sticks” perfectly to any substrate, including ceilings; there is no need to use fasteners, which are cold bridges.
  • The coating forms a single whole with the wall, not giving moisture from the room the slightest chance to penetrate into the dew point area.
  • The heat-insulating layer is monolithic, without seams or cracks. By spraying the substance, you can easily insulate curved or semicircular walls.
  • Polyurethane foam is applied very quickly. Foaming of the insulation is carried out at the work site, therefore, due to the small volume of the liquid starting material, the costs of delivery and storage of materials are minimized.
  • The layer of polyurethane foam can be plastered using facade technology using nylon mesh.

Other materials

There are also others on the market, often “innovative” ones. insulating materials for walls whose manufacturers claim their extraordinary properties. However, they are all a little disingenuous, hiding obvious shortcomings or keeping silent about serious problems in the implementation of the corresponding technological chains. For example, warm plaster, in terms of its thermal characteristics, is several times inferior to foam materials, and is also hygroscopic and vapor-permeable. Foiled polyethylene foam has very low thermal conductivity, but only under one condition - it must be mounted in such a way that there is an air gap between the insulation and the wall, as well as the sheet cladding. It is almost impossible to make two sealed gaps, secure the material well, and at the same time effectively insulate the joints and abutments. Therefore, in most cases, strips of polyethylene are simply nailed with dowels to external wall with the inevitable loss of the declared characteristics. Liquid thermal insulation based on ceramics with a layer thickness of 1 mm replaces 50 mm of mineral wool - that’s what its manufacturers say. A thermal conductivity coefficient of 0.0016 looks fantastic, to say the least, especially considering that the ultra-thin coating consists of ceramic bubbles filled with air. But ceramics have a thermal conductivity of 0.8-0.15, and air - 0.025. “Thermal paint” is a new material and has not yet been properly studied, but there are examples of insulation that doesn’t work apartment buildings has already. Perhaps, under certain conditions, such an isolator has a right to exist.

How thick should the insulation be?

The correct choice of thermal insulation materials is one of the key aspects of proper insulation of walls from the inside; now it is necessary to determine its thickness:

  1. First, using the formula R = D/L (where D is the thickness of the structure, and L is the value of the thermal conductivity of the material), we calculate the actual heat transfer resistance of the wall without a heat insulator. For example, if we have a building envelope made of brick 500 mm thick, then the thermal conductivity resistance will be: R = 0.5/0.47 = 1.06 m 2 °C/W.
  2. Now we can compare this indicator with the standardized one. For example, the heat transfer resistance for enclosing structures in Moscow and the region must be at least 3.15 - the difference is 2.09. It needs to be supplemented with insulation, since the thermal conductivity coefficient of a structure consists of the sum of the coefficients of its layers.
  3. We calculate the required insulation thickness using the formula D = L R. For example, if we want to use polystyrene foam (L = 0.042), then we will need D = 0.042 2.09 = 0.087 - a foam layer of 87 mm. Naturally, it is better to increase the minimum values ​​and use 100 mm of expanded polystyrene, then there is a chance to move the dew point inside the layer of completely moisture-proof insulation.

Let's sum it up

Insulating walls from the inside is a last resort in a situation where there is no way to fix the heat insulator from the facade. It is technologically quite difficult to competently perform such work. Internal insulation is not as cheap as it seems at first glance, so you most likely won’t be able to save much money.

We can formulate the basic requirements for high-quality insulation of walls from the inside:

  1. It is necessary to organize a sealed vapor barrier on the wall.
  2. The thickness of the insulation must be no less than the calculated thickness to ensure the normalized thermal conductivity of the enclosing structure for a certain climatic zone.
  3. It is imperative to take measures to improve the ventilation of the room.
  4. The heat insulator should be glued using a comb or continuous strips.
  5. It is also necessary to insulate areas of ceilings and partitions adjacent to the external walls.
  6. It is better to sheathe external walls with moisture-resistant plasterboard on a metal frame.
  7. To ensure the tightness of the cladding, you should not place sockets, switches, lamps, or sconces on it.
  8. Adjunctions sheet materials the enclosing structures must be sealed with acrylic or silicone.
  9. U-shaped brackets are mounted to the base only through insulating gaskets.
  10. All work on wall insulation should be carried out after they have been treated with antifungal compounds. The base must be completely dry. Wetting of the structure from the outside should be prevented in advance - all roofing, facade and window work must be completed, all systems must function properly.

It should be noted that the reason that the room is cold is not always the unsatisfactory thermal insulation of the external walls. It is worth paying close attention to the thermal characteristics of the floor, ceiling, and window units. Maybe this is where the cause of all the troubles lies, or perhaps the problem is the incorrect operation of the heating or errors in its design. If this is the case, then even perfectly executed wall insulation will not bring the desired effect, and the temperature in the room will rise only by 1-2 degrees.

Each owner has his own individual requirements for what his house or apartment should be like. The exception to the rule is heat. Especially in the cold season, when the air temperature outside goes below zero.

With the fact that housing should not only be beautiful, but also capable of holding comfortable temperature even with a big minus, everyone without exception agrees.

The reason for this unanimity lies not only in the desire to avoid the need to be at home in warm clothes that hinder movement.

The main troubles that follow freezing of walls are condensation, mold and fungi, which affect the health of residents.

In addition, the walls themselves suffer. If mold and mildew can be eliminated, then restored quality of the damaged wall It doesn't always work out.

The way out of the situation is internal wall insulation, protects against cold during frosts, and from condensation during thaw periods.

Advantages and disadvantages of thermal insulation

As a rule, the culprits reducing the comfortable temperature level indoors are heating systems, poorly insulated windows, or the roof of the house. If the heating, windows and roofing are normal, then the problem is really in the freezing walls, which require additional thermal insulation.

The indisputable advantages of internal wall protection against freezing include:

  • the ability to insulate any room;
  • performing work at any time of the year;
  • the ability to carry out all the work yourself (significant savings);
  • increasing the sound insulation of the home.

The disadvantages include:

  • mandatory requirements for providing vapor barrier;
  • the need to use insulation with excess thickness;
  • consequences in the form of internal drafts;
  • the need to create additional ventilation due to increased humidity;

Is it possible to insulate the walls inside an apartment?

Despite the fact that the option of internal insulation seems, at first glance, to be the most effective and profitable, experts recommend resorting to it only in the most extreme cases , if there is no other way out.

If the operating organization has been promising to carry out external insulation for years, but the residents do not have their own funds, then everything that is not recommended can be carried out, since is not strictly prohibited.

When constructing private houses, mistakes are often made, due to which winter time The rooms are very cold and you have to spend a lot of money on heating. Proper insulation can correct this situation. In this article we will look at materials suitable for repair, as well as the procedure for their installation.

Characteristics of insulation - 5 points worth focusing on

In order to properly insulate the walls of a house from the inside, you need to understand what properties the materials used should have. The most important characteristics of thermal insulation materials are:

  1. 1. The degree of thermal insulation. For different insulation materials Characterized by varying degrees of thermal insulation, some materials are better at preventing the cooling of interior spaces, while others are worse.
  2. 2. Dimensions. Insulation materials with equal thermal insulation characteristics can have different thicknesses. It is best to use thin materials, the installation of which will not reduce the usable area of ​​the rooms too much.
  3. 3. Vapor permeability. The products used should not interfere with the evaporation of moisture. If steam creates condensation, this can lead to the formation of fungus and mold on the walls.
  4. 4. Density of joints. The tighter the joints, the less likely it is that so-called cold bridges will appear, which not only reduce the quality of insulation, but also increase the wear of internal cladding materials.
  5. 5. Difficulty in installation. The simpler it is to install thermal insulation materials, the easier it will be to carry out renovation work independently, without involving professionals in the installation.

We also recommend paying attention to the ability of the materials used to maintain their shape throughout their entire service life. The cheapest insulation materials quickly deform and lose their useful qualities, because of which the need for repeated repairs may soon arise, so it is better to insulate the walls with high-quality materials.

Mineral wool is one of the most popular thermal insulators

Mineral wool is a common and affordable thermal insulation material. It is popular with both professional builders and private owners who want to insulate the house from the inside with minimal investment. Mineral wool has many advantages, but the main one is its low weight, that is, its use in repairs will not create additional load on the load-bearing structures structural elements residential property.

The lightness of mineral wool is especially important when it is necessary to insulate walls from the inside in a private frame house, partitions and foundations in which will not be able to withstand additional loads from thermal insulation. Despite its popularity and availability, mineral wool has many significant disadvantages that must be remembered. The negative features of mineral wool include:

  1. 1. Absorption of moisture, which over time leads to the material losing its original shape and technical characteristics.
  2. 2. Comparatively low level thermal insulation.
  3. 3. The likelihood of the formation of cold bridges due to the impossibility of insulating the joints between the slabs with wool.

You can also insulate a house from the inside using basalt wool; it is similar to mineral wool, but retains heat and its own shape much better under negative external influences. Her positive traits are due to the presence of natural basalt in the fiber composition, which, among other things, can withstand even severe temperature changes. The main disadvantage of basalt wool is its high cost.

Foam plastic and penoplex - which is better?

Polystyrene foam is also very popular when insulating the walls of a residential building from the inside, especially if the work is done with your own hands. Its main difference from mineral wool is its ability to maintain its shape for a long time. It does not interact with moisture, but also does not allow it to pass through itself, which is a disadvantage. Polystyrene foam has very low vapor permeability characteristics; condensation remains on the insulation and does not evaporate. Low vapor permeability often leads to the formation of fungus and mold, therefore this insulation is not recommended for use in wet rooms.

You should not use polystyrene foam for insulation. wooden houses, due to accumulating moisture, the structural elements of a building made of natural wood may be damaged. Some owners refuse to use polystyrene foam, considering it too flammable. In fact, modern production of polystyrene foam involves the addition of special fire retardants to its composition, which prevent the material from igniting and create a kind of barrier to the spread of fire indoors, since under the influence high temperature the foam simply breaks down into water and carbon dioxide, which do not burn.

Insulation of the walls of a house from the inside can be done using more modern variety foam plastic - penoplex. It differs from polystyrene foam in its greater density, which has a positive effect on the required thickness of insulation, which means it is much better suited for thermal insulation of a house from the inside. Penoplex is completely safe for humans; it is actively used in the construction of private houses, children's and public institutions.

Polyurethane – is it easy to use?

Polyurethane has a good degree of thermal insulation and is considered the best material for insulation concrete walls. Even a thin layer of polyurethane foam (a few centimeters) is quite enough to significantly improve the microclimate in residential premises. Typically, polyurethane is used to insulate thin external walls, which require maximum insulation with the smallest possible thickness of the insulator. An important advantage of polyurethane foam is that it has no joints that could cause cold bridges to form.

In almost all characteristics, polyurethane surpasses its main competitors in the thermal insulation market - mineral wool and polystyrene foam. The main disadvantage of this material is its high complexity installation work. Only professionals with special expensive equipment can properly insulate a wall from the inside with foam. There is no point in buying equipment for mixing and spraying polyurethane on walls for one-time use; it is much cheaper and more effective to turn to specialists who already have the necessary equipment and know how to use it correctly.

Installation of mineral wool and ecowool in a frame house

The most difficult task when thermal insulation with mineral wool is to create a sealed vapor barrier layer, which should protect the material from moisture and condensation. It is best to use mineral or basalt wool slabs for insulation, corresponding in size to the distance between vertical posts frame house. If this distance is 60 cm, then the slabs should be the same size. The density of the boards used must be more than 30 kg/m3 with a sheet thickness of 5 cm.

The number of layers of insulation in each case must be selected individually, taking into account the climatic conditions in the region. For the southern regions of Russia, 2 layers of thermal insulation are usually sufficient, and in the northern regions, install at least 3 layers.

If a frame house has external insulation, then a vapor barrier layer is already installed in the walls, which does not necessarily need to be duplicated in order to insulate the walls of the house from the inside. Install mineral wool slabs between the vertical posts of the frame house, cover them on top with a vapor barrier membrane material. The vapor barrier is installed with an overlap, and the seams are additionally fixed with construction reinforced tape. On top of the membrane film you need to install a wooden sheathing on which you can hang internal lining walls To finish the rooms in a frame house, it is best to use plasterboard or wooden finishing materials.

Ecowool is a special material that is applied to walls by spraying. It is not necessary to buy a vacuum cleaner for such work; you can simply rent it. To apply ecowool use three different ways. “Dry” application involves spraying ecowool using a hose into previously prepared cavities inside the walls. "Wet" installation - mixing ecowool with water, which increases its adhesion to building materials, that is, when sprayed, such a mixture simply sticks to surfaces. The “glue” method involves adding glue to the insulation, which is necessary for adhesion of the composition to metal and concrete surfaces.

We insulate a brick building - how to proceed?

IN brick houses You can insulate walls from the inside using more materials. The most important thing is that the means used are different good characteristics thermal insulation and had a small thickness. In a frame house, the insulation can be quite thick, since it is located directly inside the walls and does not reduce the area of ​​the rooms; in a brick building, the size of the room directly depends on the thickness of the insulation.

Most often for insulation brick houses use plaster, polystyrene foam and mineral wool. The easiest way to improve the thermal insulation characteristics of a house with your own hands is to use plaster. This method is a preliminary leveling of the walls, after which a layer of liquid primer is applied to the surface. This consistency of the soil will allow it to fill gaps, cracks and other minor defects of the treated surface.

A fabric reinforcing mesh is laid on top of the primer, and plaster is placed on top. It has good thermal insulation characteristics, and it should be laid on the walls as evenly as possible. Not only the temperature inside the house, but also the visual appeal of the walls depends on the quality of the work performed. The composition must be applied with a spatula in two layers. The thickness of each layer should be no more than 2 cm. To improve the thermal insulation qualities of plastered walls after hardening facing material it is covered with a finishing layer of plaster. Fine-grained sand is added to the solution of liquid consistency and applied to the wall in a layer, the thickness of which should be about 5 mm.

Polystyrene foam also allows for high-quality insulation of walls brick house from the inside. To achieve maximum improvement temperature conditions indoors, brick walls pre-plaster, and then level the surfaces to perfect condition with putty. Smooth walls are needed so that the foam adheres as closely as possible to the surfaces being covered.

A layer of waterproofing in the form of a vapor barrier film or liquid primer is laid on top of the prepared wall, after which the installation of foam sheets begins. The easiest way is to attach the insulation to flat surface using special glue. The adhesive can be applied both to the walls and to the insulating material itself. Then the sheets are tightly applied to the wall and pressed until the glue sets. To prevent the formation of cold bridges during the operation of the rooms, individual sheets of polystyrene foam should be fitted as tightly as possible to each other. The foam is covered with a vapor barrier on top and work begins finishing walls

Mineral wool requires preliminary hydro- and vapor barrier. After installing the insulation, we install a vertical sheathing made of metal or wooden profiles. The distance between the profiles or slats should be equal to the width of the insulation boards used. We install mineral wool between the profiles. If the thickness of the mineral wool layers is greater than the thickness of the sheathing, the insulation must be immediately fixed with a vapor barrier film. We attach the sheathing to the profiles on top of the insulation to install the finishing facing layer.