It is necessary to insulate not only the floor on the ground floor in order to avoid the penetration of cold from a cold basement or ground, but also preferably the inter-floor ceilings. After all, insulation materials are also excellent sound insulation, which will make your home quiet, warm and cosy. How to independently insulate the floor in a wooden house will be discussed below. We will consider the installation technology, give recommendations on the choice of materials, and pay attention to the subtleties and possible errors.
So, in a wooden house, the floors are most often insulated between the joists. A joist is a wooden beam intended for laying roofing sheets or floorboards on it. The posts are mounted on a ready-made old floor or sheathed underneath so that insulation can be applied between them. It is also possible to insulate the floor without logs. In this case, a denser insulation material that can withstand the load of furniture and people in the room is used.
Choosing insulation for a wooden floor
Let’s consider two options for floor insulation: with and without the use of logs. Low-density material is used when insulating floors between joists. It is best to use rigid slabs of rock basalt mineral wool. This is an environmentally friendly, non-flammable material with high thermal insulation properties. The density of such materials should be from 25 to 40 kg/m³. We do not recommend using slag wool, glass wool or mineral wool with a thickness of less than 25 kg/m³. Such materials are not pleasant and convenient to install, have less thermal insulation, lose their thermal insulation properties over time and have a short service life. We categorically do not recommend using polystyrene foam at all, as it releases harmful substances. Whether it’s a new build or a renovation, insulation installers Central Coast have the perfect solution for your needs.
Insulation for floors in wooden houses:
The leaders in the production of insulation from rock basalt mineral wool. Their range includes both rigid insulation boards and mats. Mats can also be used for thermal insulation of wooden floors, but insulation in slabs is easier to install and is easier to use. Therefore, we recommend considering the following materials: Light Butts Scandic and Isolite L. Also, an acceptable economical option would be insulation from the Euroizol company – IZOL LIGHT. These materials are made from natural materials (basalt rocks without the addition of metallurgical slag) and synthetic binders. They have a pleasant touch and a homogeneous structure without foreign inclusions. They will not cause allergic reactions or skin irritation during installation.
By choosing cheaper analogues, you risk not only your wallet (because repairs will be inevitable in a matter of years) but also your health. Often, cheap materials crumble, and the airborne suspension from the insulation can settle on the nasopharynx and lungs, causing allergies and other adverse health effects. This is not to mention the fact that the quality of thermal insulation of such floors will be significantly lower. The proposed materials will last up to 100 years or more! The cost of thermal insulation takes up a tiny part of the cost of the entire house, and the difference in price between good insulation and cheap ones can save you a minimal amount compared to all construction costs. So, is it worth keeping on such an essential component of the house as thermal insulation?
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To insulate floors without logs, it is necessary to use denser basalt insulation, such as Isoflor or Flor Butts.
In addition to the insulation itself, you will also need a vapour barrier film that will protect our thermal insulation from moisture coming from the basement or lower floor.
Installation of insulation for wooden floors
Before installing the logs, you need to lay a vapour barrier film. It is sold in rolls. Separate sheets of a vapour barrier can be fastened together with double-sided tape. It is also possible to lay the film on top of the joists if a previously installed subfloor structure is used.
As we said above, the most correct way to insulate floors in a wooden house is between the joists. So next, we need to nail the logs to the base. It is necessary to choose wooden blocks of such a height that it is slightly more significant than the thickness of the insulation (usually 50 or 100 mm) in order to leave a small ventilated gap (literally a couple of centimetres). Nail the joists at a distance of 588 mm from each other. This will allow the insulation to be laid with a slight tension in the future because The thickness of the insulation boards is usually 600 mm. Remember to treat wooden structures with an antiseptic.
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Now, lay the insulation boards between the joists. To do this, crumple them a little in width and place them in the formed hollows. The plates are easily deformed, returning to their original size after the pressure on them is removed. This way, we get insulation boards that fit tightly to the joists, which eliminates possible cold bridges.
That’s all. Now, you can cover our heated floor with floorboards, OSB sheets, plywood, etc. In some cases, a film is also spread over the insulation.
