How to insulate the roof from the inside

Through various structural elements of the building, heat loss occurs regularly during the cold season. On the roof, if it is unheated, accounts for approximately 15% of the total share of losses. Hence the conclusion that in order to make living in the house more comfortable and cozy and, in addition, to save on heating, the roof must be insulated. You can either insulate the roof from the inside after construction, and make insulation outside during construction.

Materials

Warming the roof, you need to equip the roofing pie, the main elements of which are waterproofing, insulation and vapor barrier.

• Due to waterproofing, the possibility of moisture penetration into the heat-insulating layer both from the outside and inside the building is excluded. Membranes and special films are used for waterproofing works. The latter is a polypropylene mesh, covered on both sides with polyethylene. The membrane is a non-woven material, the middle layer of which is vapor-and waterproof. The outer layers of the membrane provide strength.
• Vapor barrier is a vapor-proof film that protects the insulation from moisture vapor from inside the building.

For the insulation of the roof from the inside there are many materials with different performance characteristics. Today the most popular are the following materials.

Cotton wool based on glass and mineral components. These heaters are made in the form of plates and rolls. Mineral wool is more in demand because it has greater resistance to high temperature.

Styrofoam, which is produced in the form of plates. The main disadvantage of this material is its flammability. When burning polystyrene foam into the atmosphere toxic substances are released.

Polyurethane foam - panels. For insulation also used a variety of this material in the form of a liquid composition.

Roof insulation process

When constructing a soft roof, its insulation should be carried out before mounting the roofing material. If a metal tile, slate or other solid material is used to overlap the upper part of the house, it is possible to insulate the roof from the inside with the roof already installed. The technology of insulation of roofs of different types has distinctive features. The main thing is to know how to do it correctly, so that in the future there will be no problems with the operation of the roofing pie design.

• At the design stage, it is necessary to determine whether roof insulation will be carried out or not. Regardless, waterproofing material must be attached to the roof rafters. Condensate often appears on the inside of the roofing material. To avoid its occurrence, between the roofing material and the waterproofing film should be left a gap for ventilation. Waterproofing device required. The air gap in this case should be 2 cm or more. To facilitate the task and provide ventilation space, additional strips are nailed to the rafters or the crate.

Airspace should also be arranged between waterproofing and insulation. To avoid additional ventilation gap, a super-diffusion membrane can be used as a waterproofing material.

• After the installation of waterproofing comes the turn of laying insulation. This material is mounted between the rafters, while the method of laying mats or slabs must assume several layers and exclude the coincidence of the joints. The number of insulation layers should be at least two and their total thickness should exceed 20 cm. If the rafter legs are small in width, the rafter can be blocked with the next layer - from this, the quality of insulation will only improve. After laying the insulation, the roofing pie is supplemented with vapor barrier material. Then the whole structure is fastened with a crate to the rafters and sewn up. Such technology of warming is applied in the presence of a cattle roof.
• When insulating a flat roof, the work is carried out somewhat differently - the installation of insulation is a bit more complicated, since the roof surface is horizontal and there are no supporting elements. In this case, before laying insulation to the ceiling, the bars are attached to the ceiling, and the step between them should be slightly inferior to the width of the mats or slabs. Another important condition - the height of the bars should be the same size as the thickness of the insulation. Insulation in the space between the bars should go tight. For secure mounting material can additionally be fixed to the ceiling with a special glue. Then, as in the version with a pitched roof, a vapor barrier is attached to the structure, an internal crate is made and the roofing pie is sewn.

In order to make the house comfortable and cozy, only high-quality materials should be used for roof insulation. Despite their relatively high cost, they will eventually pay for themselves completely.

We also recommend reading the articles:

How to make waterproofing roof

The use of liquid insulation

How to lay a vapor barrier

Video

The peculiarities of roof insulation are described in more detail in the following video: