Insulate the floor on the first floor of the apartment with foam. How to insulate the floors in the apartment with your own hands: step by step instructions

How to insulate the floor on the ground floor is not an idle question for many owners of private houses who are busy improving the energy efficiency of their homes. Reducing heating costs with steadily rising energy prices is an important task that can be achieved by careful thermal insulation of all external surfaces of the building and structures adjacent to them.

Insulation of the floor of a private house - a way to save energy

Why you need to insulate the floor on the first floor

The floor of the first floor is the boundary separating the internal warm rooms from the unheated basement or ground. In winter, cold outside air and frozen soil cool the foundation, plinth, and walls adjacent to the floor.

Condensation occurs when cold and heat meet. This leads to freezing structures, their constant moisture. Fungi settle on the surface and in the thickness, destroying not only wood, but also brick and concrete with the emitted substances. The floor covering, wall decoration suffers.

In addition to the discomfort caused by the wet icy surface, heating costs increase. Through an uninsulated floor, up to 15% of heat is released into the ground and the atmosphere.

Losses through an uninsulated floor reach 15%

We have to maintain a more intense heating mode, which sometimes does not help much. The air in the house warms up enough, and the floors remain cold.

Insulation of the floor of the first floor of a private house should be given special attention. This will help maintain a favorable indoor climate, reduce costs during the heating period of the year, and extend the life of materials and structures.

Types of floor insulation and their characteristics

The construction industry produces a variety of thermal insulation materials that meet the requirements of GOST and SNiP.

For floor insulation use:

• granulated - expanded clay, blast-furnace slag, vermiculite, foam glass;
• rolled - stone, glass, slag wool, polyethylene foam, polystyrene foam, technical cork;
• plates with and without foil coating - basalt wool, expanded polystyrene, foam plastic, wood concrete, plywood, chipboard or oriented chipboard, chipboard, OSB;
• concrete-based mixtures - expanded clay concrete, slag concrete, foam concrete, polystyrene concrete, sawdust concrete.
• foams, liquids - polyurethane foam, ecowool, heat-insulating paints.

Modern thermal insulators increase the energy efficiency of the house

Together with insulation, an underfloor heating system is often installed - laying a heating cable, infrared emitters, electric mats or thin tubes filled with water. Heating is carried out from the power supply or a heating boiler.

General characteristics that thermal insulation materials have:

• low coefficient of thermal conductivity - 0.03-0.3 W / m ° C, which effectively reduces heat loss even when laying a layer of small thickness;
• high fire resistance - most heat insulators belong to the class NG, G1 or G2, which means incombustibility or a low degree of flammability;
• biological inertness - materials do not rot due to the chemical composition or antiseptic impregnations, are resistant to mold growth;
• durability - with proper installation and operation, the service life declared by the manufacturer is 20 years or more;
• low density and low weight - the structure of heat insulators is porous or fibrous, therefore, coatings made of them are light and do not create a load on the supporting structures;
• manufacturability - insulation is easy to lay on horizontal surfaces, fasten or apply with special equipment, it does not take much time.

Polymer heaters are several times more effective than natural materials

The advantages of heat insulators include environmental friendliness. They do not emit harmful fumes and radiation into the environment. For the use of heaters indoors, this is very important.

The choice of insulation option

The method of floor insulation is chosen taking into account:

• base material and design;
• the presence of a basement;
• characteristics of the heating system;
• climatic conditions.

In a wooden house that belongs to fire hazardous structures, it is advisable to arrange thermal insulation from non-combustible materials - expanded clay, perlite, foam glass, mineral wool in rolls or slabs, polyurethane foam.

Concrete floors can be insulated with polymeric insulators - polystyrene foam, polystyrene foam. They do not support combustion, but emit acrid smoke when heated. According to the standards, such materials must be covered with a protective layer of cement-sand mortar with a thickness of at least 30 mm.

Fibrous and bulk insulation tend to absorb water vapor from the environment. A moisture barrier is created using a variety of films and membranes, which are laid from the side of unheated basements or underground floors. Insulators are often covered with aluminum foil, the function of which is to reflect infrared rays into the room, additionally protecting it from heat loss.

Before choosing a heat insulator, you need to consider all options

When choosing a heater for the floor of the first floor, important criteria are:

• price category;
• labor intensity of work.

The most inexpensive thermal insulation is polystyrene foam, polystyrene foam, polystyrene foam. Polymers are offered at a price of 1800 rubles / m³. A layer with a thickness of 50-100 mm is usually laid on the floor, which corresponds to 36-89 rubles / m².

Expanded clay will cost 1200 rubles / m³, in terms of a square meter of floor 240 rubles. (layer 20 cm).

Basalt wool in rolls or unstitched mats costs an average of 170-180 rubles / m².

The cost of laying is calculated based on the established prices for work in the construction market. If we do the repair ourselves, you can mount the insulation without resorting to the help of teams.

The least labor intensive when installing thermal insulation made of foam and related materials or mineral wool. Laying expanded clay or slag is more difficult, their specific gravity is 400-600 kg / m³. To move and cover 100 m² of floor with a layer of 20 cm, 20 m³ is required, which is 8-12 tons. For such work, at least an assistant is needed, and preferably 2 or 3.

Ecowool is a cellulose insulation that is gaining popularity. It is applied with professional pressure equipment. Independently, this type of insulation is not mounted. The price per square is voiced by specialized firms. It is from 170 rubles / m² and depends on the configuration of the surface, the thickness of the layer.

Cotton blowing is carried out by professionals

You can scatter ecowool over the surface manually, similar to granular materials. The quality of such insulation is much lower than with dry blowing.

Climatic conditions impose certain requirements on the choice of insulation for the floor. For example, in cold Siberian regions, in order to isolate the surface with expanded clay, it will be necessary to lay a layer of about 40 cm (determined by thermal engineering calculation). Therefore, it is advisable to perform work using lightweight thermal insulators with a lower coefficient of thermal conductivity.

Thermal insulation with bulk materials

The oldest bulk insulation is dry earth. Later, man began to use wood shavings or sawdust. They are still used today, impregnated with antiseptics and flame retardants or mixed with lime, cement, clay. But the most popular insulation is obtained by swelling shale clay.

It is easy to use, inexpensive, not loved by rodents. A layer of expanded clay can be distributed over the ground, after spreading the waterproofing. It will protect the material from moisture.

Expanded clay is very easy to use

To insulate the floor of the first floor, a mixture of 15 mm granules and smaller fractions is used to fill the gaps between large elements. The layer thickness is at least 20 cm. Thermal insulation is performed by a dry, wet or combined method.

The sequence of "dry" work using bulk insulation:

1. Fill the space between the logs of the wooden floor with expanded clay, vermiculite or other materials.
2. Draft floors are laid from MDF, plywood, boards, chipboard, OSB.
3. Lay the finish coat.

"Wet" floor insulation:

1. Expanded clay is mixed with a cement-sand mortar.
2. Expanded clay concrete is laid on the base.
3. Align, wait for complete drying.
4. Set up a clean finish.

With the combined method, a layer of dry insulation is first filled up, then it is poured with a cement-sand mortar. Level and after hardening lay finishing materials. It is possible to lay a reinforcing mesh in the screed for strength.

Dry expanded clay screed

The disadvantages of bulk insulation are the tendency to shrink, moisten. To level them, during installation, the granules must be sealed, protected with waterproofing from the side of possible wetting.

Warming with roll materials

Basalt wool is the most common floor insulation in private homes. Produced in rolls, mats or slabs. The first two types - inexpensive and loose, are designed for thermal insulation of wooden floors. Plates are denser, stronger, but more expensive. Used under concrete screed.

Algorithm for laying roll materials:

1. Waterproofing is spread on the boards or shields of the subfloor - films, membranes.
2. Between the lags, a heater 10-20 cm thick is laid without gaps and without excessive compaction, the layers must overlap each other.
3. A vapor barrier is placed on top, which will not prevent the evaporation of moisture from the heat insulator if it gets wet.
4. Counter rails are mounted along the lags to form a space for ventilation.
5. The insulation is completed by a finishing coat with an additional layer of sound insulation.

Insulation with rolled mineral wool

If foil varieties are used, turn the metal surface towards the room. Heat rays should be reflected into the room.

Installation of plate heaters

Expanded polystyrene and penoplex are types of polystyrene. Consist of closed balls filled with air. Due to their structure, polymers have the lowest thermal conductivity among building materials - 0.03 W / m ° C and are widely used in private housing construction for thermal insulation of floors on the first floor.

Expanded polystyrene is very unpretentious - it does not absorb moisture, like mineral wool or expanded clay. It can be laid on soil, concrete or bedding. During operation, it does not lose its properties for a long time, since it does not compact over time.

Laying polystyrene foam is a simple task. The main stages of installation for the floor on the ground:

1. Prepare the base - compact the bedding, pour the rough screed.
2. Lay waterproofing film.
3. The plates are mounted, combining the groove and the crest along the edges of two adjacent elements.
4. Spread another layer of waterproofing.
5. A reinforcing mesh is placed on top, a screed is poured.

In the same sequence, work is carried out when insulating a concrete monolith, with the exception of the device for backfilling and a rough screed.

Foam boards are easy to lay on your own

If you lay a foil film on top, then the base for installing the underfloor heating system is ready.

Concrete or floors on the ground with mineral wool slabs are insulated according to the scheme:

1. On a dense base - gravel backfill or concrete - waterproofing is laid in 2 layers with an overlap of 15-20 cm.
2. Mount mineral wool slabs, making sure that no gaps remain.
3. Another layer of waterproofing is spread on top, which will protect the screed from leakage of cement milk.
4. A concrete screed with a thickness of 50 mm or more is poured.
5. Set up a clean finish.

The greatest efficiency in floor insulation can be achieved if:

• conduct thermal insulation of adjacent structures - basement, foundation, blind area;
• protect the insulation from moisture with waterproofing, and for the evaporation of water, provide a ventilation gap of at least 50 mm;
• fill joints and gaps between the plates with scraps of material or mounting foam;
• from the invasion of rodents, use special small-mesh (up to 8 mm) nets, they are laid in places where animals can access;
• if a floor covering is laid on the insulation layer, stepping back from the wall by 10 mm, an additional soundproofing effect will be obtained.

The decision on how and with what to insulate the floor of the first floor is made by the owner. The advantages of thermal insulation are obvious - while reducing the cost of heating indoors in winter, comfortable conditions are maintained. Modern materials are available and technologically advanced.

The most common version of the foundation for small private houses, when a non-buried strip foundation is made (there is no basement), and the base of the floor is created directly on the existing soil. This is done where there is no threat of high standing groundwater, and the relief of the site is homogeneous, lying approximately at the same level of the horizon. If the soil is located under a large slope, soil moisture during the year is excessive, it makes sense to make the base of the floor of the first floor of the house at a distance from the ground, leaving a ventilated space between them. Features of the device of both floor options in private homes will be considered in this article.

Features of the foundation device

The advantage of floors that rest directly on the underlying soil layers is that they do not carry an additional load on the foundation of a private house. The floors of the first floor, which do not come into contact with the soil, provide for the device of a kind of floor slab, which is based on the foundation. Therefore, the second option requires taking these features into account when designing and calculating the required width of the base sole.

If the base of the floor of the first floor is a reinforced concrete slab, be sure to take care of the waterproofing of the foundation itself and the place of its contact with the overlapping structure, especially if this option is chosen due to the high soil moisture. A slab that is not insulated with a hydrobarrier will pull moisture from the foundation, which will lead to its premature destruction and loss of strength, as well as the penetration of dampness into the house. In addition, care should be taken to ventilate the space between the ceiling and the soil, thereby reducing the level of humidity here.

The device of the floor of the first floor on the ground

This method of arranging floors in a private house where there is no basement is considered the simplest in terms of execution and inexpensive in terms of material costs. There are two main options that apply in this case:

• installation of a concrete floor base (screed);
• installation of wooden floors on logs.

Each of the presented options has its own characteristics, both in terms of the complex of necessary works, and in terms of the final result. The choice often depends on what building material is the main one in the construction of the house itself. If the walls are made of logs or timber, a wooden floor will be more organic. In a stone or brick building, a screed is better. But this is not an absolute pattern, so there may be other combinations.

Concrete insulated screed

The base of concrete, which is poured on the ground, has long been used in all kinds of utility and technical buildings, such as garages, sheds, warehouses. On the first floors of private houses without a basement, concrete screeds have been used relatively recently as the basis for finishing flooring. Several factors influenced the popularization of this method, such as:

• the need to create smooth horizontal surfaces, which require some types of modern flooring;
• the emergence of affordable materials for effective thermal insulation;
• arrangement of systems of water heat-insulated floors for heating.

Now let's take a step-by-step look at how to properly create a concrete screed on the ground on the ground floor of private houses.

Preparation and rough filling

Preparatory work begins with tamping the soil and adding a pillow for a rough screed. The soil can be compacted both manually, using a simple device in the form of a piece of log with an attached double-sided handle, and mechanical devices that exist for this purpose. In order for the ramming process to be most effective, the soil surface is abundantly wetted with water.

The initial layer of backfill is selected based on its total thickness. If the distance from the soil to the level of the intended floor is significant (more than 25-30 cm), the most accessible material is used first. It can be construction debris or clay.

Further, the pillow is formed by a layer of large gravel, the thickness of which should be about 10 cm. The gravel creates a rigid base, roughly levels the surface and prevents a possible capillary rise of moisture from the underlying layers. On top of the gravel, a sandy (or small gravel) pillow is formed about 5-7 cm thick. The quality of the sand does not play a role here, so a clay-saturated quarry option is quite suitable. The sand cushion is leveled as much as possible, after which a durable plastic film is laid. The latter performs two functions:

• the first layer of waterproofing;
• an obstacle to the water contained in the concrete.

The film is laid continuously with a wall approach of up to 15 cm. Now you can pour a rough layer of concrete. For these purposes, a lean mortar is usually prepared, where the ratio of fillers (sand and gravel) and cement is approximately 9:1. Here, instead of crushed stone, if possible, you can use expanded clay. A pillow made of expanded clay concrete will provide additional insulation for the base of the floor. The rough screed is formed with a layer of about 10 cm. Despite the fact that the initial filling does not have to have an ideal surface, it is desirable to level it more carefully. This will facilitate further waterproofing and laying insulation.

Important! For the preparation of concrete, any sand is not suitable. There is a lot of clay in the quarry material, which will drastically reduce the strength of the concrete slab and lead to its cracking. For these purposes, river sand or washed sand is needed, including for the preparation of expanded clay concrete composition.

The draft layer is usually not reinforced, since the load on it is small. After pouring, a break in work is necessary to allow the concrete to gain strength. Although the material completely crystallizes within 26-28 days, it is sufficient to wait a week. During this time, concrete with sufficient moisture gains about 70% strength. During this period, it is necessary to monitor the proper moistening of the concrete surface, especially if the work is carried out during the hot season. To do this, abundantly moisten the ripening concrete 1-2 times a day.

How to make waterproofing and insulate the floor?

For the main waterproofing layer, it is better to use not a polyethylene sheet, but a full-fledged, reliable material. Here it will be enough to process the rough concrete base with bitumen, followed by laying the rolled material. Suitable roofing material or hydrostekloizol. The rolls are rolled out with an overlap of adjacent strips by 10-15 cm. Hot gluing in this case can not be used, but it is necessary to process the joints with bituminous material. The rolled material is laid on the surface of the wall above the level of the intended finishing screed.

You can insulate the floor with dense foam (it is cheaper), or extruded polystyrene foam. The second one is preferable for these purposes, as it is much stronger, absolutely hydrophobic, and its plates usually have tongue/groove-type docking elements at the edges, which greatly simplifies its installation. The seams between the sheets of insulation can be filled with polyurethane foam or treated with special glue. Foam also needs to go through the gaps around the perimeter of the room between the wall and polystyrene foam.

Finishing fill

For these purposes, a solution is prepared with a normal ratio of 4:2:1, or 3:3:1, where, respectively, gravel, sand, cement. Before finishing pouring concrete, it is necessary to lay a mesh for reinforcement and install beacons, thanks to which it will be possible to achieve a strictly horizontal surface.

Reinforcing mesh can be used metal with a cell of 100 mm, or rigid plastic. The reinforcing elements are overlapped (1-2 cells), not reaching the wall about 1.5 cm. Here, a damper tape is glued around the perimeter, which is designed to compensate for temperature changes in the linear dimensions of the screed. The mesh should not lie on the insulation, but should be located approximately in the center of the concrete layer. To do this, use special stands or improvised means (bottle caps, brick fragments, etc.).

After the installation of the final floor base and its careful leveling (grinding or self-leveling solutions), it remains to wait for its full maturation and proceed with laying the final floor covering.

Wooden floor installation

Despite the wide variety of modern floor coverings, wooden floors have a lot of adherents among consumers. This can be understood given that wood is the most environmentally friendly material that can create a favorable microclimate in a residential area. Moreover, a modern board that is used for flooring allows you to make an ideal surface without cracks, which in appearance is in no way inferior to parquet.

The classic way of laying a floor board involves the presence of a log, - wooden beams, which are arranged in parallel with a certain step, which depends on the thickness of the floor wooden layer. On the ground floor of a private house, when the floors are laid on the underlying soil, preparatory and intermediate work until the creation of a rough foundation and its waterproofing is no different from that described above. That is, for the device of a high-quality wooden floor, a reliable leveled concrete base is also required.

After installing the bearing bars, the floor should be insulated. The use of expanded polystyrenes is undesirable here, since these materials do not allow steam to pass through, which can cause water condensate to form, which will adversely affect the wood. In addition, foam, for example, can be chosen by rodents, which will entail some discomfort.

For a wooden floor on the logs of the first floor of a private house, it is better to use mineral wool, or rather one of its varieties. However, when laying mineral wool, you should take care of the moisture insulation of the insulation. If the hydrobarrier has already been created from below (on top of the rough screed), then it remains only to arrange the top layer of the hydrobarrier film.

Almost all owners of apartments located on the ground floor are faced with such a problem as cold floors. This is due to cold and unheated, and often damp basements. In such cases, it is necessary to insulate the floor of the first floor with modern materials.

For this, a fairly large number of different heaters and methods of their installation are used. In this article, we will get acquainted with the most effective methods of how to correctly and reliably insulate a concrete floor.

Basement insulation

The most correct solution is the thermal insulation of the floor slab from the basement side. In other words, it is necessary to insulate the ceiling in the basement, thus moving the cold and dew point away from the floor in the apartment.

To carry out such work, it is better to coordinate with the Housing Office. There are usually no problems with this. Having received such permission, you can start thermal insulation work. The following methods are available for this:

• The simplest, inexpensive, but at the same time quite effective method is to produce foam insulation. Foam sheets are glued to the concrete base with liquid nails. At the end of the work, all the gaps remaining between the sheets should be filled with mounting foam. Since the basement is quite often damp, and the foam has the property of being saturated with moisture over time, it is necessary to make waterproofing. To do this, with the same glue, a thick plastic film is glued onto the sheets of insulation. The edges of such waterproofing must be overlapped by at least 10–15 cm.
• You can spray polyurethane foam - one of the most reliable and durable insulation known today. After hardening, this material has high strength, excellent thermal insulation properties. Also, polyurethane foam does not burn and absolutely does not absorb moisture. The only disadvantage of this option is its rather high cost: spraying is carried out using special equipment and requires professional operator skills.

Advice! If you have insulated the concrete floor from the basement side, this does not mean that the floors in your apartment will automatically become warm. This technique only allows you to "push back" the cold. In any case, it is necessary to insulate the floor from the side of the apartment.

Floor insulation from inside the apartment

This method has a large number of materials used. Let's look at the main materials and the technology for their installation in more detail.

Mineral wool

This option works best with wood floors, but can also be used if you want to lay wood over a concrete base. By choosing this option, you need to follow the following technology and the sequence of work:

• First of all, you need to dismantle the old flooring. The boards are carefully removed and numbered, the concrete screed is beaten off with a perforator.
• If you had wooden floors, you need to examine the condition of the installed logs. If necessary, damaged or sagging rafters must be replaced. If the base is concrete, then a complete installation of new rafters is necessary.

Advice! It is possible to insulate the floor of the first floor in this way with the use of other heat insulators. For example, foam can be used instead of mineral wool. This material has slightly worse thermal insulation properties, but is cheaper.

Expanded clay insulation

This method of warming a concrete base in an apartment on the ground floor is perhaps the most popular. This is due to the ease of installation, durability and high performance of the materials used. To insulate the concrete floor in an apartment located on the ground floor with the help of expanded clay, the following technology for carrying out thermal insulation work should be observed:

• Old flooring, including cement screed, must be removed.
• Having carefully removed all the debris, it is necessary to examine the floor slab and repair the detected cracks, crevices and other defects with mounting foam or cement mortar.
• The next step is to lay a thick polyethylene film as a waterproofing layer. Its installation is carried out with an overlap, while the seams must be glued on both sides with adhesive tape.
• Now the entire surface of the floor can be covered with expanded clay. The thickness of the layer depends on the height of the ceilings. Here, the thicker the layer, the better its thermal insulation properties will be, but the minimum allowable expanded clay layer is 10 cm.

• After backfilling, expanded clay must be compacted. It is strictly forbidden to moisten the insulation!
• A reinforcing mesh is mounted on top of the expanded clay and a cement screed is poured with a layer of 5 cm.
• The screed is carefully leveled and covered with polyethylene for proper drying.
• After the cement mortar has dried, you can proceed with the installation of the floor covering: laminate, linoleum or other material.

Advice! To increase the thermal insulation properties of the floor, foam granules can be added to the cement mortar at the stage of its preparation. This will greatly insulate the floor in the apartment.

This thermal insulation can be used in both methods of floor insulation: with wooden logs and under a cement screed. Expanded polystyrene has almost ideal properties:

• low thermal conductivity
• high density and mechanical strength,
• does not burn,
• practically does not absorb moisture,
• long service life.

When insulating a wooden floor, extruded polystyrene foam boards are placed between the joists, like any other material. The use of a waterproofing layer, despite the high performance of the insulation, is mandatory.

After laying and filling the cracks with mounting foam, the heat insulator is covered with another layer of waterproofing. For these purposes, it is better to use penofol. Then the flooring is installed: plywood, chipboard or boards. Insulation with polystyrene foam under a cement screed is carried out as follows:

Advice! Electric heating cables can be laid over the thermal insulation material. After the completion of all installation work, you will be the owner of really warm floors that consume very little electricity.

Having studied all the options for insulating the floor on the ground floor given in this material, you need to choose the most suitable one in your case. Having some skills, you can do all the work yourself, without involving expensive specialists.

The floor is the coolest surface in the room. Even at relatively warm air temperatures, the floor can remain cold. There is nothing strange in this. Let's remember the laws of physics: cool air always goes down, and warm air goes up. But that's not all. Cold penetrates into the floor coverings of our apartments through interpanel joints, corner cracks, and damp basements. Through a poorly insulated floor, up to 20-30% of the heat can leave the room! At the same time, heating bills increase, and the rooms are still cold. In this case, it's time to start thinking about how to insulate the floors in the apartment. This will help reduce heat loss and create a more comfortable indoor climate.

Choosing an insulating material

The floor is insulated with materials with high thermal insulation properties that prevent heat from escaping outside the room. For these purposes, the most popular are:

• Bulk materials(expanded clay, wood concrete, shavings) - have good thermal insulation qualities, are relatively inexpensive;
• Mineral wool and glass wool- effective in terms of heat and sound insulation, fireproof, not susceptible to infection by fungi and rodent attacks, hygroscopic (require mandatory vapor barrier);
• Styrofoam and expanded polystyrene- materials are moisture resistant, not subject to deformation, do not ignite, conduct heat poorly, muffle sound noises.

It is impossible to say which of these materials is the best. You need to choose based on your financial capabilities and the functionality of the insulated room.

Wooden base insulation

The traditional way of warming is laying the selected type of heat insulator in the space between the lags.

Scheme of warming a wooden floor along the logs

To do this, perform the following steps. The first step is to remove the old floor covering, open the floor. A vapor barrier layer is laid, for example, a polyethylene or polypropylene film. The material is unfolded and the strips are laid over the wooden frame of the floor, overlapping them by 15-20 cm. The joints are securely insulated with special adhesive tape. When laying, a vapor barrier film is placed on the walls to a height of 3-5 cm.

Laying a vapor barrier film is necessary so that moisture does not penetrate into the insulation layer

A heater is laid between the lags. When using expanded clay, it is evenly poured between the lags, leveling to one level with the rule. Sheet or roll insulation is laid close to the logs, without gaps.

Formation of an insulating layer of mineral wool

On top of the insulation (if mineral wool or glass wool was used), another layer of vapor barrier is created.

The second layer of vapor barrier protects the insulation from steam penetrating into the ceiling from the room

Expanded polystyrene is an affordable insulation that does not absorb moisture and is quite easy to install. You can read more about the use of such material in our article:.

Wooden boards, thick plywood, OSB or GVL sheets are laid over the insulated floor.

If necessary, install the finish coating: laminate, parquet, linoleum, carpet, etc.

concrete floor insulation

In most cases, the floors in the apartments of urban high-rise buildings are reinforced concrete slabs. The concrete floor itself is very cold, but if you add to this the gaps between the slabs, insufficiently tight joints between the walls and the floor, then it becomes truly icy. Therefore, the insulation of the concrete surface is a top priority for residents of multi-storey buildings who seek to increase comfort in their apartments.

Each master involved in insulation derives his own formula for the ideal insulating "pie" on concrete slabs. Consider the most popular of the possible options.

Option number 1 - insulation + screed

It is possible to significantly improve the thermal insulation properties of a concrete floor by laying insulation between the floor slab and the cement leveling screed. In this case, the floor insulation in the apartment is performed as follows. The first step is to remove the old floor covering, remove the screed. The surface of the slab is cleaned of debris, dust, and irregularities from the remnants of the cement screed are eliminated.

Insulation of the floor in the apartment with the help of heat-insulating material and reinforced screed

Then perform vapor barrier. A polyethylene or polypropylene film is laid on the concrete base, overlapping the strips by 15-20 cm and leading 3-5 cm onto the walls. The overlap joints are insulated with special adhesive tape. A foam plastic with a minimum thickness of 50 mm and a density of 25 mm is laid on the vapor barrier film. Instead of foam, you can use expanded polystyrene, mineral wool, etc. Insulation sheets are laid as close as possible to each other so that cold bridges do not form in the seams. After that, another layer of vapor barrier is laid. If foam or polystyrene foam was used as a heater, then this step can be skipped.

Now a metal mesh with square cells is laid (cell side - 50-100 mm). The mesh will act as a frame for the cement screed, making it more durable. A cement screed with a minimum thickness of 50 mm is poured over the mesh. A thinner screed will be unreliable - after a while it will begin to crack and crumble. The cement screed should dry, it will take about two weeks. After that, to strengthen the top layer, it is necessary to cover it with a primer. After all this, any decorative coating is laid on the screed.

Expanded clay is well suited for warming concrete floors. You will learn about how to properly use such a heater in the material:.

Option number 2 - insulation along the lags, without the use of wet processes

This option is similar to the insulation of a wooden floor. The difference is that logs are initially provided in the thickness of the wooden floor, between which it is convenient to lay any type of insulation. In the case of concrete floors, these logs will have to be designed independently.

Insulation of the concrete floor along the logs eliminates wet processes and does not weigh down the floor

The technology of concrete floor insulation along the logs:

1. First of all, they clean the concrete slab from the old screed, debris and dust.

2. Arrange waterproofing. It is convenient to use ready-made waterproofing polymer-bitumen solutions, which are applied to the concrete surface with a roller or brush. Another option is to use a vapor barrier film for these purposes, which is laid out on the floor with an overlap, leading to adjacent walls. If you want to save money, then the most acceptable material for hydro and vapor barrier will be ordinary polyethylene film.

3. Lags are installed at a distance of no more than 0.9 m from each other, if you take a step more, then the floors will sag. Instead of a log, if bulk material is supposed to be used for insulation, metal beacons are attached to the floor.

Installation of wooden logs on a concrete floor

4. Lay the selected insulation. Suitable for both mineral wool and polystyrene, and any variant of loose thermal insulation materials. Insulation in the form of sheets or rolls, laid out tightly, without gaps between the lags. Bulk material (for example, expanded clay) is poured between beacons and leveled to one level with a metal rule.

5. Lay the floor. To do this, you can use sheets of plywood, GVL, OSB, chipboard with a thickness of 10-15 mm. It is safer to lay them in two layers so that the seams of the lower sheets overlap with the panels of the upper sheets. Thus, the floor covering will be seamless, which will eliminate the possibility of cold bridges. After laying, the layers of sheets are connected to each other and to the lags (beacons) using self-tapping screws.

Laying sheets of dense material (plywood, GVL, etc.) on logs

6. Suitable for any floor finish.

In a short video, you will clearly demonstrate the process of warming along the lags:

Features of floor insulation by spraying

In addition to the above methods of insulation, there is another, professional one - spraying a thin layer of polyurethane foam (PPS) on the base of the floor. As a result, a monolithic, devoid of seams, surface with a thickness of 50-100 mm is formed on the floor. The technology for applying PPS involves the use of special equipment and some skills, so this work can only be done by specialists.

For spraying, high-pressure equipment is used, which allows the material to be applied to the floor in the form of an aerosol liquid. In a matter of seconds, this liquid spray layer turns into rigid polyurethane foam. The efficiency of the obtained heat-insulating layer surpasses any other heaters - PPS has a lower thermal conductivity than mineral wool, foam plastic, expanded clay, foam concrete, etc. In addition, polyurethane foam is absolutely moisture resistant, therefore it does not need additional hydro and vapor barrier. This material does not require floor preparation before application, is not damaged by rodents, does not rot, does not burn. The service life of the heat-insulating layer of PPS is estimated by the manufacturers of this material at 30-50 years.

Polyurethane foam is an effective way to create an insulating and waterproofing coating in an apartment

Alternative ways of warming

If the heat loss through the floor is small, then you can use simpler methods of insulation. Their essence is to use a material with a low coefficient of thermal conductivity as a floor covering.

The simplest thing is to lay carpet or carpet on the existing floor. Products made of natural wool with a long pile have the greatest warming properties.

Another option is to use thickened linoleum on a warm substrate (felt, jute) or on a foam base. Similarly, it is possible to “insulate” a laminate by laying a thickened cork, polyethylene or expanded polystyrene underlay under it.

Thus, in order for the floor to maintain a comfortable temperature even in winter, it is not necessary to use additional heating systems and “warm floor” structures. In most cases, to increase the floor temperature by several degrees, it is enough to properly insulate it with the help of available materials.