Currently, when building their own home, people are increasingly thinking about reducing operating costs. Proper warming will help to reduce the amount in the most expensive line of utility costs. In addition to savings in heating, it is important to pay attention to the naturalness and safety of the material. An excellent option is to warm the floor by filling with sawdust. Such material is suitable for frame and wooden housing construction.
What can and cannot be insulated with sawdust?
To ensure the most comfortable living conditions in the building, it is necessary to take care of the insulation of the following structures:
- ground floor in buildings with a warm basement or basement;
- overlapping over a cold basement or underground;
- exterior walls;
- overlapping the upper floor when designing a cold attic or technical floor;
- cover in the absence of an attic;
- pitched roofs in the arrangement of the attic.
Since sawdust is a bulk material, it is almost impossible to use them to insulate walls or pitched roofs. They are best suited to increase thermal performance. attic floor and floors above the cold underground.
Now, if there is a large assortment of thermal insulation materials on the construction market, sawdust is not widely used. Most often, they are chosen by those owners who prefer to use completely natural and environmentally friendly materials during construction.
Why is insulation necessary
The thickness of the wooden floor in the house does not always meet the requirements of heating technology. Making it thicker is not economically profitable, so they resort to various heat-insulating materials. The future owner of the house faces a choice: whether to consider the requirements for thermal protection or to take into account only the strength of the structures.
Timely measures taken to warm the floor can avoid the following troubles in a wooden house:
- excessive heating costs;
- cold floors;
- condensation from warm air, resulting in rotting of the wood, appears fungus and mold.
Carrying out additional measures during construction will avoid high costs during operation and the need for frequent repairs.
Advantages and disadvantages of sawdust as a heater
Enough positive characteristics allowed sawdust to become famous:
- low thermal conductivity and a high degree of protection of the structure from freezing;
- the availability of the material and its low cost (at some sawmills they are ready to give sawdust for free);
- environmental safety and naturalness;
- the ability to do insulation work with your own hands.
When using sawdust, remember negative qualities and features:
- any wood dries over time, and the percentage reduction in sawdust volume is quite high;
- rotting;
- the occurrence of mold;
- Sawdust is an excellent habitat for various microorganisms, insects and rats.
These flaws are not inevitable. They can be eliminated by using sawdust in tandem with other materials. As protective additives to sawdust can be used:
- clay;
- lime;
- cement;
- boric acid (antiseptic).
The mixture in this case will not be susceptible to the appearance of fungus and the appearance of various living creatures.
Insulation floor cake
Insulation is not the only component of competent thermal protection of a design. Sawdust requires preventing water and steam from entering them, so waterproofing and vapor barrier will become additional layers. It is very important not to confuse their location, otherwise all insulation work will be meaningless.
Attic insulation sawdust will require stacking components in the following order from bottom to top:
- floor structure;
- vapor barrier;
- sawdust;
- waterproofing;
- the floor of the attic.
At insulation of the ceiling over the cold underground layers are arranged in a different order:
- floor structure;
- waterproofing;
- sawdust;
- vapor barrier;
- floor of the first floor.
It is sometimes said that there is not much difference on which side the vapor barrier is laid, but this is not so. Steam can penetrate into the heater only from the side of warm air, therefore it is logical to put the protection against it inside the heated room. Waterproofing, on the contrary, protects against condensation, which falls from the side of cold air to a warmer surface. Failure to comply with these rules will lead to disastrous consequences for the insulation and it will cease to fulfill its functions.
Which sawdust to choose
Going into the forest to cut a tree and put it on sawdust is not the best option. There are many other ways that cause minimal harm to nature and are more literate.
Sawdust obtained during carpentry is excellent for warming. Such material has good moisture indicators and is less prone to damage by mold, fungus and insects.
Sawdust is abundant in sawmills. They are the waste products of wood not yet dried, therefore their characteristics are worse than those of the previous ones. But such material can also be used to warm the floor in a wooden house.
It is best to choose small chips. They will be able to provide the most effective thermal insulation.
Getting Started
Before laying the insulation, it is necessary to determine its thickness. This value depends on the area of construction. In a wooden house, operated all year round, the thickness of the sawdust for the floor will be approximately 30 cm. After that, it is better to calculate the exact amount of necessary materials so that during the construction process you will not encounter difficulties.
For insulation work you will need:
- sawdust;
- lime;
- cement or clay;
- wood preservative (e.g. boric acid);
- tank for diluting the mixture;
- kneading paddle;
- watering can for spraying the finished mixture with boric acid.
Work order
For ease of understanding, all the necessary steps are presented in paragraphs:
- Installation of cranial blocks [2] from the side surface of the lag. The cross-section is recommended to take no more than 30 to 40 mm.
- Laying on the cranial bars of the coast [3] from boards of the third grade or sheets of plywood. The material is not fixed.
- Laying waterproofing material [4], which can be a regular plastic film. It is fixed to the lags with the help of nails with wide hats.
- After that, between the lags sawdust fall asleep [5] or stack a sawdust-cement (sawdust-clay) mixture. If clean sawdust is used, they must be slightly tamped. A cement-based mixture will take 4 weeks to fully dry, but you can proceed to the next step after about 14 days.
- After the drying process is complete, the thermal insulation layer check for voids. If they are found, it is necessary to add sawdust.
- The vapor barrier layer [6] allows you to complete the process of protecting the insulation from moisture. As a vapor-tight material, you can use:
- plastic wrap;
- polypropylene film;
- foil film;
- reinforced;
- laminated.
7. Between the vapor barrier film and the flooring clearance for air circulation. If the lag is not enough for this height, thin counter rails.
8. The last step is flooring device [7].
Features of this type of insulation
When using sawdust for the floor in a wooden house, you need to prepare and take into account the following features of the material:
- All wooden elements, including sawdust, must be processed antiseptic compounds, to avoid their defeat by insects, flexible and mold.
- This technology requires a temporary supply, since the sawdust mixture must dry and gain strength.
- Before use, sawdust must be allowed to dry. The standard moisture content of wood for construction is 12%.
A competent and thorough approach to the issue of insulation will avoid a large number of problems with the operation of the building in the future. If the house has warm walls, but did not pay attention to the protection of the floor and ceiling, then the temperature and humidity conditions of the room will be violated. Warming a frame house with sawdust will be an economical and effective solution.