Sauna
insulation: materials and technologies
It is necessary to take
care of the high-quality insulation of the sauna at the stage of its
construction, so that later you do not waste money and time on complex
alteration of the thermal insulation. If you make some mistakes during the
selection and installation of insulation, then the room will slowly warm up and
quickly lose heat. This is fraught with unpleasant consequences: excessive
consumption of fuel will go, the microclimate in the steam room will be
disturbed, the walls will be covered with mold. Procedures in a poorly
insulated sauna will no longer be useful and healthy. Reliable thermal
insulation will help to avoid risks - moisture resistant, nonflammable,
environmentally friendly, resistant to fungus.
Sauna
insulation materials
Thermal
insulation materials for saunas are subject to more stringent requirements
compared to heaters for ordinary houses. Thermal insulation must have increased
moisture resistance, fire safety, and heat resistance.
Synthetic insulation. The most demanded
material for warming a steam room is mineral wool. Thermal insulation is
supplied in rolls, mats or slabs. Mineral wool is durable, fireproof, resistant
to moisture, decay and rodents. The best option for a steam room is a slab of
fire-resistant stone wool, presented in a wide range especially for thermal
insulation of baths and saunas. For walls that face the street, plates with a
thickness of 100 mm or two layers of 50 mm are used. Internal walls can be
thermally insulated with 50 mm material.
Organic insulation. In rare cases, heaters
are used based on organic components - varieties of moss (sphagnum and cuckoo
flax), jute, tow. These are completely natural, environmentally friendly
materials, but they have a significant drawback - flammability, so this option
is not recommended for thermal insulation of a steam room.
Vapor barrier. When insulating a sauna,
it is important to provide a good vapor barrier - this task is solved by
aluminum foil or foil-clad fiberglass. There is a 2-in-1 option -
heat-insulating mineral wool slabs with a foil coating. For example,
foil-covered fiberglass mats simultaneously insulate the room and provide a
vapor barrier.
Polymer insulation. It is necessary to
insulate not only the steam room, but also adjacent rooms. The microclimate
parameters in the steam room and the dressing room are fundamentally different,
so the approach to the choice of materials is also different. For adjoining
rooms, you can use polymer insulation - polystyrene, expanded polystyrene,
penofol, polyurethane foam. These heaters are not suitable for a steam room, as
they easily ignite when heated and release toxic substances during burning.
• For wall
insulation, thermal insulation is mounted in niches between vertically arranged
slats of wood lathing. Stone wool slabs are installed on the spine and do not
require additional fastening. The vapor barrier is attached with the reflective
side inside the room.
• The
ceiling is insulated in the same way, but using double the thickness of the
heat-insulating material. The procedure for installing thermal insulation on
the ceiling: rough finish, lathing of wooden bars, a layer of insulation, a
layer of foil-clad material.
Foil joints
are glued with reinforced tape or metallized self-adhesive tape. If all the
joints are reliably sealed, then the effect of a thermos is created in the steam
room - the air heats up quickly, the heat remains for a long time.
After
completing the installation of thermal insulation, you can start cladding the
walls and ceiling with wooden lining. There must be an air ventilation
gap between the insulation layer and the finishing lining.
An
important condition for proper thermal insulation of the steam room is
high-quality windows.
Thermal
insulation materials will lose their effectiveness if heat escapes through the
leaky areas of the window blocks. Therefore, when building a steam room, you
need to pay attention not only to the correct choice of reliable insulation,
but also to the purchase of high-quality windows for the sauna. The best option is a structure
with a triple tempered glass unit and a frame made of special thermally
insulated wood that is resistant to heat and moisture.
If you need
advice on the construction and decoration of a bath, please contact the Tesli
specialists. We will be happy to share our experience and help you make the
right technical decision.
