Warming the foundation with penoplex: technology and step-by-step process of warming the foundation from the outside with your own hands

Scheme and procedure for insulation with penoplex

The main task for warming is to prevent freezing and swelling of the soil. Observing the order and the rules of laying, everyone will be able to insulate the blind area around the house, even if this is the first time.

First of all, you need to take care of the necessary materials. You need to purchase:

• foam sheets;
• cement, sand and crushed stone;
• slats and polyethylene;
• bitumen and bituminous mastics;
• polyurethane foam;
• metal pipes;
• formwork boards;
• shovel and plastering trowels.

Stages of the thermal insulation process for the blind area:

1. Site preparation. Space is freed up, trenches are dug and the top fertile soil layer is removed. The trench should be close to the house. The depth of the trenches is approximately 30 cm. And its width is usually selected taking into account the width of the expanded polystyrene sheet, which is approximately equal to 100 cm. This approach significantly reduces the amount of material waste. You also need to remove all the remnants of the roots, since the root system easily extracts moisture and, germinating, can destroy the foundation.
2. Sand 15 cm is placed on the cleaned place as an interlayer. Then the sand layer is compacted and slightly moistened with water.
3. The next layer is 10 cm thick crushed stone, which must be carefully compacted.
4. At the next stage, sheets of insulation material are evenly distributed on the prepared base of sand and crushed stone. If necessary, a reinforcing mesh is installed on top of it.
5. The openings between the wall and the sheets will be conceived with polyurethane foam.
6. Along the edge of the trench, I make a formwork from the boards 10 cm above the ground level.
7. Lay a mixture of concrete or asphalt. In this case, it is taken into account that there should be a slope of 10 degrees from the wall. When pouring concrete, through slots (slots) must be left every 2 m. This is done using thin slats that are inserted into the concrete. After the concrete has hardened, those slats are removed. Then the formed seam is treated with hot bitumen. If the slats are left in concrete, then they must be lubricated with bituminous mastic.
8. After, along the edge of the blind area, you need to make a drainage system. It is performed in one of two ways:

The first way. Asbestos-cement pipes are applied to the covered sand layer.

Second way. Install a concrete gutter on the sandy cushion of the foundation, which can be shaped to the desired shape using a piece of metal pipe or log.

Brief instructions for warming the foundation:

1. Prepare the foundation: clean from construction debris, grease, dust and rust. If there are cracks or holes on the surface of the foundation, then they must be leveled with cement mortar and a level;
2. An important step is to waterproof the surface. This is done using water or bitumen mastic. Solvents cannot be used, they can destroy the expanded polystyrene;
3. With the help of foam glue, the sheets are glued to the foundation. It is best to arrange them in a checkerboard pattern. Thickness - up to 10 cm.

The owners of the strip foundation need to pay attention to the differences in the installation instructions for the insulation. First, slabs are applied to the concrete base

Then a strong polyethylene film is glued, which is fixed at the joints of the foundation with construction tape. The formwork is prepared and, after reinforcement, it is poured with concrete. After removing the formwork, the foundation must be insulated again, therefore expanded polystyrene is again applied to the side walls.

The re-insulated blind area is poured with concrete mortar and leveled. Sometimes, in order to give it a beautiful and well-groomed look, they decorate it with a decorative stone on top.

Do-it-yourself basement insulation technology

There are several schemes for insulating basement rooms.The choice is determined by the financial side of the project, climatic conditions and aesthetic requirements for the design of the object.

Surfaces can be insulated using one of the following technologies:

1. Brick exterior wall construction. The laying is done in half a stone, 10-15 cm from the base. A strip foundation with a depth of 10 cm is preliminarily equipped. Expanded clay is poured into the opening. Brickwork does not need additional decoration, being at the same time an insulator and part of the external facade decoration.
2. Clinker cladding. This material is lightweight and has low thermal conductivity. Installed on a frame with locks or glued with cement mortar. Clinker tiles can imitate natural stone, brick or wood. The material does not allow cold and moisture to pass through, and has a long service life.
3. Wet facade. Foam or polystyrene plates are used. The surface is treated with a deep penetration primer; it is not necessary to seal cracks and cracks. After fixing the lower limit strip, the plates are liberally lubricated with cement-based glue and pressed against the wall. Immediately after this, the insulation is fixed with disc dowels. Plaster, panels or ceramic tiles are used as cladding.
4. Frame with filling. A volumetric structure made of timber or steel profiles is filled with glass wool or basalt slabs. On both sides, the insulation is covered with a membrane film. The frame is sheathed with profile decking sheets, plastic or steel panels.

The simplest and most affordable way to insulate the inner and outer walls of the subfloor is to apply facade plaster with plasticizers. The dried material is reinforced, primed and coated with acrylic paint.

How to insulate the blind area of ​​the strip foundation

It is worth insulating the blind area under any circumstances, especially if the building is on heaving soil or when a shallow foundation is installed. Insulation for the blind area is selected based on the characteristics of strength, moisture resistance and durability. It can be expanded clay, extruded expanded polystyrene or polystyrene... Consider how to make a blind area around the house from these materials.

Photo. The device of the insulated blind area at home

How to calculate the thickness of the insulation, which layer to lay the thermal insulation under the blind area, should be decided based on the depth of freezing of the soil in your region, the type of soil in the area and the depth of the foundation. In this case, the width of the blind area of ​​the house will depend on the width of the roof ledge of the house. The blind area should be at least 200 mm further from the base of the house than the overhang of the roof. The minimum slope of the blind area for draining water must also be observed.

Structurally, the traditional blind area with insulation, like the blockage of the house, consists of a pillow of sand and crushed stone, then a waterproofing material (roofing material) and the insulation itself are laid on the backfill. For tape shallow foundations, the basement of the house and the blind area of ​​the foundation are insulated at the same time. Such work will allow to insulate the basement and reduce the cost of heating the house in the winter.

Insulation of the blind area with penoplex

Warming is carried out so that the soil around the house does not freeze and does not swell when thawing. To install external thermal insulation, you will need the following building materials:

1. Penoplex sheet;
2. Portland cement, crushed stone (gravel), sand;
3. Wooden slats and plastic wrap;
4. Bitumen and mastic, construction foam;
5. Drainage pipes;
6. Material for the assembly of formwork;
7. Trench and plastering tools.

The scheme of insulation of the blind area with penoplex

Warming step by step:

1. External preparatory work is being carried out - clearing the area around the house along the entire perimeter, digging a trench ≈ 30 cm deep, and removing sod to the width of the blind area;
2. Arrangement at the bottom of a trench 12-15 cm thick, moistening and tamping sand;
3. Arrangement of a crushed stone pillow with a layer of 8-10 cm, tamping;
4. Thermal insulation is laid on the crushed stone - in 2-3 layers with overlapping sheets, a reinforcing frame is mounted. Joints and space between the walls of the trench and foam sheets;
5. Installation of formwork, which should be 10-15 cm above the ground level;
6. A layer of asphalt, asphalt concrete, concrete, or paving slabs is laid on an insulation with a slope of 10. When pouring any solution, it is necessary to make cuts in the layer of the working mixture after 2 meters. This is done by laying wooden battens embedded in the mortar. After the mortar has set, the slats are removed, the seams are filled with hot bitumen, tar or bitumen mastic. Such installation of the blind area ensures the integrity of the surface and internal layers of protection of the base during freezing and thawing of the foundation blind area, since the material can deform during temperature changes and cause cracks;
7. A drainage system is arranged along the edge of the blind area. For this, you can use a concrete half-gutter or asbestos-cement pipes.

Drainage of the blind area

Recommendations:

1. Preparation of the foundation for the arrangement of the blind area: cleaning from debris, oils, rust. Leveling the surface with mortar, filling cracks and grooves;
2. Waterproofing the outer walls of the foundation with bitumen mastic, bitumen or tar;
3. Penoplex sheets with an adhesive are attached to the walls of the foundation - always in a checkerboard pattern.

If the house is on a strip foundation, the insulation is attached a little differently. Insulation sheets are laid on the tape, and a polyethylene film is glued to them. Formwork is mounted on top, reinforced and poured with concrete mortar. After the concrete has hardened and the formwork has been dismantled, the base is again insulated on the sides, and again poured with a concrete solution. The top layer of the solution is leveled, and for decorative purposes, the blind area can be laid out with tiles, artificial stone or other materials.

Blind area for strip foundation

The advantages of insulating the foundation blind area consist in its high thermal insulation properties, thanks to which the foundation of the house can be made shallow. Protecting the foundation with a warm blind area will prevent it from freezing and beginning to collapse during thawing, which means that the tape or monolith can be laid at a much shallower depth. Also, the insulated blind area will reliably protect the basement from heat and frost, rain, snow, dew and wind, extending its service life. Even the saving of energy resources spent on heating the building is positively affected by the warm blind area.

The process of creating a warm blind area requires preparation and adherence to certain rules, building technology and the use of high-quality materials - after all, all building materials will work in the ground, at different temperatures and humidity. And the choice of insulation depends not so much on the family budget as on the operating conditions of the foundation and housing.

Penoplex features

The operational and technical characteristics of the penoplex allow us to call it the most effective insulation available on the market today.

It is, in fact, an improved foam made by extruding polystyrene. During the production process, polystyrene granules with the addition of porophores are placed in a high-temperature chamber. The mixture melts and foams due to the fact that the porophores, when heated, emit a large amount of gases - carbon dioxide, nitrogen and others. Through the molding nozzles, the mass resembling whipped cream is squeezed out onto the conveyor, solidified and cut into panels.

The result is a porous material. But, unlike foam, it has a single fine-cellular structure that does not disintegrate into granules. Each cell is filled with gas and completely insulated, which provides high thermal insulation values. Penoplex is characterized by a higher density and greater strength than polystyrene.

EPS insulation is lightweight, cuts well, does not crumble. The sheets have a thorn-groove connection, which does not allow even the slightest cold to seep through. It is convenient to use it for self-insulation of any building elements.

Several types of penoplex are available. For thermal insulation of the blind area and basements, grades 35, 45 and "Foundation" are suitable.

Dense fine cellular foam structure

Pouring concrete

The structure is now ready for final work. The blind area is filled with concrete. A reinforcing mesh is laid on the insulation, at the joints you need to leave a margin of 10 centimeters. If the mesh moves when pouring concrete, then the structure will not suffer from this.

Concrete can be poured onto polyurethane foam, a layer of which is 5-10 cm thick. A monolithic blind area of ​​greater thickness cracks less with temperature drops.

To prevent the concrete structure from cracking over time, expansion (expansion) joints are constructed every few meters in the concrete base of the blind area. These seams allow you to separate the different portions of the poured concrete and better position them in places of maximum stress. If cracks do appear, they will follow the expansion joint, which will extend the service life of the concrete structure encircling the residential building.

The concrete is poured in portions. The next section begins to be poured only after the previous one has hardened.

In sunny weather, concrete can crack in the open air, therefore, until it dries completely, it is covered with plastic wrap for several days. Finally, the concrete layer hardens after a month, and only then it will be possible to remove the formwork boards and walk along the concrete blind area.

Why do you need to insulate the foundation

In an ordinary private house without thermal insulation, of which a great many have been built, in winter there is almost always a coolness in the lower area of ​​the premises. No matter how well the heating system inside a residential building works, this coolness in the legs remains and causes discomfort for the people living in it. You will say - you just need to insulate the floors, and everything will be fine. But in fact, this is not enough, because there are several reasons why it is worthwhile to warm up the foundation:

• as noted above, the loss of heat through the floors causes significant inconvenience to people;
• the amount of lost heat is quite significant, which increases the cost of heating a private house;
• the foundation and its aboveground part - the basement without insulation is exposed to moisture and freezing, which contributes to the slow destruction of the structure;
• in areas with heaving soils saturated with moisture, the effect of frost swelling may appear. It exerts additional stress on the base, up to and including cracking.

If everything is clear with the first item of the list, then the rest require clarification. The fact is that the share of heat losses through cold floors reaches 20% of the total amount of heat lost by the building. Therefore, all attempts to save energy resources by performing thermal insulation of all structures of the house, except for the foundation, will not achieve their goal.

Imagine that the cold penetrates inside over the entire area, and the insulation of the floors from the inside does not fundamentally solve the issue, for this it is necessary to insulate the foundation from the outside.

Concrete, from which the vast majority of foundations are arranged, has a very low resistance to heat transfer. During cold weather, the concrete wall freezes, which is why condensate forms from its inner side, which is absorbed into the thickness of the material. With increasing frost, this moisture turns into ice crystals and leads to the destruction of the structure. That is why you should not insulate the foundations of private houses from the inside, this will help protect from the cold, but will not protect the structural elements from destruction.

The same freezing moisture with which loess soils are saturated, when freezing, makes them swell, exerting shock loads on the base. As a result, cracks can appear in the concrete, which is at least unpleasant. All of these reasons are equally relevant for all types of houses, including wooden ones, where it is also necessary to insulate the foundation. The exceptions are structures on screw piles, which will be discussed below.

Materials for insulating the blind area and foundation

The purpose of the blind area is to prevent rain, snow and condensation (dew, fog) from entering the walls of a private house. In addition to this function, the blind area is often constructed for:

1. Protecting the base of the house from atmospheric water and moisture;
2. Compliance with cleanliness around the base;
3. Creation of a pedestrian zone in the form of a sidewalk path;
4. Protecting the soil from freezing.

Blind area slope

Work on the construction of the blind area requires compliance with some rules, requirements and parameters:

1. The material of the blind area must be waterproof and durable for wear, therefore, paving slabs of an arbitrary configuration, asphalting or concreting of the surface are most often chosen;
2. The width of the blind area is not an arbitrary parameter. The tape should be 15-20 cm wider than the width of the cornice overhang on dense soil, and 100 cm wider - on shrinking soil;
3. Brick or gravel (crushed stone) blind area is made with a slope from the wall ≥ 5, the concrete tape should have a slope ≥ 3;

A blind area can be omitted for buildings on a columnar foundation, but in this case, a system of gutters should work, diverting water from the walls by more than 1.5 meters, and a waterproof coating should be laid in places where water is collected from the roof.

Also, the basement is insulated from the outside in order to protect it from the effects of low temperatures, which turn water into ice, destroying the building material of the blind area. In the spring, thawed ice can contribute to deformation and displacement of the soil.

Insulated blind area scheme

Penoplex occupies a leading place among heaters in the construction of a house due to the high efficiency of heat conservation and environmental friendliness. According to the principle of implementation, the insulation of the foundation and the blind area with penoplex is a simple laying of sheets of insulation in one or more layers, depending on the requirements and design of the structure. Standard sheets are 100 mm thick.

Material advantages:

1. Low moisture absorption;
2. High thermal insulation properties;
3. Strength and durability due to the high density of the material;
4. Temperature stability over a wide range;
5. Passivity to chemicals and fungal infections;
6. Ease of installation and ease of machining.

Disadvantages of Penoplex:

1. Fire hazard;
2. Fragility;
3. High price;
4. Additional waterproofing.

Thermal insulation of a columnar foundation with polystyrene foam

Before you insulate the columnar foundation with your own hands, you will need to purchase a heat insulator and suitable glue for it. Then all the following types of operations should be carried out in turn:

1. Dig in the foundation along its depth, making a trench around it.
2. Cover the foundation with EPPS at least to the depth of soil freezing.
3. Clean the foundation by removing all crumbling or chipping concrete particles.
4. Cover the surface of the foundation with a penetrating primer (2 coats) and let it dry until it is completely absorbed into the concrete.
5. Waterproof the foundation with bituminous mastic.
6. Apply glue to the board pointwise.

Fastening of expanded polystyrene to the foundation is carried out 1 minute after applying the glue. If the size of the expanded polystyrene board is 120x60 cm, more than 8 strips of glue 1 cm wide must be applied. For this, a comb trowel is used. It is required to start from the bottom, rising in rows.

If the expanded polystyrene insulation does not have special locks, then after 3 days, assembly foam is introduced into the seams between its plates for sealing. Dowels can be used for fastening, so holes for them are drilled along the edges of the slabs and in the center of each of them.

Do-it-yourself waterproofing for insulating a columnar foundation can be used if protection from capillary water is required. The hydrostatic pressure level can reach up to 0.1 MPa.

The technique of coating waterproofing is quite simple. It is carried out using bitumen or polymer mastics covering the surface of the foundation with a film with waterproof properties. Application of coating technologies is typical for vertical waterproofing of foundations.

When carrying out horizontal coating waterproofing, it is necessary to take into account the fact that, due to their low strength, they are used only as auxiliary waterproofing layers. After processing each hole with a small amount of foam, dowel-nails are driven into them. Then, waterproofing is applied to the heat insulator with polymer mastic, and after it dries, the trench is covered with earth.

Why insulate the blind area

A correctly executed blind area performs its functions quite successfully. Keeps the soil dry and even lowering the temperature to negative temperatures does not lead to catastrophic consequences Therefore, the question arises - is it necessary to insulate the blind area around the house?

In the following cases, it is imperative to lay a layer of thermal insulation when constructing a protective strip:

The building was built on heaving ground.

When the temperature in the soil drops to freezing temperatures, the moisture contained in it freezes. The density of ice is less than that of water, so it takes up more volume. This leads to heaving of the soil and uneven distribution of loads on the foundation. Some types of soil - clay, loam, sandy loam - always contain moisture and are called heaving. The smallest particles of clay prevent water held in numerous pores from seeping and going into deeper layers. When constructing a structure in an area with such soil, the layers adjacent to the foundation must not be allowed to freeze.

Consequences of frost heaving of soil

The depth of the foundation is less than the depth of soil freezing.

Temperature drops, freezing and thawing of the soil lead to its uneven subsidence under the base of the building, the appearance of moisture and the same heaving. Therefore, a shallow foundation after a while begins to experience loads that can lead to the appearance of large cracks. Such defects make the building unusable.

However, even if the building is built on dense and solid soil, practically not subject to seasonal fluctuations, and the foundation is buried below the soil freezing zone, the insulation of the blind area around the house quickly pays off.

• House heating costs are reduced. This is especially beneficial in the presence of a heated basement room - heat losses are reduced by almost a quarter.
• The durability of the blind area itself increases. Temperature fluctuations inside the "pie" become minimal and do not drop below 0 degrees even in cold weather. Therefore, the coating does not deteriorate and serves as a reliable protection of the foundation for many years.
• There is almost no displacement of the blind area relative to the base in the vertical direction (in the absence of thermal insulation, it is a frequent occurrence). This protects the covering of the blind area and the walls of the foundation from cracking.
• The waterproofing of the protective strip is increased.
• The depth of the foundation can be reduced. Considering the cost of building a foundation and arranging a warm blind area around the house, this will even reduce construction costs.
• Thanks to thermal insulation, basements are protected not only from external moisture. Since there is no sharp drop in external and internal temperatures, the walls remain dry - there is no danger of condensation and, accordingly, mold and mildew. And this is a significant savings on repairs.

• construction - reducing the depth of the foundation;
• repair - the absence of high humidity and condensation allows it to be carried out much less often;
• heating - reducing heat loss.

Insulation of the blind area removes the boundaries of soil freezing outside of it

Thermal insulation under construction

The best way to properly and reliably insulate the entire foundation with penoplex is to do it yourself at the stage of building a house. In this case, a special bituminous mastic is most often used for gluing polystyrene foam plates to concrete. First, the surface is leveled with cement mortar, then cleaned and covered with the first layer of mastic (primer). Roll waterproofing is glued onto it, and insulation is on top. The whole "pie" is shown in the diagram:

As you can see in the diagram, on top of the heat-insulating layer, you can additionally lay a protective coating of geotextile, although often the penoplex is simply covered with soil. Additional protection will not require a lot of costs, but it will significantly extend the life of the insulation. Details about the technology of warming foundations with expanded polystyrene using bituminous materials are shown in the video:

Another interesting way to insulate the base of a house without a basement is used in cases where the foundation is a solid concrete slab. The essence of the method lies in the fact that expanded polystyrene is laid on a sand cushion, and a monolithic concrete base is poured over it. At the same time, it is possible to immediately lay a heating circuit of warm floors inside the monolith. This design is called the Swedish plate, the diagram of its device is shown in the figure:

It can be seen here that the Swedish slab belongs to shallow foundations, insulated not only from below, but also on the sides. In terms of energy efficiency, this technology is one of the best, but it requires a very meticulous approach to work. Failure to comply with technological requirements can lead to cracks in the slab and damage to the underfloor heating system.

The main disadvantage of the Swedish plate is the inability to carry out repairs in case of cracking. But if you lay the insulation of the slab correctly, then such a foundation will calmly stand for several decades. At the same time, the use of a solid slab is possible on various subsidence soils. In practice, this insulated structure is often used to build wooden houses instead of the traditional strip foundations.