Which raw material is better for making mineral wool?
"The purer and nobler the raw material, the better, healthier and more useful the mineral wool" - that's the kind of rule that should be guided by the potential buyer of this building material. Not always the producer informs his clients about the nature of the origin of his "brainchild", masking the information under an incomprehensible marking. And it works, buyers with pleasure buy up a cheap kind of mineral wool, not bothering about its "pedigree".
Please note that the famous insulator is:
- stone;
- slag;
- glass.
In the first case, it is used for mining rock: dolomite, limestone, diabase, basalt, etc. Which minate is better for indoor and outdoor insulation of the house? The answer is unambiguous - a basaltic insulator, which has the strongest set of useful characteristics. It is able to withstand temperatures up to +1000 ° C, has long elastic fibers and a record low thermal conductivity. Stone "brethren" from another type of raw material lag significantly behind it in all the most important characteristics.
Slag types of mineral wool are made from waste products of non-ferrous and ferrous metallurgy. From the iron ore "sucked" everything useful, and no one needed the sediment went to processing. As a result, the technical form of the mineral wool, suitable for the insulation of industrial structures, was obtained. He does not have a place in an apartment building, because under the influence of high temperatures, the heater emits to the atmosphere harmful to the human body gases.
Glass wool is a material occupying an average niche between stone and slag minivat. Not as harmful as the latter, but not as useful and "fluffy" as the first. Produce glass wool from molten glass, there is still a "thorn", which should be used in protective clothing and mask. It is used mainly for the insulation of commercial non-residential premises and technical equipment.
In what form is mineral wool used in construction?
Minvata - insulation is not cheap. In order to rationally use this expensive material, manufacturers provide customers with a large assortment of modified products for different construction needs.
The material is pressed into:
- Rolls. It is a soft fluffy "carpet" for insulation of vertical and horizontal working surfaces. It can not work under load, it is filled with technical gaps in the structure of the building, providing the material with support in the form of a thick crate.
- Soft mats( plates). Represents a thick rectangular piece of material that retains its original shape well. This is an elastic product, the main task of which is to strictly "keep oneself in hand" and not to sag under its weight in the support cells. Usually, mats are used to insulate roofs.
- Rigid and semi-rigid mats( slabs). These kinds of mineral wools are able to maintain their shape even under load. Usually, after installing the insulator, the next layer of finishing goes on, which is kept on its "body".Hard mats "tolerate" loads up to 12 kN / m2, and semi-rigid - up to 5 kN / m2.They are used most often under the plaster of the facade.
It can be seen from the classification which minate should be chosen for different finishing works. But that is not all. There are hybrid types of this material, designed for special purposes.
Which minate to choose in particularly difficult cases?
When additional useful characteristics are required from a heater, the developers somewhat complicate its structure, achieving ideal performance indicators in operation.
This class of products includes:
- foamed mineral wool;
- with wind shield;
- with vapor barrier membrane;
- is a multi-dense structure.
The foil type of the material is used to insulate the steam room in the sauna and hot pipelines, with the second and third type of insulator work with the accelerated finish of the roof and walls of the house. But the last hybrid is designed specifically to protect the ventilated facades of the building.
To decide which mineral wool is better, follows strictly according to their needs. Hybrid types are advantageous for their ease of installation, where there is no need to provide technical gaps for the normal "breathing" of the insulator. But, remember, for convenience it is necessary to pay extra, therefore objectively approach the question of expediency of such expenses.
