With the problem of thermal insulation and, accordingly, the choice of material, I ran into when I started building a house. The question with a heater basically has been solved - plates are necessary, as them it is easy to assemble in cells of a crate. And I wanted to finish the whole house with one material: both the roof, and the walls, and the basement. It's easier and faster.
However, here there is one difficulty - when you plan a crate, you can not make all cells the same. There will be neither a strict square nor a rectangle. Hence, a solid slab will have at least a little bit, and cut, and so - for each cell. Otherwise there will be large cracks.
After comparing the characteristics of materials and their cost, I settled on a basalt insulation, which I write about this feedback characteristic. Why? This material belongs to the class of mineral wool and has the second name - stone. Its fibrous structure provides fairly good characteristics. In the production of melts of rocks, and special substances ensure a reliable fastening of the fibers among themselves. Supplied, including, and in the form of mats or plates. This suited me, but before I bought the material, I carefully studied its properties.
Some characteristics of basalt wool
- low thermal conductivity. This means that the house will maintain a constant temperature, because no heat or cold passes through the cotton wool;
- through it easily penetrates steam, hence, the probability of the greenhouse effect and accompanying rotting is excluded;
- does not light up. Even is a fire protection in case of a possible fire;
- there is practically no deformation, so there is no need to expect a natural "shrinkage" of the material;
- well, good sound insulation, environmental friendliness, resistance to aggressive substances and vibrations only add to it pluses;
- such a cotton wool can warm the surface with a heating temperature of up to 700 degrees. Therefore, it can be used near the chimney.
In practice it was even better than I expected. I liked, first of all, that basalt cotton wool is quite simply laid in place. Since the editing I did inside the cells, the material does not slip. Plates put "point-blank" - they were slightly compressed, and after laying equalized and filled the entire space. There were no crevices. The only thing, just in case, I put each slab around the perimeter, at the joints with the slats, with a scotch tape. Sealing has turned out to be complete.
