Warm facade: types, features, installation methods

A welcoming exterior can significantly improve your home’s efficiency and comfort. This external insulation system enhances your home’s aesthetic appeal in addition to improving its thermal efficiency. There are several varieties of warm facades, each with special characteristics and installation techniques.

Using exterior insulation materials like expanded polystyrene (EPS), mineral wool, or polyurethane foam is one of the most popular designs of warm facades. By directly applying these materials to the house’s exterior walls, a continuous layer of insulation is produced. This layer lowers the amount of energy needed for heating and cooling by preventing heat loss in the winter and keeping the interior colder in the summer.

Warm facade installation techniques usually start with cleaning and possibly repairing the current facade. After that, adhesive or mechanical fasteners are used to secure the insulation material to the facade. The insulation is then covered with a reinforcing mesh for stability and strength. The facade is finished with a decorative finish, which adds both visual appeal and thermal efficiency, like textured plaster or cladding panels.

The climate, your budget, and the style of your home’s architecture all play a role in selecting the ideal warm facade for your property. Regarding durability, upkeep, and insulation performance, each variety has advantages of its own. A warm facade can make your house more comfortable and energy-efficient, regardless of whether you choose mineral wool for its superior fire resistance or EPS panels for their lightweight adaptability.

In our warm facades guide, we go over the different kinds, special features, and easy installation techniques that can improve the appearance and functionality of the outside of your house. Learn how these cutting-edge solutions, like insulated cladding and sophisticated render systems, improve your home’s aesthetic appeal and thermal comfort to make it both fashionable and comfortable all year round.

Why insulate?

1. The tightness of the joints, both in the outer part of the structure and between the ceilings and the supporting elements. Penetrating external flows, mix with the area created by the house, heated to its temperature. Heating these air masses reduces the total temperature in the house.
2. Insufficient insulation – incorrect or ineffective insulation, does not allow to maintain the temperature to the outer walls, therefore, too many energy resources are spent on their heating. Violation of vapor permeability rules only aggravates problems with heating houses.

When thermal insulation is installed correctly, it lengthens the wall’s and the environment’s heat exchange period, lowering the energy required for the heating system.

Thus, a building with professionally installed external insulation will cool six times slower than one with interior insulation and twelve to eighteen times slower than one without. This is especially true if the building’s heating system is turned off. The ability to regulate the dew point is the second significant benefit. When the insulation in the facade is expertly calculated from the perspective of vapor permeability, the delay point outside the wall can be removed, thereby eliminating any chance of the supporting material freezing.

Functions of insulation

Warm walls serve only two purposes practically:

1. Protective – protects the walls from humidity, heat, light, temperature changes, even in case of mechanical damage, it is easier to replace part of the insulation material and siding than to repair the supporting wall.
2. Thermal insulation – high -quality thermal insulation creates an internal climate of the structure that practically independent of the external environment, and this rule remains relevant in both summer and winter.

It is advised to use and use only those materials whose production technology corresponds to GOST in order to achieve expected results.

Types of insulation

There are various technologies available for use in the process of creating a warm facade. The decision is based on the region’s annual cycle, the climate’s features, and the likelihood of unfavorable events affecting the home. Insulation techniques fall into various categories:

1. Thermal panels.
2. Ventilated facade.
3. Plastering (heavy or light).

Wet facade

The most popular method of insulation is the least expensive. Dowels and building adhesive are used to directly attach thermal insulation to the wall. mounted on the completed design after it has been completed. The mounting mesh is covered in an ornamental steamed plaster.

Typically, mineral wool and unique polymer blocks serve as a "wet" facade.

Its insulation using the "wet" method separates it into two subspecies:

1. Light plaster – thermal insulation is attached with dowels and glue, additionally fixed with facing coating. The design is protected only by aluminum profiles and sealant. The design is little resistant to mechanical damage and extreme weather conditions.
2. Heavy plaster – this facade differs from the younger brother with strength. The facade is pre -reinforced, and the plaster reaches 5 cm in thickness. Very resistant to destructive environmental factors, but the cost is several times higher.

Ventilated facade

This facade is pushed back from the wall and features a pre-built frame that provides ventilation. What makes up the attachment system is:

• crate;
• insulation;
• thermal insulation;
• waterproofing;
• Facing.

The hinged facade is most frequently used in industry to insulate operational workshops. That being said, it can be used to insulate residential and office buildings. Polypropylene foam and mineral wool both serve as insulation. Any kind of cladding, including wood, siding, tiles, and others, can be used as a finishing layer.

Thermal panels

One of the easiest methods for insulating a facade. Polystyrene foam sheets, known as thermal panels, are designed to resemble siding such as brick, tiles, and other similar materials while also having a surface ready for fixing. Installing a warm facade requires fastening the material to the wall using concealed installation holes.

Corrugated board, siding

If you buy cheap vinyl siding or corrugated board (profiled steel), you can achieve a reasonably affordable version of warm cladding. Other siding options are more expensive than the primary budget decorating options, despite having good heat-insulating qualities.

Wooden lining

Although wood is an expensive material, it is a good option for facing insulation and gives the building an opulent appearance. Nevertheless, this kind of insulation is extremely uncommon.

The block house is a more affordable version of an authentic wooden lining imitation.

Brick facade cladding

Decorating the facade with the facing brick is a good but very specific way to do it. Insulation options for such cladding consist of mineral wool and polystyrene foam. While the second option, which is based on fire safety regulations, entails completely sealing the structure from the cladding and wall, the first option suggests creating a ventilated air gap.

A warm facade improves comfort and energy efficiency while also changing a home’s look and functionality. These facades keep summer temperatures cooler and minimize heat loss in the winter by insulating the outer walls. Lower energy costs and a smaller environmental impact result from this.

Warm facades come in a variety of forms, each suited to a particular architectural style and insulation requirement. Homeowners have a range of options from insulated render systems that offer a seamless finish to ventilated facades that create an air gap between the insulation and the exterior wall.

The installation of a warm facade requires meticulous preparation and handling. When installed correctly, the insulation operates at its best and the facade lasts for a long time. Important steps in the process include installing cladding or render, fastening insulation panels, and incorporating windows and doors.

All things considered, a warm facade not only makes a house look better, but it also makes a big difference in terms of sustainability and energy efficiency. Considering a warm facade is a prudent investment that pays off in comfort, cost savings, and environmental stewardship whether building a new home or remodeling an old one.

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