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I want to insulate the attic with rockwool slabs in an unusual way. My house is old and we may have to rebuilt a new house in next 5 years, so I do not want to spend a lot of money on this.

Attic / ceiling of my house is made of concrete and the floor of attic is covered with nothing. I want to cover it with rockwool. I've heard that if you leave the rockwool slabs uncovered with planks or etc. you will end up with a lot of fleas in the summer. I am not sure how much of it is true!? So, I do not want to cover them with planks because of the cost of it. I also want to reuse the materials in the future for the new house. The area to be covered is 59 M2. We do not use the attic almost at all.

I thought about the styrofoam insulation but it costs more and once you do cement finish to cover it you cannot use it anymore.

Are there other alternatives used to cover the rockwool on the floor? Or, maybe there are other insulation materials that I can use instead of rockwool!?

Note: The attic's temperature differs from the temperature outside just 1 C degree or so.

Additional question: How much is it going to be effective to just have the attic insulated for the house?

Thank you for taking the time to answer

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Just throw any insulation material you can get on your hands on the attic floor and cover it with "vapor-permeable film" (I don't know the correct term here) if it's not waterproof like styrofoam. Make sure the film is laid proper way up and won't move. Of course, this assuming that you won't be using this attic at all (not just "almost") - such insulation won't survive being stepped on it.

Because you're going to tear this house apart soon, the quality doesn't matter much. I also doubt any insulation would be reusable after 5 years, I think you should treat it as disposable.

I think it's going to be effective, as ceiling is where the most heat is lost. I've seen many houses which were insulated like this - just styrofoam slabs tiled on unused attic floor. I haven't heard about the flea problem - any insulation is certainly a nice place to nest, but fleas also have to eat somewhere.

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  • Hi Agent_L, I am not sure about the insulation materials becoming useless after certain amount of time. If they are used properly and undamaged, why not to relocate them if it is a rockwool slab specially? That is one of reasons why I do not want to cover them with things that may damage them. What is actually "vapor-permeable film"? Any pictures? Is it something like this? yavan.com.tr/Images/Urun/10122011110758.jpeg
    – Karel Capek
    Commented Nov 9, 2015 at 16:16
  • Afaik styrofoam sublimates as years pass, and rockwool absorbs dirt. I can't really tell from the picture but it looks wrong. I meant special kind of foil that lets water vapour escape from the inside but doesn't let water come from the outside. Specially designed for being used together with roof insulation.
    – Agent_L
    Commented Nov 9, 2015 at 19:20
  • In my country people use styrofoam to insulate the house from outside. They mount the slabs with screws on the walls of the building and use special mix of cement to cover / mortar it. What if I do the same for the floor using styrofoam and cement finish? I think I know what you meant by foil. I saw some rockwool slabs with something on it that looks like aluminium foil. Thank you
    – Karel Capek
    Commented Nov 10, 2015 at 19:59

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