Method for heat insulating a building surface and an insulation board therefor

Abstract

The present invention concerns a method for heat insulating a building surface with insulation boards, wherein each insulation board has two parallel main surfaces and four side surfaces connecting the two large surfaces, whereby the insulation boards are arranged adjacently on the building surface with each insulation board having a lowermost of the main surfaces facing the building surface, wherein each insulation board is divided into an upper part and a lower part with an interface that is substantially parallel with the two main surfaces, and wherein the method comprises the steps of arranging an insulation board on the building surface and then shifting the upper part of said insulation board a distance to at least partly cover a lower part of at least one neighbouring insulation board. The invention also concerns an insulation board for use in the method.

Claims

1. A method for heat insulating a building surface with a plurality of insulation boards, wherein each of the plurality of insulation boards has two parallel main surfaces and four side surfaces connecting the two parallel main surfaces, whereby: the plurality of insulation boards are arranged adjacently one another on the building surface with each of the plurality of insulation boards having a lowermost of the two parallel main surfaces facing the building surface, wherein each of the plurality of insulation boards is divided into an upper part and a lower part with an interface that is substantially parallel with the two parallel main surfaces, and the method comprising: arranging one of the plurality of insulation boards on the building surface and then shifting the upper part of said insulation board a distance parallel with respect to the two parallel main surfaces to at least partly cover a lower part of at least one neighboring insulation board of the plurality of insulation boards.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the building surface is a flat, or substantially flat, roof.

3. An insulation board for heat insulating a building surface, the insulation board comprising: an upper part comprising a top main surface, a lower part comprising a bottom main surface that is parallel with respect to the top main surface, and four side surfaces connecting the top main surface and the bottom main surface, with an interface between the upper part and the lower part that is substantially parallel with respect to the top main surface and the bottom main surface, wherein the upper part of the insulation board is configured to shift relative to the lower part of the insulation board from a position substantially overlying the lower part of the insulation board to a position shifted relative to the lower part of the insulation board a distance parallel with respect to the top and bottom main surfaces, such that the upper part of the insulation board at least partly covers a lower part of at least one neighboring insulation board, and wherein the upper part of the insulation board and the lower part of the insulation board are each made of a fibrous mineral material.

4. The insulation board according to claim 3, wherein the upper part of the insulation board has a first density within a range of 100-200 kg/m.sup.3 and the lower part of the insulation board has a second density within a range of 50-250 kg/m.sup.3, and wherein the first density is higher than the second density.

5. The insulation board according to claim 3, wherein the upper part of the insulation board has a first thickness which is 10-50% of a thickness of the insulation board and the lower part of the insulation board has a second thickness of 50-95% of the thickness of the insulation board.

6. The insulation board according to claim 3, wherein the upper part of the insulation board and the lower part of the insulation board are made of stone wool.

7. The insulation board according to claim 3, wherein the upper part of the insulation board is configured to shift relative to the lower part of the insulation board in two directions.

8. A method for producing a plurality of insulation boards, the method comprising: producing a web of mineral wool insulation, said web having an upper surface and a lower surface; curing said web of mineral wool insulation; dividing the web of mineral wool insulation into an upper part and a lower part and keeping the upper part and the lower part together with an interface substantially parallel with the upper and lower surfaces; and cutting the web of mineral wool insulation along a length and a width of the web of mineral wool insulation into the plurality of insulation boards each defined by a portion of the upper part and a portion of the lower part, with a portion of the interface therebetween, such that the portion of the upper part is configured to shift relative to the portion of the lower part a distance parallel with respect to the portion of the interface, such that the portion of the upper part can at least partly cover a portion of a lower part of at least one neighboring insulation board of the plurality of insulation boards.

9. The method according to claim 8, whereby: the curing of said web of mineral wool insulation is subsequent to the dividing of the web of mineral wool insulation into the upper part and the lower part and the keeping of the upper part and the lower part together with the interface substantially parallel with the upper and lower surfaces; the upper part or the lower part is compressed to a higher density than the other of the upper part and the lower part.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the upper part is split from the lower part and; wherein the upper part has a higher density than the lower part.

11. The method according to claim 10, whereby the split is provided at the interface between the upper part and the lower part.

12. The method according to claim 8, wherein each of the plurality of insulation boards, is wrapped individually in a packaging foil.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) In the following, the invention is described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a stack of insulating boards according to an embodiment of the invention;

(3) FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of two adjoining insulating boards during the process of installing such insulation boards on a flat roof;

(4) FIG. 3 is the same as FIG. 2 when the insulation boards are installed; and

(5) FIGS. 4 a) to d) show an example of the steps of producing a roof insulation board according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(6) FIG. 1 shows a stack of insulation boards 10 according to the invention ready to be installed on a building surface, such a flat roof or a wall (not shown). On the building site each insulation board 10 can be handled as a single element as indicated with the uppermost insulation 10 which is taken away from the stack. The insulation board 10 is split such that the insulation hoard 10 consists of an upper part 2 and a lower pail 4. Each insulation board 10 also has a top main surface 6 and a bottom main surface 8. Both the upper part 2 and the lower part 4 is preferably made of fibrous mineral wool, such as stone wool; the upper part 2 with a high density, for instance within the range of 100-250 kg/m.sup.3, and the lower part 4 with a second lower density, preferably within the range of 50-140 kg/m.sup.3.

(7) As indicated in the FIGS. 2 and 3, the insulation boards 10, 10 are arranged on a flat roof 14. After the adjoining insulating boards 10, 10 are placed, the upper parts 2, 2 are then shifted by pushing or pulling to at least partly cover a lower part 4, 4 of a neighbouring or adjoining insulation board 10, 10 and thereby also cover the interface of the lower parts 4, 4 between the adjoining insulation boards 10, 10. The shifting of the upper parts 2, 2 may be in one direction only or in two directions so that all interfaces between adjacent lower parts 4, 4 are covered, by shifted upper parts 2, 2.

(8) As shown in FIG. 4D the stack of insulation boards 10 shown in FIG. 1 may be provided on a pallet 18, which may be made of wood or can be made of fibrous mineral wool similar to the insulation boards 10, so that the pallet 18 can form part of the building surface insulation. This stack of insulation boards 10 on the pallet 18preferably wrapped in packaging foil (not shown)is then provided as a transport unit which can be transported to the building site for installation. Since each insulation boards 10 comprises an upper part 2 and a lower part 4 these upper parts 2 and the lower parts 4 appears alternately in the stack; however, each insulation board 10 comprising an upper part 2 and a lower part 4 is handled at the building site, e.g. on a roof, as single insulation boards 10 that can be arranged successively adjacent each other during the insulation installation process. After the insulation boards 10 are arranged, the upper parts 2, 2 are shifted for completing the building surface insulation installation. The upper parts 2, 2 may be shifted immediately after installation of each insulation board 10 or they may be shifted after installation of a plurality of insulation boards 10.

(9) With reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B, the insulation board 10 may be produced initially as a dual density board by a conventional process and then subjected to a horizontal cutting member 16, such as a knife or a saw, and thereby split into an upper part 2 and the lower part 4. This split may be provided at the interface between the low density and the high density layers in the dual density product. However by the invention it is realised that the split may also be provided at another level relative to the density transition point.

(10) After the splitting action is completed, the insulation board 10 may be individually wrapped in a wrapping foil 12 as shown in FIG. 4C and/or the insulation boards 10 may be stacked on a pallet 18 as shown in FIG. 4D.