The best pipes for heating under the screed. Heating pipes in the floor under the screed - from the choice of materials to installation. External laying technology

Increasingly, you can find such a method of installing a heating system that uses a hidden gasket.

The laying of heating pipes in the floor, laying in the strobes inside the walls, under the false ceiling is used.

A floor heating system is also used, in which the entire heating system is hidden under the floors of the room.

Let's try to figure out what restrictions on pipes and how to install them are imposed by laying in the floor - both on the supply and on the warm system.

According to current building codes and regulations, installation under the floor must be carried out using corrugations, and for steel pipes - without the use of corrugations.

Instead of a corrugation, a steel pipe of a larger diameter can be used.

During installation, it is necessary to provide holes-manholes in those places where there are detachable pipe connections. These are perhaps the most important ones provided for by Russian standards.

There are inconsistencies between existing standards and applied technologies. Russian standards in no way regulate the special rules for the installation of polypropylene and polyethylene pipes.

In addition, it is not taken into account that reinforced plastic pipes resist compressive loads, periodic compressive loads that occur when walking on the floor even better than the screed itself, and theoretically they can also not be laid in sleeves, corrugations, etc.

The laying of heating pipes in the floor according to current standards is not regulated in any way by thermal expansion, which can reach 10% for polypropylene pipes, by the installation of radiators and other devices, taking into account thermal expansion. And this is the cause of many accidents.

Construction companies that produce stop valves and have long gone ahead and provide special connections for radiators, taking into account thermal expansion and deformation. The standards of the Republic of Belarus went a little further, in which there is a group of norms governing the installation of plastic heating pipes in the floors. However, they do not take into account all the subtleties, often it is not enough to be guided by these rules alone.

The situation is very bad in accordance with current standards and laying underfloor heating.

According to the standards, most underfloor heating pipes should not be used at all.

However, as practice shows, warm floors made of plastic pipes have been in operation for a long time, they have proven their reliability and safety.

The same can be said about warm floors made of copper pipes.

The only thing that the standard clearly regulates is the maximum temperature of the heated floor in the room - 26 degrees for residential, 31 degrees for rooms in which people are not constantly located, for pools, benches in saunas, etc.

Therefore, when installing plumbing systems in the floor, they are guided by complex technologies that are offered by various plumbing manufacturers.

Installation rules for different types of pipes

Steel pipes. As already mentioned, they are allowed to be laid under the floor without the use of corrugations. However, some protection is still needed. It is unlikely that anyone wants the ceiling of their neighbors to be heated from your pipe, or the heat from it went to overdrying the beams of the wooden floor, which causes the fragility of the tree and cracks from drying out. Therefore, it is necessary to wrap a hot pipe, regardless of its type, in thermal insulation made of polyurethane foam before installation in the floor. It is also necessary to provide hatches in the floor where there are valves, viewing devices, detachable connections, and not block access to them. This is especially true for valves and viewing devices.
Metal pipes. Most often, the laying of heating pipes in the floor of an apartment is done with the help of them. They have sufficient strength, reduced coefficient of thermal expansion due to the presence of a reinforcing metal shell inside the pipe. During installation, expansion joints must be installed every 10 meters of the pipe, which are considered a detachable connection. In addition, when connecting radiators, it is advisable to install special compensation racks. Pipes must be laid in.
Polypropylene pipes. It is recommended to use pipes with a strength index of at least pH25. Installation rules are the same as for metal-plastic pipes.

Installation in screed, dry floor system

Installation in screed and dry floor is done in thermal insulation. A prerequisite is that a layer of screed or backfill of a dry floor with a thickness of at least three centimeters covers the pipe and thermal insulation from above. It is advisable to hide the pipe in the corrugation after the thermal insulation device.

Installation under wooden floors

In apartments, wooden floors are now rarely used.

More often, laying heating pipes in a wooden floor is required.

When installing under wooden floors, you can not use the corrugation.

It will be enough just to arrange a heat-insulating layer.

It is necessary that there is a distance of at least 5 cm from the pipe to the log and other structures that can deform and affect the pipe. The pipes are attached to the main floor with brackets.

If the floor is made on wooden load-bearing beams, and there is a basement below, the installation of heating pipes is carried out according to the same rules as for the basement. Thermal and waterproofing is arranged, a number of other additional requirements are met.

Warm floor

Underfloor heating pipes are laid in a screed from a mortar or dry floor with sand filler. Underfloor heating based on wood is very inefficient. Every 10 meters of the underfloor heating pipe, you need to make a compensation sleeve.

It is impossible to close it from above with a floor. If you want it to also participate in the heating process, you can fill it with ordinary sand and lay a steel sheet on top. It is not worth using expanded clay sand for a dry warm floor.

A screed mortar or dry floor backfill must cover the pipe on all sides by at least 3 cm. Steel, copper pipes, metal-plastic pipes and polypropylene pipes with a pH value of 25 or more can be used. The most important rule is that permanent connections must be made with high quality, the system must be pressure tested before closing it with a screed.

How to make a screed over a warm floor - presented in the video:

Cast-iron bulky heating radiators came to naught. They were replaced by heating pipes in the floor under the screed. This is a modern engineering system, the heating of which is carried out as a result of the circulation of hot water through the pipeline. Unlike converter heating, a warm water floor warms up the floor first and only then the space of the room, which is more rational.

The distribution of heating on the floor in a new building comes from the main riser for each apartment separately. This allows you to independently adjust the temperature you need using a thermostat.

System Features

Uniform heating creates optimal temperature conditions (+22° C at the foot level and +18° C in the upper part). Heating under the floor does not "dry" the air, which is good for allergy sufferers and families with small children.

Despite the obvious advantages, it is important to note the disadvantages. Heating in the floor in an apartment of old buildings, unlike private houses, requires obtaining permission from the BTI, since it is considered a redevelopment. In addition, you should make sure that the central heating can cope with the additional load and the pressure in the pipes does not drop. Despite this, most of the occurrence of possible problems can be avoided by newcomers, because heating pipes in the floor under the screed in new buildings are found everywhere.

Modern materials and their compatibility with TP

The quality of heating on the floor in the apartment has pluses and minuses to an equal extent, and for the most part, the functionality depends on the material of the laid pipes through which the coolant circulates.

Manufacturers offer several options:

Cross-linked polyethylene pipe materials. They are quite reliable and durable. The advantage of such products is flexibility, which allows them to be stacked in different ways. They withstand temperatures of +120˚С. But under the weight of the screed, they can be deformed, therefore, when installing them, it is recommended to use a large number of fixing parts.
Metal-plastic heating pipes in the floor in new buildings have won the trust of professionals. They serve up to 30 years, because the three-layer construction (polymers and aluminum) is not subject to corrosion, and also keeps its shape well under the weight of the screed. The only negative is the difficulty of self-attaching individual segments, this requires practical experience and special equipment.
The laying of heating pipes in a polypropylene floor screed, despite its low cost and wear resistance, has not found wide distribution for the TP system, since their large bending radius increases the step between the pipeline branches (on average 1.2 m). This will adversely affect the uniformity of heating.

The leader, of course, are copper pipes - the standard of strength, heat transfer and functionality. However, their price is too high, so not everyone can afford such a design.

Heating pipes in floor screed technology

There are several mandatory conditions, the observance of which, when laying heating pipes under the floor, will significantly extend their service life. For example, a waterproofing layer will protect the heating system from wet pouring, and a layer of insulation will minimize heat loss through the base. As insulation, experts recommend using polystyrene foam produced by Technoplex instead of ordinary foam. If you have any questions, please contact our consultants.

To prevent the pour from cracking and evenly accepting the load, before it starts, a reinforcing mesh is laid on the base. We should not forget about the damper tape - it levels the expansion of the screed during drying and prevents the solution from sticking to the walls.

But the most important thing is to observe the optimal value of the thickness of the screed. 7 cm are considered optimal. Under the weight of a thicker layer, even metal-plastic pipes will fail ahead of schedule, and too thin filling will simply crack. The choice of the type of screed also has its own nuances.

Based on the above factors, it is clear that it is better to connect water heating in the floor of new buildings and old buildings to specialists with sufficient experience to carry out such work.

Pipes for heating in the floor (in the interfloor or basement ceiling) are installed either during the hidden laying of the heating system, or during the installation of the "warm floor" structure. It should be noted that in these cases fundamentally different types of pipes are used and different pipeline assembly technologies are used.

Therefore, in this article we will describe the installation of heating pipes in the floor, emphasizing all the details of the process. In addition, we will say a few words about the “warm floor” technology itself.

Heating pipes under the floor: materials and requirements

Far from any pipe can be installed under the floor covering, since the future system must be strong enough and withstand both internal and external pressure.

In addition, the pipe must not corrode. Otherwise, the owner of the system will have to regularly disassemble the floor to replace the rusted area. Pipes for heating under the floor should not penetrate vapors, and especially oxygen, since it is he who leads to the development of rust, which destroys the load-bearing structures and fasteners.

Given these factors, it is possible to make a heating system in the floor with pipes exclusively from these materials:

Copper pipes. This option is the most expensive, but such pipes are suitable for all the standards for a hidden heating installation. Copper does not corrode, is resistant to mechanical damage and does not allow oxygen to pass through.
Polymer pipes made of vapor-tight material (polybutylene or polyethylene). These pipes are quite resistant to external and internal pressure and do not corrode at all. At the same time, polymeric materials lack hardness, they are easy to cut, so it is recommended to install these pipes in a cement screed, which acts as a protector.
Multilayer metal-plastic pipes made of composites. These pipes are hard, durable and resistant to rust. At the same time, metal-plastic will cost much less than copper. This option can be called the most optimal of those that are currently on the construction market in Russia.

Features of fastening heating pipes under the floor

The technology of installation and fastening of the heating pipeline in the floor depends on the type of pipes chosen, their wall thickness and diameter. Indeed, in the process of installing a hidden heating system, they try to avoid tie-ins, joints and other sections connected with fittings.

In other words, the pipeline must be laid in a screed or wall in one section, and it is desirable to create all bends, corners and roundings with your own hands or using pipe benders. Naturally, such a pipe laying scheme is only suitable for flexible structural materials such as cross-linked polyethylene, metal-plastic and copper.

You need to know that the distribution of heating in the floor should be carried out according to a pre-drawn scheme. If you cannot work it out on your own, then you should use an alternative solution - a piping system layout scheme marked on a heat insulator or waterproofing substrate.

Pipes are attached to the floor using special strips, inside of which there are landing slots for the required diameter. In addition, you can use single clips or paper clips. The best option is to lay pipes for heating in the floor or screed without fail in the grooves cut in the panel insulation.

As a mandatory heat-insulating material, special plates made of extruded polystyrene foam are used, in which holes are pre-equipped for laying a pipe of the desired diameter. These boards are installed on bitumen waterproofing mastic. The pipes themselves are laid in grooves and bent if necessary.

Heating pipes in screed

The location of the heating pipes inside the floor covering or screed allows you to refuse the use of unaesthetic heating radiators that spoil the interior of the room. In addition, the "warm floor" in terms of its efficiency and heat transfer is not inferior to some convectors, and the entire floor covering acts as a radiator.

Underfloor heating can be installed in any room, both in the kitchen, covering the screed with tiles, and in any other functional premises, laying parquet or laminate on top of the heating system.
The process of installing a "warm floor" is carried out in accordance with the following instructions:

Before starting installation, you need to make the floor surface even, pour a layer of self-leveling floor over the concrete screed, which eliminates all kinds of cracks and irregularities in the structure of the rough floor finish.
After eliminating irregularities in the ceiling, you can install horizontal waterproofing. Usually it is a coating or rolled waterproofing agent. It is best to use a water-based mastic, which plays the role of an adhesive for insulation.
Then follows the installation of heat-insulating material. As it is used any hydrophobic material, for example, extruded polystyrene foam. This substance can withstand high ceiling loads and acts as a scaffold for the piping system. The minimum thickness of the insulation is one centimeter.
Having fixed the insulation on the mastic, you can begin the installation of the pipeline structure. It is necessary to avoid breaks, joints and conjugations in his body. A single pipe is rolled out from the coil over the insulation, giving it the desired shape using a reinforcing mesh with paper clips. Also, bends can be formed using perforated strips or insulation with knurled channels. The optimal pipe size is 16 millimeters.
After installing the pipes, it is recommended to pressure test them. This process is a leak test. This procedure must be performed before pouring the upper level of the screed, because the pipe can be damaged through no fault of your own, and a heavy object that has fallen on polymer pipes can cause them a serious defect.
Having finished the pipe installation process, you need to take care of the reinforcing screed, which will hide the relatively soft pipes. Please note that the screed must be laid exclusively on top of the pipeline filled with coolant. Otherwise, pipes made of soft materials may be damaged by the weight of the concrete. For pouring the screed, you can use a standard cement-sand mixture or ready-made sand cement. The volume of the required solution depends on the area of \u200b\u200bthe room with underfloor heating and the selected thickness of the upper screed, which is usually 3-7 centimeters. You can turn on the heating system after the screed has completely hardened, this process takes about a month.

After the final screed hardens, flooring can be installed directly on it - parquet, tile, laminate and the like. Please note that if there are no problems with the choice of tiles for installation over the "warm floor", then the choice of parquet or laminate can cause serious difficulties for the buyer. This is due to the fact that these materials must have a special marking indicating that it can be used for installation above a warm floor.

It is advisable to lay heating pipes under the floor in the warm season and good weather. If the deadlines do not make it possible to use the classic system of "warm floors", then you can use an alternative option, a flooring system, which is even easier to install.

Floor "warm floor" (water or dry)

This type of underfloor heating system has appeared on our market recently and has already received a lot of positive feedback. Water flooring "warm floor" is simply necessary in cases where the installation of a classical system is not possible for various reasons, such as the mass of the structure or installation time. One square meter of a conventional "warm floor" weighs up to 300 kilograms. Naturally, the installation of such a heavy system is unacceptable in the premises of an old building or with wooden floors.

Another obvious drawback of installing a heating system in a screed is the height of the structure, usually it “steals” more than 7-10 centimeters in height from the room. The way out of this situation and steel flooring systems. They allow you to install water heating under the floor without large losses in the height of the room and unnecessary load on the floors. In addition, this system can be used immediately after installation, rather than waiting a whole month until the screed is ready.

Of course, with water flooring systems, not everything is so smooth. They are less efficient than the traditional version and cool faster. This suggests that such a system is hardly suitable for full-fledged independent support of room temperature. However, for residents of southern latitudes, this option may be suitable with good thermal insulation at home.

If you do not live in the south, then, along with the flooring option of the "warm floor", you need to use other heating systems, as a rule, they are radiators, and in some situations convectors. The fact that the deck structure cools down faster means that they reach operating temperature faster and spend less energy on it.

Floor dry "warm floors" are divided into two types: polystyrene and wood. Regardless of the material used, they include 2 components: heat-distributing metal strips and decking system blocks. Due to the low level of thermal conductivity of the base material, laying pipes directly into the grooves of the blocks does not provide the desired heat transfer, so they are placed in aluminum plates.
Wooden flooring systems are very popular.

Their advantage is environmental friendliness and a high level of availability, and it is quite easy to install such a design on your own. On sale you can find ready-made modular dry "warm floors" made of wood. They are blocks of chipboard or OSB, in which channels for pipes are carried out. The width of the modules is determined by the standards - 13, 18 or 28 centimeters, and they are connected by the lock method.

Polystyrene water floors are truly weightless, standard systems have a thickness of 15 to 70 millimeters. When choosing this type of "warm" floor, you can save on thermal insulation, since polystyrene itself acts as it. The slabs are laid on a clean and even base, and if necessary, a layer of heat-insulating material is first laid. Plates of this system can be rotary or simple. They are installed so that pipes can be laid in this scheme.

After the installation of polystyrene or wooden modules is completed, metal heat-distributing plates are laid out on them. They have grooves in which pipes are installed.
Regardless of the material chosen for the underfloor heating system, a damper tape must be placed around the perimeter of its installation. It will compensate for the thermal expansion of the floor and prevent cracks from appearing between the wall and the floor. If there are several circuits in one of the rooms, they must also be separated with a damper tape.

Often, when people hear the word "heating", people remember the heavy, rough, cast-iron batteries that were present in everyone's home during the era of the Union. The radiators warmed up for a long time, did not keep the heat in the apartment, coped with their function somehow. Now everything is different - there is an opportunity to choose among worthy alternatives. The most advanced of them is the "warm floor" system. Therefore, we learn to mount heating pipes in the floor screed.

Warmth starts from the feet

System operation

Why is laying heating pipes in the floor screed a wise decision? Isn't it easier to change batteries? Sure, it's easier, but easier doesn't mean better. The laws of physics cannot be repealed. The principles of operation of heating networks are fundamentally different. Habitual radiators produce heat, which rushes along the walls to the ceiling, heating it first of all. Then the air returns down, but already in a cooled state. Thus, the ceiling is warm, and people are cold. The principle of convection is not the best.

But the pipes for heating in the screed work differently. Heat first warms the legs, and then, cooling down, rises. The inhabitants of the house do not freeze, and with this mechanism of heat distribution they feel better.

Before installing, weigh the pros and cons

Advantages and disadvantages of technology

Before installing polypropylene pipes in a screed, familiarize yourself with the pros and cons of this heating technique, because you must be sure that you are investing resources wisely.

So, the advantages of the "warm floor":

duration of operation (from 50 years);
uniform heating;
profitability (the maintenance of such heating is cheaper than the classic version);
lack of moisture;
ease of care;
space saving;
safety (children will not be injured or burned by batteries);
maintaining normal air humidity;
lack of environment for the appearance of bacteria;
aesthetics.

Differences in the transfer of heat between the classic version and the "warm floor" system

There are few disadvantages, but you should be aware of them:

reducing the height of the room;
the complexity of the repair work (search for pipes in the screed is a difficult task);
the impossibility of installation in specific places, for example, on flights of stairs.

It's important to know! If there are no restrictions on mansions, then before changing the heating system in a multi-storey building, make sure that the central system can withstand such a hydraulic load.

Scheme of installation of the "warm floor" system

System installation

Work always begins with a plan, the purchase of materials, the search for tools. Underfloor heating is no exception.

The wisdom of choosing pipes

Which pipes are the most reliable for arranging heating? You are free to choose copper, but it is very expensive. It is better to focus on polymer products consisting of polyethylene and polybutylene. Such a "duet" is resistant to pressure - both external and internal: it does not cause trouble if everything is properly mounted. Polypropylene pipes should function in the floor screed, since their only drawback is their low hardness. Composite structures made of metal-plastic are no less good.

As for the installation of metal elements, in this case the risk will be unjustified. Water from highways is sometimes replete with "chemistry", and the material may not withstand such an aggressive impact - as a result, rust will appear, and then leak. Hard water is also detrimental to metal. Therefore, polymer pipes are a wise decision, and at a reasonable price.

Video tutorial on selecting elements for the network

Room preparation

The installation of the network is carried out after the removal of connection points for other communications, as well as after the installation of windows and doors. The room should be freed from furniture, the old heating network should be dismantled or left if you want double heating of the room.
Permissible surface irregularities are up to 1 cm. If they are larger, the base will have to be leveled.

Task number 1 - level the floor surface

Rooms located above the cold zone (basement) must be separated with insulating panels - so that you heat the house, not the cellar.

The final stage of preparation is cleaning. An industrial vacuum cleaner will cope with such a task perfectly. It remains to ask the family not to interfere and proceed with the installation.

Intermediate stage of work

Construction installation

Work begins on the installation of a warm floor with thermal insulation. You already understood that hot air should be at the top, not at the bottom. For thermal insulation of the network, materials in the form of sheets or rolls can be used. The main thing is to make sure that there are no gaps between the joints of the heat insulator, if you see gaps, cover them with a special tape. Ideal for this task is polystyrene or basalt fiber coated with reflective foil.

How to lay pipes? The uniformity of heating is important, so use such arrangements of elements as a snake or a spiral.

The main thing when laying the network is to adhere to the same step between zigzags or turns. Step size also matters. For rooms up to 20 m², a distance of 20 cm is sufficient. If you are installing a network in large rooms, it is recommended to mount several spirals / snakes.

Laying is done in a wet or dry way. If you choose the first one - the more common one, in which the heat transfer is maximum, then you will have to install a reinforcing mesh. You are free to purchase a factory set or build a reinforcing structure on your own. The cell size depends on the step, but the side of the cell must not exceed the step distance. The fittings are fixed with clips, but if special heat insulators with bosses are used, fasteners are not needed.

A reinforcing mesh is also installed on top of the network of pipes - for safety, so that the elements do not deform under the weight of the screed. Next, the mesh is poured with a solution (gypsum, cement or other building mixture). The thickness of the screed varies between 3-7 cm.

It's important to know! Before pouring the screed, check the pipeline for leaks.

They also practice the dry method of “masking” the network.

How to hide pipes in a dry screed? Use chipboard. The technology differs only in that instead of a solution, chipboard sheets are installed on top of the structure. The technique is simple, you do not have to wait until the screed dries. However, dry laying cannot be called popular, since it has a minus - voids inhibit the heat transfer of the network.