How to make a water floor. Warm water floor with your own hands. Combined systems "warm floor"

There is no need to talk about the comfort of using underfloor heating, this type of heating is very popular in private homes, as it is efficient and has a high efficiency. Despite the fact that this type of work is not much more difficult than others related to arranging the maximum convenience and comfort of their own home, few people know how to make a warm floor from heating with their own hands.

Let's consider the theoretical and practical issues related to the independent calculation and arrangement of water floor heating in small residential or office-type premises.

Preparatory work and calculation of materials

Such responsible work as do-it-yourself installation of a warm floor should begin with the preparation of materials and planning. Strictly speaking, only specialists who have information about the level of heat leakage in a given room can make an accurate calculation. But for individual needs, approximate calculations are often used that satisfy the requirements.

First you need to draw a plan for the placement of pipes. The clearest and most obvious thing will be a diagram drawn on paper in a cage, on which a warm floor can be calculated based on the quadrature of the room. Each cell will correspond to a step - the distance between the pipes.

For the temperate zone:

• With good insulation of the house and windows, the distance between adjacent turns of the pipe can be made 15-20 cm;
• If the walls are not insulated, 10-15 cm.
• In spacious rooms, where some of the walls are cold and some are warm, they take a variable step: near the cold walls, the distance between adjacent turns of pipes is small, and as they approach warm walls, they increase it.

What kind of flooring is suitable for underfloor heating

A big mistake is made by those who plan to lay parquet or thick wood flooring on a warm floor. Wood does not conduct heat well and will prevent the room from heating up. The efficiency of such heating may even be lower than that of a radiator, and heating costs may be too high.

The ideal covering for a heat-insulated floor is a stone, ceramic or porcelain tile. When heated, it will keep warm perfectly, and this is the best option for the kitchen or bathroom. In rooms where the floor is warm - children love to play very much, and walking barefoot there is more pleasant than on wooden parquet.

A slightly worse flooring option, but more suitable for a guest room or bedroom, is linoleum and laminate. These materials transmit heat well and will not reduce the efficiency of water heating. In this case, the laminate should be chosen with a minimum thickness, and linoleum - without an insulating substrate.

When heated, many synthetic materials can release harmful fumes. Therefore, floor coverings with chemical components must necessarily have a manufacturer's mark on the possibility of their use in residential premises on a warm floor.

Underfloor heating base

If we are talking about a house with concrete floors, then the most affordable common option is a concrete screed with water heating. The same method is used for the first (basement) floors of private cottages, if the base of the floor is on a sand cushion, which is located directly on the ground.

In houses with wooden floors, this option is not applicable. Wooden floor beams simply cannot withstand the enormous weight of the concrete screed, no matter how thin it may be. In this case, a lightweight version of the underfloor heating is used, which will be discussed in a separate section.

Do-it-yourself installation of a warm floor begins with the preparation of the base. The basis for creating a warm floor should be flat, without protrusions and depressions. The maximum allowable difference is 5 mm. If the depth of surface defects reaches 1-2 cm, then it will be necessary to fill and level a thin layer of granite screenings (fine crushed stone) with a grain size of up to 5 mm. On top of the leveling layer, you will have to lay a film and, when laying thermal insulation, walk on wooden boards. Otherwise, the leveling layer itself will become a source of irregularities.

Schemes for laying a water-heated floor

The most common water floor laying patterns are snail and spiral. The snail evenly heats the entire floor area. But with a spiral scheme, you can provide a greater level of heating in the coldest zone of the room. To do this, the first pipe branches through which hot water is supplied are laid exactly there. According to the finished drawing, the exact length of the pipe is determined.

For underfloor heating, only a single piece of pipe is used! If the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe room is very large, several heating circuits are planned. The length of the pipe of each circuit must not exceed 100 m. Otherwise, too much pressure will be required for the normal flow rate of the coolant. In terms of area, this corresponds to 15 sq.m.

A do-it-yourself water floor is best made from a metal-plastic pipe with a diameter of 16 mm. It easily bends with a fairly small radius, and it is much more convenient to work with it than with a XLPE pipe. It is undesirable to use a pipe with a diameter of 20 mm. A large diameter will require an increase in the thickness of the concrete, and this has a bad effect on the efficiency of the heating system.

Usually pipe consumption per 1 sq.m. area is:

• 10 m at a step of 10 cm;
• 6.75 m at a step of 15 cm.

The choice of thermal insulation and fasteners for a water-heated floor

In order for the heat not to go down, a layer of dense foam is laid on the base. The density of the insulation is chosen at least 25, and preferably 35 kg / m3. Lighter expanded polystyrene will simply collapse under the weight of the concrete layer.

Insulation and heat reflector

The optimal thickness of the insulation is 5 cm. When laying on the ground or if increased protection from the cold is required, when an unheated room is located below, the thickness of the thermal insulation can be increased to 10 cm. To reduce heat losses, it is recommended to lay a heat-reflecting screen made of metallized film over the insulation. It could be:

• Penofol (metallized polyethylene foam);
• Reflective foam screen glued behind radiators;
• Plain aluminum foil.

The metallized layer is quickly destroyed from the aggressive action of concrete, so the screen itself also needs protection. Such protection is polyethylene film, which is used for greenhouses and greenhouses. The film thickness should be 75-100 microns.

In addition, it provides the necessary moisture for the maturing concrete screed throughout the entire period of its solidification. Pieces of the film must be overlapped, and the junction must be hermetically glued with adhesive tape.

Fixing connections for water heating pipes

Fasteners for the pipe are installed on the thermal insulation. Its purpose is to fix adjacent pipe branches and place it on the floor in strict accordance with the preliminary plan. The fastener holds the pipe until the concrete screed acquires the desired degree of hardness. The use of fasteners facilitates the installation of the floor and ensures the correct placement of the pipe in the thickness of the concrete pad.

Fasteners can be special metal strips, welded metal mesh, plastic brackets that pin the pipe to the foam base.

1. Metal strips are used with an increased thickness of the concrete pad. They slightly raise the pipe relative to the heat insulator, so that it is closer to the top surface of the concrete pad. The pipe simply snaps into the curly notches of the slats.
2. The metal mesh not only secures the pipe, but also reinforces the concrete cushion layer. The pipe is tied to the grid with pieces of wire or plastic clamps. Fastener consumption is 2 pcs. per running metre. In places of rounding, additional fasteners can be used.
3. Plastic brackets are installed manually. They pin the pipe to the styrofoam as it is laid. Do-it-yourself semi-industrial warm floors are made using a special stapler. But its acquisition is justified only with intensive professional use.

In recent years, manufacturers of underfloor heating systems have begun to offer another very convenient solution. We are talking about special sheets of dense polystyrene foam with a profiled surface. Usually the surface of such sheets is the intersection of grooves or rows of protruding elements, between which heating pipes easily fit.

The surface of the sheets is smooth, extruded, all pores are closed and no additional waterproofing film is required for it. Having a special thermal cutter, grooves in polystyrene foam can be cut independently. But to carry out this work you need at least a minimum experience.

The metal-plastic pipe is delivered in bays. When laying the coil, it rolls out along the trajectory of the pipe. It is impossible to pull the pipe from the lying bay, as this will cause it to twist and may lead to delamination of the inner layers.

Recipe selection, preparation and pouring of concrete

The pipes may only be poured with concrete after they have been completely laid, connected to the manifolds and filled with water at a pressure of 4 bar. Before pouring, it is required to withstand the pipe under this pressure for a couple of days. If a leak is found, it is fixed immediately. If the heating system itself has not yet been installed, instead of water, air is pumped into the pipes using a compressor and the pressure is fixed with ball valves.

Immediately after pumping, the pressure may decrease slightly due to the straightening of the pipes. During the pouring and hardening of the concrete, the pressure is monitored by a connected pressure gauge.

To compensate for thermal expansion, we attach a damper tape along all walls. The temperature expansion of the concrete cushion is 0.5 mm per linear meter, with an increase in temperature by 40 degrees. If the heating is only 20 degrees, then the expansion will accordingly be half as much. We multiply the expansion by the length of the longest section of the concrete floor and compare the resulting value with the thickness of the damper tape.

For ordinary apartments, as a rule, it is enough to lay the tape only along the walls and at the door sill. In addition, the damper tape also plays the role of thermal insulation of the walls from the warm floor. This method eliminates cold bridges that cause unnecessary heat leakage.

Additionally, in some cases, expansion joints are made:

• with the length of any of the sides of the room more than 8 meters;
• the width and length of the room differ more than twice;
• the floor area exceeds 30 sq.m.;
• the shape of the room has several curves.

For extended warm floors, an expansion joint with a damper tape is arranged every 10 m. To prevent the movement of concrete pillows in these places from breaking the pipe, a rigid plastic corrugation (preferably) or a larger diameter pipe is put on it. The entry of the protective pipe into the concrete pads is at least 0.5 m on each side.

If, according to the layout, there is an accumulation of warm pipes in one place (for example, near the collector), then a heat insulator sleeve must be put on part of the pipes. This will help to avoid local overheating and retain heat for the desired areas of the floor.

How to make a water heated floor: concreting

If concrete for pouring is not brought in, but prepared on site, then the following components will be required:

• cement grade 300 or 400 - 1 part by weight;
• washed river sand - 1.9 w.h.;
• crushed stone 5-20 mm in size - 3.7 w.h.

This is the composition of heavy concrete. Its weight reaches 2.5 tons per 1 cubic meter. finished material.

Many people prefer to refuse sand in concrete for underfloor heating. This is due to its poor thermal conductivity. Therefore, in practice, cement-gravel mixtures are also used. Its composition:

• crushed granite 5-20 mm - 2 buckets;
• cement - 1 bucket;
• fine granite screenings up to 5 mm - 4 buckets;
• water - 7 l (you can add another 1 l if the solution is very thick).

Granite is an excellent conductor of heat, and such concrete has a much lower thermal resistance. It is also recommended to introduce a reinforcing fiber, which is a small plastic fiber, into the composition.

As part of any self-leveling floor must be a plasticizer. The specific amount depends on the specific brand and purpose of this drug. The plasticizer should not be any, namely for a warm floor!

If the pipe was attached to strips or brackets, a reinforcing mesh is laid on top of it. The height of the concrete screed is selected from 5 to 10 cm. In this case, it is necessary to provide at least 3 cm of concrete above the pipe. A smaller layer is fraught with cracking. A too thick concrete pad increases heat transfer losses.

With the right choice of concrete and normal temperature, it begins to set after 4 hours. To maintain normal humidity, it should be covered with a waterproof film, and when the surface dries, it should be watered. Already after 12 hours, the hardened concrete can withstand the weight of a person. But its full maturation occurs only after 28 days. All this time, you need to take care of the humidity and maintain high pressure in the laid pipes. Only after the expiration of the specified period can the first thermal test of this floor be carried out.

As during the first test, and subsequently, it is impossible to quickly heat the water heated floor to a high temperature!

Flooring

Tiles and other floor coverings can be glued onto the finished concrete base. In this case, glue intended for warm floors is used. If the tile falls on the expansion joint, then one part of it must be glued, and the other part must be placed on silicone. The silicone adhesive dampens the thermal movements of the base, and the tile will not crack from overvoltage.

Lightweight underfloor heating for wooden floors

As mentioned earlier, a light warm floor without a concrete pad is equipped for wooden floors. In this case, the sequence of work may differ slightly depending on the condition of the old floor and the floor structure.

So that the heat does not go down, a heater is placed under the pipes. It can be placed between the floor lags, and then it is better to use mineral wool, or it can be laid on an old solid subfloor - here you will need polystyrene foam with a density of 25-35 kg / m3. To prevent condensation from forming, a vapor barrier membrane is laid under the mineral wool. The first draft floor is stuffed on top of the logs.

Just like for a concrete floor, it is advisable to lay a heat-reflecting screen made of foil or penofol on the insulation. All joints and seams must be sealed with adhesive tape.

Logs are laid directly on the polystyrene foam, to which the subfloor boards are nailed. Between the boards there should be gaps of about 2 cm for laying the pipe. Similar gaps must be provided at the ends of the boards of the subfloor. Otherwise, you will have to choose transverse grooves for the pipe, and this can lead to breakage of the boards.

In order for the heat to be evenly distributed over the floor, the pipe is laid not just in grooves, but in special metal gutters designed for this purpose. The metal transfers heat over its entire surface and evenly heats the fine finish. Recommendations for its choice have already been given above - it can be a laminate with a permit to work with heating or a rigid polymer coating. Thick parquet and parquet boards for underfloor heating are the least suitable.

Compared to concrete underfloor heating, lightweight construction is done much faster and costs significantly less. Another advantage is the possibility of repairing water pipes in case of an accident. Problems with tubes in the concrete floor are eliminated only by its complete replacement.

The main disadvantage of a wooden warm floor is a much lower thermal power.

It is possible to feed underfloor heating from the heating of apartment buildings only with the permission of the heat energy supplier. All recommendations remain valid, although, on our own, we advise installing a heat-resistant water filter at the pipe inlet.

Outcome

Properly arranged heat in your own home is another step towards comfortable and convenient living conditions for the whole family. But, even if you are not able to perform these works and are forced to invite masters, the knowledge gained will allow you to take an active part in this process.

Underfloor heating is no longer a novelty. This technology is used for underfloor heating in apartments, private houses, offices and various other premises. Their principle of operation is simple - they heat the base under your feet, as well as the air in the room, which allows you to warm up any room well enough. They are usually installed in addition to the main heating system. Installing them is not as difficult as it seems, but this is a rather troublesome business. How to make a warm floor? This process will largely depend on what type of system was chosen for installation.

Now there are three main types of underfloor heating, which differ in the type of coolant, and also have different arrangement technology. However, in general, they are united by one main advantage - the heating element is installed directly into the floor cake, due to which it is heated. At the same time, the air masses in the room also warm up, but the air will be warmer near the floor, but above this limit, at the level of a person’s head, the air remains slightly cool, which allows you to create an optimal microclimate in the room.

On a note! In certain cases, underfloor heating can completely replace the central heating system. But this is not always possible, and you still shouldn’t refuse the main radiators.

Water based heating

In this case, the heat carrier is ordinary heated water, which flows inside pipes laid according to a certain pattern and filled with a concrete screed. The service life of such a system is approximately 20 years. A fairly reliable and safe option, but it is used either in private homes or in new buildings where it is possible to connect such a floor. In old multi-storey buildings, without the permission of the management company, it will not be possible to connect a water floor, since installation will involve connecting it to a central heating system that is not designed for additional loads - it can get very cold in other apartments.

The disadvantages of this design may be the likelihood of leaks and the risk of flooding of the premises located below, as well as the tendency of some types of pipeline to corrode. Installation, of course, is laborious, but this is one of the most economical floor options. You can install such heating under any finish coating. However, if you want to use the possibilities of a water-heated floor as efficiently as possible, study the features of different coatings. Finding the perfect match will help.

Heating with cable

Such floors can be installed in absolutely any room - even in old, even in new apartments, houses, offices, etc. This option has become a real salvation for those who, for some reason, cannot make a water heated floor. The system is quite simple to install and is a laid electrical cable in a special scheme, located inside the screed. It converts electricity into heat.

For the arrangement of heating can be used self-regulating and resistive cables. In the latter case, a two-core is usually used (single-core often become sources of radiation harmful to the body, which is why they are not preferred to be used). Self-regulating wires do not have the disadvantages that resistive wires have. Typically, a cable floor is used if the top coat is made of tiles or linoleum.

IR floor

This is perhaps the most popular floor heating system, as it does not require pouring a new screed, it is easy to install, but it is not inferior in quality to other heating options. It is represented by thin mats with carbon strips connected to each other by wires. Such floors heat up quickly, but also cool down quickly (sometimes this function is needed), they are very thin, allow you to quickly adjust the heating temperature, are economical in terms of energy costs, easy to repair and completely safe for humans. Such a system also works thanks to electricity. There is a drawback - a small static and because of this - the attraction of dust to the base. Read more about infrared underfloor heating, depending on the finish, in separate articles of the portal: under the laminate, and under the tile.

Table. Comparison of characteristics of different systems.

Prices for electric underfloor heating "Teplolux"

electric underfloor heating thermolux

If you have not yet decided on the type of underfloor heating, read. There we examined in detail the advantages and disadvantages of different materials and compiled a list of recommendations.

We make a warm water floor with our own hands

Let us consider in more detail the process of work in the arrangement of water floor heating. It includes a number of stages - this is the preparation of a rough base, the installation of the system itself, as well as pouring the screed and laying the finish coat. In this case, a budget option for creating a heating system will be considered.

Heated floors are a serious cost item during repairs, so it is important to accurately calculate how much and what materials will be needed. To facilitate your labor costs, we have prepared a guide that tells how to calculate a warm floor - water or electric. Online calculators are included. And in the article "" you will find a complete list of everything that you may need during installation.

Foundation preparation

Consider how to make a subfloor for the arrangement of a water system based on expanded clay.

Step 1. First of all, the old wooden floor is completely dismantled. Boards and logs are removed. Remains of bricks and oversized construction debris may be left on the ground.

Step 2 A laser level is used to determine the height of the final floor. The main landmark of the required level is the front door. The marking should be 1.5-2 cm below the threshold.

Step 3 Markings are applied to the walls. The first mark indicates the boundary of the screed with the laid heating pipes (the thickness of the screed should not be less than 6 cm thick). The second indicates the thickness of the expanded clay insulation (in this case, the thickness of this layer will be 10 cm).

Step 4 Along the line of the laser level, marks are applied to the walls along the entire perimeter according to the level of the finished floor.

Step 5 Markings are also applied to the walls of two other levels - expanded clay bedding and screed. The reference point in this case is the mark of the finished floor.

Step 6 The rough concrete floor is covered with sand, which is evenly distributed over it. You can focus on the bottom mark.

Step 8

Step 9 The holes in the walls left from the log are sealed with pieces of brick and cement mortar.

Step 10 Waterproofing is laid on a layer of sand. In this case, it is a dense polyethylene film, which is laid with the plant on the walls. For convenience, the film is fixed with adhesive tape.

Step 11 Beacons are being installed. For this, high-density foam block cubes are used, on which metal beacons will then be installed. Cubes are installed on polyethylene at a distance of about 1 m from each other. The height of one cube is 9 cm.

Step 12 Metal beacon profiles 1 cm high are installed on the cubes.

Step 13 At the junctions of the lighthouses, a cube must be installed. For proper docking, the beacons are cut. With proper docking, the beacons overlap each other in the direction of the future movement of the rule.

Step 14 Lighthouses are set by level. Landmark - a line on the wall indicating the height of the screed. To level them, you can use plywood linings.

Step 15 When the beacons are leveled, they are fixed on the cubes with self-tapping screws.

Step 16 The draft floor should have a slight slope (the difference is up to 5 mm for each meter of the base length). If necessary, the cubes can be pressed into the sand to achieve the desired result. The operation is performed along the entire length of the lighthouses.

Step 17 Additional cubes are installed between the main cubes.

Step 18 Expanded clay is mixed with a small amount of cement mixture. This will give you a stronger floor. A bucket of sand, 2 kg of cement and about 3 liters of water are used for a bag of expanded clay.

Step 19 The prepared expanded clay is laid out on the base and leveled. Backfilling is done starting from the far corner of the room. There should be about 1.5 cm of free space left to the top level of the beacons.

Step 20 The expanded clay layer is covered with cement mortar. The solution is leveled with a trowel over the entire surface.

Step 21 The screed is aligned with the rule according to the beacons. Perfect evenness can not be achieved. To make it easy to remove the beacons from the screed, their surface is not smeared.

Step 22 Two days later, when the screed dries, the beacons are removed. To do this, the screws fixing them are unscrewed. Together with the beacons, wooden linings are removed.

Step 23 After that, the resulting cracks are cleaned of debris and sealed with cement mortar.

Pipe laying and connection

After preparation, the installation of the heating system itself begins.

Step 1. In this case, the existing heating system will be maintained on the basis of a gas boiler. The battery is powered by a supply circuit located on the second floor. The water leaving the radiator is sent to the return circuit, which is located in the basement. The warm floor will be connected to the second output of the battery and to the return circuit. Taps will be installed to turn off the radiator and underfloor heating. A circulation pump will be installed at the entrance to the return circuit.

Step 2 The radiator is equipped with the necessary fittings. These are connectors and pipes. To seal the connection, plumbing linen and sealant are used.

Step 3 This is how the finished outputs from the battery will look like. One of them will be used to connect a warm floor.

Step 4 Before further installation of pipes around the perimeter of the room, a damper tape is glued (we have already discussed its choice). She sits on the walls with glue.

Step 5 Multifoil is laid on the rough screed - a special insulation. Separate strips of material are fixed to each other with adhesive tape.

Step 6 A reinforcing mesh with 10x10 cm cells is laid on top of the foil. Individual pieces are overlapped by 1-2 cells. The grid is connected to each other with a wire.

Step 7 A pipe leading to the return is installed and connected.

Step 8 A water floor pipe with a cross section of 20 mm is mounted to the other outlet from the battery. A piece of protective corrugation can be put on the initial section of the pipe.

Step 9 The pipe is laid on the floor and fixed to the reinforcing mesh with plastic clamps. When laying, it is important to ensure that there are no kinks on the pipe. To form knees, you can use a hair dryer that heats the pipe. The distance in the circuit between adjacent pipes should be about 20 cm in this case.

Step 10 The underfloor heating pipe is laid with a snake.

Step 11 The ends of the return pipe and the underfloor heating are sent to metal pipes leading to the basement. Voids can be sealed with mounting foam.

Step 12 The sections of the metal mesh rising above the floor level are fixed on the floor base with the help of dowels and metal plates.

Step 13 Further work will be carried out in the basement. A circulation pump is being installed. It connects to the return pipe. Two cranes are also installed in the system. One of them will block the natural circulation. The lower valve completely blocks the entrance to the return pipe.

Step 14 The control unit is assembled and all pipes are connected. In natural circulation mode, water flows through the underfloor heating pipe into the return line with both taps open. If you turn off the top tap, then the water from the warm floor will move through an additional pipe towards the pump - this is the mode of rapid heating of the floor. If the bottom tap is closed when the pump is off, then the warm floor will be completely turned off.

Filling the screed

The final stage of the installation of the water floor is the pouring of the screed and laying the floor covering.

Step 1. To make the screed even, metal beacons are installed. They are located on pieces of concrete.

Step 2 Pieces of concrete are fixed to the base with cement mortar.

Step 3 Beacons are fixed on concrete with self-tapping screws in pre-made holes. All of them must be aligned strictly according to the level.

Advice! It is better to start installing the first beacons from the side of the door. This will allow you to correctly select their height relative to the doorway.

Step 4 A concrete solution is prepared in exact proportions.

Step 5 The concrete is evenly distributed over the prepared floor.

Important! At the time of laying the screed, the floor pipes must be filled with water.

Step 6 The concrete solution is aligned with the beacons using the rule.

Step 7 The screed is dried for 28 days. The floor is covered with a top coat.

Video - Installation of a water floor

Video - Installation of a warm infrared floor

The complexity and the entire process of manufacturing a warm floor will depend on which heating option is chosen. A water floor is perhaps the best option for arranging base heating in a private house or new building. Those who do not want to mess with the screed can be recommended to use infrared floors.

As already mentioned, laying linoleum on a concrete screed can only give a decorative look to your floor. But it will not become warmer from this - concrete is a “cold” material, it will cool the coating in winter and summer.

Residents of the first and basement floors complain about the cold coming from below, despite the tongue-and-groove flooring. Wood is a “warm” material, but the cold penetrates through it into the apartment. The reason is the lack of insulating material.

How to fix these construction flaws? Let us consider below the methods of raising the temperature of the floor covering using heaters and the creation of an active heating system with electric and liquid heat carriers.

Classic method

The simplest and most common method of thermal insulation is the use of heaters. Of all the widely used mineral wool(made from non-combustible materials basalt, diabase) and polystyrene foam. The latter is well processed, easy to install - you can simply glue it to a concrete screed.

The first stage when warming in this way is laying a log with a height of 50-80 mm. Between them spread plates of insulating material. Its thickness depends on the coefficient of thermal conductivity - the lower it is, the smaller the thickness of the insulation. The joints between the plates must be glued to avoid the penetration of cold air through these places.

The next step is to create waterproofing. Moisture should not get on the insulation (especially fibrous). Therefore, we cover it with vapor-proof foil, a film.

On top of the insulation on the logs, we lay a layer of dense material - plywood, GVL, chipboard. It is the basis for any decorative coating.

Spray method

We see from the name that in this case the insulation is not laid out manually, but sprayed with special equipment. Under high pressure, the PPS material is applied to the substrate in the form of an aerosol liquid. Freezing occurs in seconds.

Advantages of this method:

Alternative Methods

In addition to the above methods, with small heat losses, carpet insulation can be used. This material requires constant cleaning, it has a short service life.

Isolon is a material sold in rolls. Its installation is very simple. We cut it into sheets of the desired size, glue it to the floor with tape. From above we lay a laminate, a floorboard, etc. Izolon does not need waterproofing.

There are two types of this system - with electric and water coolants.

Electric floor heating

Consider the device of this type of underfloor heating. The heating cable is laid on a layer of special heat-insulating material and filled with cement-sand mortar. Any floor covering is laid out on top - ceramic tiles, linoleum, etc.

More details about the installation process:

We carry out a control check of the system's performance after at least 30 days. It is necessary to wait for the complete hardening of the cement screed, otherwise voids and cracks may form in it.

There is another type of electric underfloor heating based on heating films. It is available in the form of mats, easy to install. The floor covering is laid directly on it.

Water heated floor

The most popular type of active floor heating today is a system with a liquid heat carrier. In the apartment, such a system is connected to central heating.

As with an electric coolant, here it is necessary to create a “heat cake” consisting of the following layers:

To connect the created system to central heating, a manifold cabinet and a heating point are required, which allows you to control the speed of hot water movement. (read: Warm water floor in the apartment. What is possible, what is not). During the cold period, the water temperature in heating reaches 80-90°C, 30-35°C is enough for a warm floor. The heat pump built into the heat station allows you to increase the speed of the water flow, reducing its initial temperature.

Summing up

We found out that there are two main types of floor insulation - with the use of physical heaters and active "warm floor" systems.

The first method is simpler for self-assembly and requires less financial costs. Active systems are more complex and expensive, but they allow you to get underfloor heating.

The system with a water coolant starts working only after turning on the central heating, the electric coolant allows you to turn on the system at any time.

repair-troick.ru

Do-it-yourself heated floors - we make the floor warm. How to make a warm floor without heating

Advantages

electric floor

water floor

Mounting

The most difficult thing in this process is to correctly draw up a wiring diagram. Class

pilorama-chita.ru

How to make the floor warmer

In apartments on the 1st floor and in private houses, the floors are not very warm, which makes residents uncomfortable, and heat leakage through the floors reduces the weight of their wallets. How to quickly and inexpensively make the floor warmer?

Since there are many design options, there is no clear answer. Consider the basic principles of how to make floors warmer, as well as floor insulation technologies that are often used.

Make the floor warmer quickly with cheap materials

Often no one wants to start long repairs. But at the same time there is a great need to make the floor warmer.

In order to quickly, slightly insulate the floor, you need to put a layer of heat insulator on top of the existing coating, but elastic, on which you can walk. We are talking only about felt up to 2 cm thick. On top of the felt, you can also put carpet up to 0.5 cm thick. Under the legs of the furniture, you will need to put planks, for example, from a laminate, so that it does not load much.

In total, you can quickly, in one fell swoop, make the floors a little warmer. But cardinally such warming will not correct the situation with cold floors. Why?

A little theory about floor insulation

A significant part of the heat from the house (apartment on the 1st floor) leaves through the floors if they are not insulated. This requires increasing the heating power in order to keep the indoor temperature normal. And the floors themselves become cold, forcing the tenants to keep their feet up.

To change the situation and make the floors warmer is possible only with the help of insulation. Those. a barrier of insulation is needed, which would significantly reduce the escape of heat through the floors.

Floors above cold undergrounds and basements must have a certain resistance to heat transfer, which is regulated by the standard. For the south-temperate climatic zone, this value is 3.7m2C/W (while for walls it is only 2.8 m2C/W). But when the outside air is below the floor - for ceilings above the driveways, or when the house is on stilts .... - already 4.2 m2S/W is required.

The further north, the greater the resistance to heat transfer should be at the floors - for the north-temperate zone - 5.5 and 6.2 (m2C / W), respectively.

Based on economic benefit

The requirements of the standards are “invented” based on economic feasibility. The state does not order to create less thermal resistance, because it is not profitable in the first place.

Ordinary floors have very low resistance to the movement of thermal energy - it is either just a concrete slab or a 40 mm board. Therefore, to achieve the required thermal resistance, a significant thickness of the insulation will be required.

To make the floor warmer in the south-middle regions, you need to apply 10 centimeters of foam or 13 cm of mineral wool. And for the northern ones - 15 and 20 cm, respectively.

You can argue - why do you need to comply with the standard? 10 cm is expensive. And 5 cm will do. Unfortunately it won't work. It will be cool and not economical, as a result - much more expensive. It is recommended to follow the requirements of the regulation, which are based on obtaining the ultimate economic benefit from heat savings.

Insulate floors from the outside or from the inside

Insulation from the inside will "eat" the height of the room by at least 12 cm, but maybe by all 25 in a cold climate. In some areas, this is simply unacceptable.

It is usually preferable to insulate from the outside - from the underground.

For wooden floors, if there is no access from below, then the boards are torn off and insulated between the lag.

But when the floors are made on the ground, or are on a concrete base inaccessible from below, then it is necessary to insulate on top. Sometimes at the same time they sacrifice the thickness of the insulation (heat) in order to preserve the internal dimensions.

How to make the floor warmer on a concrete base

If the base of the floor is concrete, monolithic or the floors are made on the ground, then there are no special questions about how to make the floors warmer from the inside of the room.

It is necessary to use a hard durable insulation. - extruded polystyrene foam under a concrete screed. This insulation is a vapor barrier, but in combination with concrete, this is not bad - the base will simply remain at the mercy of its climate.

A vapor barrier is laid on the base (soil) with a twist on the wall, a side is laid out along the walls from a heater with a thickness of 1-2 cm to the height of the concrete screed.

Further, expanded polystyrene plates are laid out with a continuous carpet in 2 - 3 layers until the standard thickness is reached. A cheap polyethylene film is usually placed on top of the insulation and a concrete screed 5 cm thick is poured on top (the strength of the base should allow).

With slight modifications, heated water floors are also made using this technology.

Thermally insulating the concrete slab from below

If the concrete base is accessible from the basement side, then it is possible to avoid reducing the height of the rooms and glue the extruded polystyrene foam from the underground side. Although this process is much more complicated and expensive. The work is carried out using the “wet facade” technology. But with the protection of the insulation from a rodent by attaching a metal mesh to the dowels.

Can styrofoam be used in this case? It all depends on the humidity of the air. If the humidity under the floor is the same as outside, i.e. frosty winds are walking, then cheap polystyrene is preferable. But if the underground is not well ventilated and the humidity is high there, it is better not to risk it and insulate it with waterproof polystyrene foam.

double floors

Double floors are not a difficult option to make floors warmer in terms of getting the job done. When the height of the room allows, it is possible to lay new floors on the logs on the old foundation. This can also be done on old wooden floors.

How to make the floors warmer by creating a new crate can be found in this video.

How are insulated floors made?

It remains to pay attention to three mandatory constructive solutions:

• solid vapor barrier under mineral wool;
• ventilation gap over mineral wool;
• coating of mineral wool with a vapor-permeable membrane preventing the spread of micro-dust.

• Styrofoam should not be used under a burnable coating.
• Instead of rigid mineral wool boards containing phenol, it is better to use glass wool without fillers, which should be checked according to the documentation. Phenolic derivatives should not evaporate into the room.

How to insulate a wooden floor

The classic option to make the floor warmer is to lay insulation between the lags. But here it is also important to perform a vapor barrier of the insulation, only now it should be from the side of the room, since from below, from the cold air side, ventilation of the insulation should be organized. Otherwise, the accumulation of water and the destruction of the floors threaten.

On the sidewalls of the lag, shard beams are stuffed. Wooden flooring is laid on them, mineral wool insulation is laid, then it is covered with a vapor barrier membrane, above which a ventilation gap of 2 cm is left to the flooring.

Thermal insulation of floors with heavy materials

Floors can be made warmer with cheap materials. Which have not a small specific gravity. For example, using slag, expanded clay, fragments of foam concrete.

But the thickness of the layer should be significant, in accordance with the coefficient of thermal resistance of materials - up to half a meter.

Usually such a heavy insulation is covered with a layer directly on the ground, and on top of them they make floors on logs. But a vapor barrier is placed on the ground, and convection air movements are prevented in the insulation layer by covering it on top with a diffusion membrane, or at least with newspapers sprinkled with a layer of sand.

Loose, loose materials

Vermiculite, bulk stone wool, ecowool, dried algae - all these materials absorb water very well. They can be placed between the lag settlement layer, but with the obligatory use of reliable vapor barrier from the warm air in the room.

It is necessary to organize good ventilation of the hem, and do not forget that the insulation will be moistened with vapors from the ground, in case of insufficient ventilation.

You can also fill in a low underground with a thick layer of materials that were used for insulation before - straw, foliage, sawdust.

They are pre-mixed with lime to prevent rapid biodegradation. The layer also needs to be covered with a membrane so that small particles do not spread and there is no waterlogging of the material. From below, such a heater is also desirable to be protected from ground moisture and from rodents.

A few technologies discussed will help to make the floors warmer in any case, even if there is no special design option needed. It is not difficult to make floors warmer in any situation, if you do not save on insulation and prevent it from getting wet.

teplodom1.ru

how to do it yourself, heat insulators

In a number of houses, it is simply impossible to create an underfloor heating system using classical methods. The reason most often lies in the characteristics of the structure. A wooden house or a building with weak ceilings does not allow you to create concrete floor coverings of the required thickness. The best solution would be a warm floor without a screed. It can be either electric or water.

Heating without screed

A little about the advantages and disadvantages

All classes of underfloor heating have both advantages and disadvantages. The first ones include:

• there is no need to carry out large-scale repairs;
• it is possible to create an efficient heating system in a wooden house or a structure with ceilings on beams;
• there are no strict requirements for the existing base - a water-heated floor without a screed or an electrical system can be installed on almost any surface;
• you can carry out any thorough work on floor insulation;
• much higher maintainability of the system. To access the pipes or the heating element, it is enough to disassemble or remove part of the floor finish;
• a number of ready-made options, constructs are offered that allow you to assemble a heating system in a matter of days.

Cost is one of the main characteristics that water-heated floors without screed or an electrical system have. At the same time, not only the price of creating a structure is higher than the classical schemes, but also the monthly operating costs. This is due to some disadvantages of underfloor heating without screed:

• not surrounded by a layer of concrete, pipes or electric heaters are protected from damage only by flooring. Therefore, it is recommended to use sufficiently rigid materials as a finishing layer;
• without a damper, a heat accumulator in the form of a layer of concrete, water-heated floors without a screed become of low inertia. They quickly lose heat;
• there is a pronounced temperature difference in certain areas of the floor if the pipes are laid with a large step.

Infrared warm floors have similar problems. However, in the case of using electric heaters, the average user is immediately ready for both low system inertia and increased energy bills.

When laying tubes with a small mesh pitch, the costs for basic structural materials immediately increase. In addition, water-heated floors without screed will require more coolant to ensure sufficient energy efficiency. This immediately places increased demands on the heating boiler. But for all their shortcomings, heating systems without a screed are quite popular, as they are easy to arrange and show reliable operation.

How to make an electrical type system

Let us briefly dwell on the arrangement of warm floors of infrared electric type. This is a very popular system today, especially in old wooden houses. They show themselves well both in the role of additional and main heating.

The electrical system can easily be done by hand. Today, manufacturers of film heaters immediately plan to use their constructs to build large systems and provide connection diagrams in the documentation that allow you to control power consumption.

In the retail market you can buy:

• film heaters with a conductive structure placed between layers of a very strong film;
• track class carbon film heaters, which are the development of previous technology;
• solid warm floor, which is a solid area of ​​the resistive element, located between the layers of the protective film.

The most reliable today are film conductor heaters and carbon track heaters. The manufacturing technology of films allows you to put furniture on them, the system is protected from water, has good fault tolerance.

Separately, it is worth noting: the system of conductors is built on a parallel type of connection. Therefore, one large size heating film will never completely fail when the surface is damaged. It stops working only if there is a violation in the connection system.

Compared to conductors, track carbon heaters are 40-60% more economical. They do not show other improved results of operation, they have the same recommendations for connection. Carbon technology is more expensive, but allows you to get more heat output for the same cost of paying electricity bills.

Solid underfloor heating is even more economical. Compared to film heaters with a conductive structure, electricity bills are reduced by a factor of 5. But the film has some limitations. Heavy furniture cannot be placed on it because of the danger of the formation of local overheating zones, where the structure of the carbon resistive pad is destroyed.

The general characteristic of film electric floors without a screed looks like this: they fit under any coating (linoleum, laminate, carpet), they are connected according to a simple scheme, no control equipment (intrafloor sensors) is required, adjustment is made only by applying different voltages. The nominal temperature of the electric heater is 30-40 degrees, maximum - up to 80 degrees Celsius.

Water and cable electric floors without screed

The device of water and cable heating structures without a concrete layer is similar in many respects. The answer to the question of how to make a warm floor without a screed will contain a listing of the same surface requirements for flooring, a description of similar laying structures, consumables, control systems. Therefore, the general technology will be considered, without focusing on a specific type of heat source (pipes with water or electric cable).

floor plan

To equip an underfloor heating system without a screed, you will need:

• strong and relatively flat base surface;
• insulation layer;
• support structure for tube or cable placement;
• elements for better heat dissipation;
• finishing flooring.

Depending on the characteristics of the house or apartment, namely the degree of their insulation, the laying step is selected. Depending on the availability for sale in the region of work, certain components are selected.

thermal insulation

A layer of heat insulator, mandatory for dry, without screed arrangement of underfloor heating - is required. At the same time, it can perform several tasks at once:

In the latter case, when arranging the heat insulator layer, a power frame is made. In old houses or structures with weak ceilings, this method is optimal. The resulting strength and rigidity of the floor increases, and the mass of the structure is quite small.

To make a rigid layer that performs a heat-insulating role, logs from a bar are laid on the existing floor surface. The placement step is about 60 cm for linoleum, carpet, laminate and 30 cm if it is planned to lay ceramic tiles as a finishing layer.

A heat insulator is placed in the space between the lags. It can be inexpensive foam plastic, polystyrene boards, popular mineral or basalt wool. For the best stiffness indicators, it is recommended to make not only parallel logs, but also transverse ones, forming a grid.

Laid heat insulator

For the convenience of work and the achievement of optimal indicators of the base for a warm floor without a screed - when laying the log, you can immediately level out the height differences of the base. In the role of a filler (the main heat insulator), building polystyrene foam can be used. Such material is inexpensive, quickly applied, there are no gaps, the curing time is negligible.

It should be noted right away: it is not necessary to sew the top flooring (plywood or other sheet materials) onto the log structure. But for the convenience of further work, you can limit yourself to a flooring made of fiberboard, inexpensive and quite functional.

Upon completion of work with a heat-insulating layer (it can be just a layer of mineral wool or other material, without a lag), the entire surface is covered with a waterproofing layer. An ordinary polymer film is suitable, it is attractive in terms of price and functionality.

Base for laying tubes or cables

When arranging a dry floor without a screed, the following can be used as the basis for laying:

• special linings, where protruding elements for horizontal laying and turns are formed;
• special constructions made of chipboard, boards, plywood or OSB;
• processed board, slats 21 or 28 mm thick.

The technology of working with different substrates is slightly different from each other. To lay the circulation network, you will need:

• cover the surface with a substrate, while the finished structures are connected by lock zones, from a thin board - a rack system is formed to accommodate the heating circuit;
• carry out rough laying, if necessary, moving individual areas of the substrate;
• check splices or electrical connections for compliance with the tube or cable manufacturer's recommendations.

At this stage of work, it is not necessary to fasten or fix in any other way the coolant circulation routes or the cable. If everything went well and the laying is in accordance with the plan, the substrates should be fixed to the base (mandatory for boards and structures made of wood-based materials).

Ready-made panels for laying a floor heating pipe without a screed are strips located at a distance from each other, united by a single perimeter. In terms of functionality, they are no different from prepared boards, but more expensive. Ready-made constructs allow you to work faster, but may impose certain restrictions on the laying of the heating route.

Pipe laying base

Additional constructs

For better heat dissipation in warm floors without screed, special panels are used. This is an aluminum alloy profile. It has a straight recess for the tube. These constructs are located in the straight zones of the contour and work as an effective reflector, distributing heat over a larger area.

The use of diffuser panels improves the performance of underfloor heating without screed. This is especially noticeable if the surface is covered with a top layer with high thermal conductivity, such as ceramic tiles. Diffusion panels should be handled with care.

They perform well (do not move, do not creak) on a solid base surface. When mounting heating circuits without a screed on prefabricated structures made of wood-containing materials or a lath structure created from boards, the diffuser panels can be fixed with self-tapping screws.

It remains to polish

After installing the heating structure without screed, you do not need to do a lot of work. All that remains is to place the control temperature sensors and lay the finish coat. Laminate does not require additional preparation. It is necessary to spread the substrate and assemble the flooring. For tiles - you will have to work with adhesive building mixtures. But such work does not take much time.

delaypol.com

Cork floors - underfloor heating without heating. — Blogs

Modern panel houses do not have good heat and sound insulation. The neighbors downstairs have brought in a small dog that has a bad habit of barking at every noise, especially at night. Therefore, as a floor covering, I wanted something pleasant, warm, beautiful, original and always with soundproofing.

In one of the building materials stores, the manager advised me to pay attention to cork flooring. As a tribute to the fashion for the use of natural materials in the decoration, we were immediately interested in the offer. In the exhibition hall on the stands lay a lot of samples of various shades. The idea immediately came to mind to create something like a drawing. Cork is much easier to cut and install than tiles.

Initially, we wanted to choose cork tiles. But experts said that cork flooring is more reliable and durable. Although any cork floor has a long lifespan - about 15 years. The tile would have to be laid on a special glue, and the parquet board is assembled according to the “thorn in the groove” principle. We decided that it would be easier this way, although the process itself was entrusted to specialists.

The drawing was chosen from those proposed by the masters. As a basis for the cork floor, an ordinary cement screed perfectly suited, with a plastic film placed on top of it. Since the cork tends to expand under the influence of moisture and heat, a gap of about 15 mm was left near the walls, which was later closed with a plinth.

The floor, with an area of ​​12 square meters, was made in one day. With a tile, it would not have happened so quickly. The cork is cut using special knives and an electric jigsaw. Even the most complex shapes in the drawing turned out to be neat, without gaps and cracks.

A clear lacquer "Natural Shield" was used as a protective coating for the cork floor. It dries quickly and is virtually odorless. Within a day you could walk on the floor.

The cork floor not only looks original and warm. It is pleasantly springy when walking, not slippery at all. You can clean cork floors with a vacuum cleaner, you can wash it, just squeeze the rag hard. We mainly use a washing vacuum cleaner. Colored rubber mats pose a danger to cork, and it is very difficult to remove traces of them.

The soundproofing is just amazing. The barking of the fluffy neighbor from the lower floor, which has bothered us, is now heard only on the street.

Grade: 0

poremontu.ru

Floor insulation in a private house: three ways to make the floor warm

In this article, we'll look at:
Floor insulation in a private house: how to insulate a screed
Floor heating systems in a private house
How to insulate wood floors in your home

A private house is by no means an apartment in which the floor is heated by the lower floor. Here, just the opposite is true - from below, from the side of the earth, it only blows cold. That is why floor insulation in a private house is an urgent issue for almost all happy owners of private living space. We will consider this issue in this article together with the site stroisovety.org, having studied in detail all the options for floor insulation.

To date, there are three main technologies that allow you to make a cold floor a little warmer - this is an insulated screed, insulated wooden flooring and, of course, all kinds of floor heating systems. They will be discussed in this article.

How is floor insulation in a private house

Floor insulation in a private house: how to insulate a screed

As you know, the cheapest subfloor in both the house and the apartment is a screed - not only materials (cement and sand) are inexpensive, but also the work associated with pouring it. However, along with cheapness, the screed has a significant drawback - the cold pulls from it, and it is almost impossible to walk barefoot on such a floor.

This problem is solved quite simply - a heater is laid under the screed layer. More recently, materials such as expanded clay or granular slag were used for floor insulation, and in the modern world, as a rule, foam is used.

Styrofoam for floor insulation in a private house photo

A modern warm screed is a so-called floating floor, which in its structure resembles a puff cake in its structure, the lower layer of which is a heater, and the upper one is a well-reinforced screed.

The technology for making a warm screed is quite simple and looks like this:

• Firstly, at the initial stage of deciding how to insulate the floor screed, you should take care of high-quality waterproofing, since moisture penetrating from the ground can do a lot of trouble, one of which is fungus and mold. As a floor waterproofing under the screed, you can use a dense plastic film, or better a special waterproof barrier, which is laid with bituminous mastic.
• Secondly, it is a compensation seam. It is necessary so that the screed lying on the foam does not crack during temperature deformations. It is made simply - around the entire perimeter of the room, along the walls to a height of up to 15 cm from the existing base, a soft and porous material made of foamed vinyl is glued - it provides a deformation seam.
• Thirdly, this is the insulation itself (polystyrene) - it is laid tightly to each other. And if cracks appear, then these joints are blown with mounting foam. If the solution penetrates between the foam sheets, then the so-called cold bridges will appear, which will reduce the effectiveness of floor insulation.

How to insulate the floors in the house with your own hands photo

• Fourthly, this is reinforcement - not a single screed without reinforcement will lie long enough on a material such as foam. After a couple of months, cracks will appear, and after a year it will simply crumble. You can't do without reinforcement or a special metal mesh.
• Fifthly, this is the screed itself, or rather its thickness, which should not be less than 50mm. In addition, its composition also plays a very important role in the process of creating a warm screed - in this regard, it is better to make the solution stronger, not 1:4, as it should be, but 1:3. And yet, in order to avoid cracking the solution from excess cement, it is better to add a plasticizer to it.

This is how the process of making a warm screed looks from the outside. This method of floor insulation, of course, is interesting, but you can’t expect much efficiency from it - let’s just say, you don’t really walk on it with bare feet. In this regard, it is additionally better to resort to the use of an electric or water floor heating system.

What materials are used for floor insulation

Floor heating systems in a private house

In principle, there are several floor heating systems that allow you to answer the question of how to insulate the floors in a house - electric, infrared and water heated floors. As a rule, in private houses there is an individual heating system, so we can not talk about the advisability of using electric heaters. The most optimal in private homes will be a water heated floor, which is not easy to do with your own hands. To be honest, it is better to entrust the implementation of this technology to professionals.

For general development, I will tell you the principle of their work and device. The heat carrier in this floor heating system is a liquid that circulates in the heating system. With the help of a special collector (it is also called a distribution comb), hot water is supplied to pipes hidden under the screed. As a result, this piping system can be conditionally called a separate heating device, somewhat similar to a convector.

Water heated floor in a private house photo

If we consider the installation of this warm floor, then it begins from the moment the floor is covered with foam. A foil heat-reflecting screen is laid over the latter, on which a reinforcing mesh is laid. The floor heating pipe is laid on top of the mesh or fittings with loops in increments of 10–15 cm. The process of creating a water-heated floor is completed by pouring the screed, for which a reinforced solution with the addition of fiber is used.

The efficiency of this method is quite high. If you wonder what is the best way to insulate the floor, then you can’t imagine a more effective way. He has one drawback - if the house has wooden floors, then it will be unusable. If, nevertheless, you opt for this method of floor insulation, then the wooden flooring will have to be dismantled.

How to make a warm floor in a private house

How to insulate wood floors in your home

Wood itself is a warm material, and there is practically no need to insulate such a floor. Warming can only be done to enhance its effectiveness. The answer to the question of how to insulate a wooden floor has the other side of the coin - by laying insulation under the wooden flooring, you deprive the underground of normal ventilation, which undoubtedly leads to the speedy destruction of wood. For this reason, the process of waterproofing is of great importance - you cannot do without it, and the more carefully you do it, the longer your wooden floor will last.

How to insulate a wooden floor with your own hands photo

In general, in order to insulate the floor in a wooden house, it will not take much - all that is needed for this is to lay mineral insulation between the lags at the stage of constructing a wooden flooring. Styrofoam should not be laid, as it is vapor-tight and deprives the underground of ventilation. By the way, in this situation it is worth considering the organization of high-quality ventilation of the underground. When insulating, you can organize it in only one way - do not fill the space under the flooring completely. It is better to leave a simple space of up to 5 cm between the board and the insulation.

In principle, floor insulation in a private house is not such a problem. If from the very beginning construction is carried out in compliance with all norms and rules, then this issue should not be raised at all. Competent builders foresee everything in advance, and nothing has to be redone after them.

stroisovety.org

Underfloor heating at home: what you need to know

Heating "warm floor" - a system that provides comfortable conditions in a residential area. Depending on the design, it is either an addition to the main heat supply or completely replaces it. Distinguish between electric and water models.

Advantages

Heating a house with underfloor heating provides a number of advantages compared to classic batteries:

• The heated air does not go under the ceiling, but is kept in the area of ​​​​the legs, providing residents with complete comfort. This distribution makes it possible to save energy by lowering the overall temperature in the room by several degrees.
• Electric or water floor heating is adjustable. If necessary, it can be reduced to a minimum or disabled. Automated devices are able to work on a timer.
• You can heat the floor covering in a separate room, for example, in a bathroom.

electric floor

Heating the house with electric underfloor heating is practically no alternative if you live in an apartment building. The main disadvantage of this solution is a significant increase in electricity costs. There is also much debate about the effect of constant radiation on the body. Electric underfloor heating from the heating system can be:

In the first option, special wires are used, laying them under the coating. The temperature is set using a thermostat. The film heating system "warm floor" is based on a carbon film, which, when connected to the network, generates infrared rays. The main elements of the rod structures are carbon rods. This is a relative novelty in the domestic market, which is quite expensive.

water floor

If you are interested in how to make underfloor heating in a house from heating, find out if such actions are allowed. This is prohibited in old apartment buildings. In modern new buildings, the possibility of connection is often present, but it should still be clarified. If you plan to use a water heated floor instead of heating, we recommend purchasing a system with an autonomous boiler. This will save you from unnecessary approvals. In addition, the climate in your apartment or house will not be affected by seasonal shutdowns. The boiler can run on gas, diesel, electricity.

The heating of the house with underfloor heating occurs due to the circulation of water through pipes. The system is controlled by a collector, through which the pressure and volume of the liquid are regulated, and also mixed, providing the desired temperature. The pump is responsible for moving the coolant. People often ask how to make a warm floor with water heating without a collector. This option is allowed, but be prepared for the fact that the flooring will have to be changed much earlier than the due date. The water coming directly from the boiler is about two to three times hotter than after mixing. The pipes that make up the water-heated floor from heating will cope with this, but the surface will suffer from overheating.

Mounting

The most difficult thing in this process is to correctly draw up a wiring diagram. The classic installation of underfloor heating from a heating system does not allow the use of one circuit to heat several rooms, although, in principle, this is possible. But not if you lay pipes on a balcony or loggia. Even if you are interested in how to make a warm floor from heating with your own hands, we still recommend using the help of professionals when drawing up a diagram. Any mistake in the calculations may result in the need to redo everything.

In such systems, polyethylene or metal-plastic pipes are usually used. These are high-strength materials that bend well without losing throughput. The installation of underfloor heating from heating begins with the preparation of the base and the laying of waterproofing (if required by the design). Pipes can be placed either in the form of a serpentine or in a spiral that tapers away from the walls. These schemes are often combined. After the water-heated floor is connected to the heating with your own hands, it is necessary to test it under pressure. If, according to the results of the check, no leaks and deformations are found, proceed to pouring the screed.

When installing underfloor heating as the main heating in a private house, consider the type of flooring. If you plan to lay tiles, linoleum or laminate, the screed should be no thicker than 3-5 cm. In this case, the pipes should be located as close to each other as possible. Otherwise, there is a possibility that heating on a warm water floor will be supplied unevenly. Cold patches may form. The screed is made from a conventional cement-sand mortar or from a ready-made mixture.

A lot of detailed step-by-step guides have been written about how to properly make a warm floor from heating. We have outlined the process only in general terms. If you purchased a ready-made system, just follow the manufacturer's instructions. Assembly from individual elements is a rather complicated process. Before making a warm floor from heating, you should carefully calculate everything in order to purchase equipment that will fit exactly into the design.

Much depends on the purpose for which the system is installed. If you plan to use underfloor heating as the main heating in a private house, we recommend choosing only water models. Heating with electricity will cost much more. We have already talked about apartment buildings. Cable and film systems are often installed here. In the end, nothing prevents you from consulting with specialists and making elementary calculations in order to understand which option is more profitable for you.

In rooms heated using underfloor heating technology, the feeling is much more comfortable than with a traditional radiator system. When the floor is heated, the temperature is distributed in an optimal way: it is warmest for the feet, and at head level it is already cooler. There are two ways of heating: water and electric. The water one is more expensive to install, but cheaper to operate, so that's what they do more often. You can slightly reduce installation costs if you make a water-heated floor with your own hands. The technology is not the easiest, but it does not require encyclopedic knowledge.

Device and principle of operation

For water heating of a warm floor, a system of pipes is used through which the coolant circulates. Most often, pipes are poured into a screed, but there are dry installation systems - wooden or polystyrene. In any case, there is a large number of small cross-section pipes laid under the floor covering.

Where can you mount

Due to the large number of pipes, water heating is done mainly in private homes. The fact is that the heating system of high-rise buildings of early construction is not designed for this method of heating. It is possible to make a warm floor from heating, but there is a high probability that either it will be too cold for you, or for neighbors from above or below - depending on the type of power supply to the system. Sometimes the entire riser becomes cold: the hydraulic resistance of the water floor is several times higher than that of the radiator heating system and it can clog the movement of the coolant. For this reason, it is very difficult to obtain permission from the management company to install a warm floor (installation without permission is an administrative offense).

The good news is that two systems have begun to be made in new buildings: one for radiator heating, the second for underfloor heating. In such houses, permission is not required: an appropriate system was developed taking into account the higher hydraulic resistance.

Organization principles

To understand what you need in order to make a water heated floor with your own hands, you need to understand what the system consists of and how it works.

Heat carrier temperature control

In order to feel comfortable on the floor, the temperature of the coolant should not exceed 40-45°C. Then the floor warms up to comfortable values ​​- about 28 ° C. Most heating equipment cannot produce such a temperature: at least 60-65 ° C. The exception is condensing gas boilers. They show maximum efficiency at low temperatures. From their outlet, the heated coolant can be supplied directly to the pipes of the warm floor.

When using a boiler of any other type, a mixing unit is required. In it, the cooled coolant from the return pipeline is added to the hot water from the boiler. You can see the composition of this bond on the diagram for connecting a warm floor to a boiler.

The principle of operation is the following. The heated coolant comes from the boiler. It enters the thermostatic valve, which, when the threshold temperature is exceeded, opens the water admixture from the return pipeline. In the photo there is a jumper in front of the circulation pump. A two-way or three-way valve is installed in it. Open it and mix in the cooled coolant.

The mixed flow through the circulation pump enters the thermostat, which controls the operation of the thermostatic valve. When the set temperature is reached, the flow from the return is stopped, when it is exceeded, it opens again. This is how the temperature of the coolant of the water heated floor is adjusted.

Contour distribution

Next, the coolant enters the distribution comb. If a water-heated floor is made in one small room (a bathroom, for example), in which only one pipe loop is laid, this node may not exist. If there are several loops, then it is necessary to somehow distribute the coolant between them, and then somehow collect it and send it to the return pipeline. This task is performed by a distribution comb or, as they are also called, a floor heating collector. In fact, these are two pipes - on the supply and return lines, to which the inputs and outputs of all underfloor heating circuits are connected. This is the easiest option.

If a warm floor is made in several rooms, then it is better to install a collector with the ability to adjust the temperature. Firstly, different rooms require different temperatures: someone prefers +18°C in the bedroom, someone needs +25°C. Secondly, most often, the contours have different lengths, and different amounts of heat can be transferred. Thirdly, there are "internal" rooms - which have one wall facing the street, and there are corner ones - with two or even three outer walls. Naturally, the amount of heat in them should be different. This is provided by combs with thermostats. The equipment is not cheap, the circuit is more complicated, but such an installation allows you to maintain the desired temperature in the room.

There are different thermostats. Some control the temperature of the air in the room, the second - the temperature of the floor. You choose the type. Regardless of this, they control the servomotors mounted on the feed comb. Servo motors, depending on the command, increase or decrease the flow area, adjusting the intensity of the coolant flow.

Theoretically (and practically it happens), situations may arise when the supply to all circuits is blocked. In this case, the circulation will stop, the boiler may boil and fail. To prevent this from happening, be sure to make a bypass through which part of the coolant passes. With this construction of the system, the boiler is safe.

You can see one of the options for the system in the video.

Laying a warm water floor

One of the key components of the system is pipes and their fixation system. There are two technologies:

Both systems are not ideal, but laying pipes in a screed is cheaper. Although it has a lot of disadvantages, it is because of its lower cost that it is more popular.

Which system to choose

In terms of cost, dry systems are more expensive: their components (if you take ready-made, factory ones) cost more. But they weigh much less and are put into operation faster. There are several reasons why you should use them.

First: the heavy weight of the screed. Not all foundations and ceilings of houses are able to withstand the load created by a water-heated floor in a concrete screed. Above the surface of the pipes there must be a concrete layer of at least 3 cm. If we take into account that the outer diameter of the pipe is also about 3 cm, then the total thickness of the screed is 6 cm. The weight is more than significant. And on top there is often a tile on a layer of glue. Well, if the foundation is designed with a margin, it will withstand, and if not, problems will begin. If there is a suspicion that the ceiling or foundation will not withstand the load, it is better to make a wooden or polystyrene system.

Second: low maintainability of the system in the screed. Although it is recommended to lay only solid coils of pipes without joints when laying underfloor heating contours, periodically the pipes are damaged. Either during the repair they hit with a drill, or burst due to marriage. The place of damage can be determined by a wet spot, but it is difficult to repair: you have to break the screed. In this case, adjacent loops can be damaged, due to which the damage zone becomes larger. Even if you managed to do it carefully, you have to make two seams, and they are the potential sites for the next damage.

Third: the commissioning of a warm floor in a screed is possible only after the concrete has gained 100% strength. This takes at least 28 days. Before this period, it is impossible to turn on the warm floor.

Fourth: you have a wooden floor. By itself, a tie on a wooden floor is not the best idea, but also a screed with an elevated temperature. The wood will quickly collapse, the whole system will collapse.

The reasons are serious. Therefore, in some cases, it is more expedient to use dry technologies. Moreover, a do-it-yourself wooden water-heated floor is not so expensive. The most expensive component is metal plates, but they can also be made from thin sheet metal and, better, aluminum. It is important to be able to bend, forming grooves for pipes.

A variant of a polystyrene underfloor heating system without a screed is shown in the video.

Materials for a warm water floor

Most often they make a water-heated floor in a screed. Its structure and necessary materials will be discussed. The scheme of a warm water floor is presented in the photo below.

All work begins with leveling the base: without insulation, heating costs will be too high, and insulation can only be laid on a flat surface. Therefore, the first step is to prepare the base - make a rough screed. Next, we describe step by step the procedure for work and the materials used in the process:

• A damper tape is also rolled around the perimeter of the room. This is a strip of heat-insulating material, no more than 1 cm thick. It prevents heat loss for wall heating. Its second task is to compensate for the thermal expansion that occurs when materials are heated. The tape can be special, and you can also lay thin foam cut into strips (no more than 1 cm thick) or other insulation of the same thickness.
• A layer of heat-insulating materials is laid on the rough screed. For underfloor heating, the best choice is polystyrene foam. The best is extruded. Its density must be at least 35kg/m 2 . It is dense enough to support the weight of the screed and operating loads, has excellent performance and a long service life. Its disadvantage is that it is expensive. Other, cheaper materials (polystyrene, mineral wool, expanded clay) have a lot of disadvantages. If possible, use polystyrene foam. The thickness of the thermal insulation depends on many parameters - on the region, the characteristics of the foundation material and insulation, the method of organizing the subfloor. Therefore, it must be calculated for each case.

• Further, a reinforcing mesh is often laid in increments of 5 cm. Pipes are also tied to it - with wire or plastic clamps. If expanded polystyrene was used, you can do without reinforcement - you can fasten it with special plastic brackets that are driven into the material. For other heaters, a reinforcing mesh is required.
• Beacons are installed on top, after which the screed is poured. Its thickness is less than 3 cm above the level of the pipes.
• Next, a clean floor covering is laid. Any suitable for use in an underfloor heating system.

These are all the main layers that need to be laid when you make a do-it-yourself water-heated floor.

Underfloor heating pipes and laying schemes

The main element of the system is pipes. Most often, polymeric ones are used - made of cross-linked polyethylene or metal-plastic. They bend well and have a long service life. Their only obvious drawback is not too high thermal conductivity. This minus is not present in the recently appeared corrugated stainless steel pipes. They bend better, cost no more, but due to their low popularity, they are not often used yet.

The diameter of pipes for underfloor heating depends on the material, but usually it is 16-20 mm. They fit in several schemes. The most common are spiral and snake, there are several modifications that take into account some features of the premises.

Laying with a snake is the simplest, but passing through the pipes the coolant gradually cools down and by the end of the circuit it is already much colder than it was at the beginning. Therefore, the zone where the coolant enters will be the warmest. This feature is used - laying starts from the coldest zone - along the outer walls or under the window.

This drawback is almost devoid of a double snake and a spiral, but they are more difficult to lay - you need to draw a diagram on paper so as not to get confused when laying.

Screed

You can use a conventional cement-sand mortar based on Portland cement to fill a water-heated floor. The brand of Portland cement should be high - M-400, and preferably M-500. - not lower than M-350.

But ordinary “wet” screeds gain their design strength for a very long time: at least 28 days. All this time it is impossible to turn on the warm floor: cracks will appear that can even break the pipes. Therefore, so-called semi-dry screeds are increasingly being used - with additives that increase the plasticity of the solution, significantly reducing the amount of water and the time for "aging". You can add them yourself or look for dry mixes with the appropriate properties. They cost more, but there is less trouble with them: according to the instructions, add the required amount of water and mix.

It is realistic to make a water heated floor with your own hands, but it will take a decent amount of time and a lot of money.

Water or hydraulic floors are the most common type of insulated floors. Firstly, the water floor is lower in price during installation and subsequent operation. Secondly, you can do it yourself, without resorting to the help of professional stackers, which means reducing costs. Thirdly, the water floor is considered safer for human health, compared, for example, with electric, infrared, where electromagnetic radiation is an inevitable consequence.

The water floor has two types of installation.

1. First - concrete system, at which the concrete screed becomes the base, it accumulates heat. Such a system is good in individual low-rise buildings with strong ceilings.
2. Second - decking system, which is used in wooden "light" houses, attics, where a concrete screed cannot be used, since the ceilings cannot support its weight. The flooring system is also used in multi-storey buildings, especially in “Khrushchev”, where the floors are made of slabs with a limited load.

The floor becomes a source of heat in the room, providing horizontal uniform heating in any part of the room. Heat travels vertically, creating a natural "feet warm, head cold" effect, unlike radiator heating where heat travels up and then back down.

Such a heating system works especially well where there are high ceilings. The air does not dry out, the apartment warms up evenly. Aesthetically, hydraulic floors also benefit, since there is no need for wall-mounted radiators, and space is freed up. In addition, a water heated floor is economically beneficial in operation, its energy consumption is lower, which means that the cost of maintaining the system is reduced.

Disadvantages of hydraulic floor

When choosing a water floor, heat losses should be taken into account, which should not exceed 100 W / m2. To reduce them, you should take thermal insulation seriously. If heat losses are high, it is better to combine water floors with wall-mounted radiators.

Laying underfloor heating in toilets and bathrooms has its own challenges. Often, the water heating pipe is connected to the heated towel rail pipe, which leads to increased temperature, the floor overheats unnecessarily.

Difficulties arise where the ceiling is low, since the screed above the pipes must be significant in thickness, you have to raise the floor to a height of approximately 10 cm. And if the bathroom is located above a cold basement, the rise reaches 15 cm. load-bearing structures, as well as for the reinstallation of doors.

What is required for installation?

To install a hydraulic underfloor heating you will need:

• boiler for water heating;
• pump for pumping water (often built into the boiler, but sometimes you need to purchase additionally);
• pipes that are heating elements (it is better to choose metal-plastic ones, with an approximately twenty-millimeter diameter);
• distribution pipes and valves to bleed air from the heating system;
• fittings for connecting pipes and all hydraulic mechanisms;
• a collector or several collectors (in a wall-mounted box, with supply and return pipelines and a control mechanism);
• shut-off valves that connect pipelines to the manifold;
• heat-insulating and waterproofing materials, reinforcing mesh, special damper tape;
• additionally - self-leveling building mixtures or building materials replacing them and means for leveling the subfloor.

Floor preparation and leveling

Laying a water floor heating system requires careful preparation of the base. To begin with, you will have to completely, to the base, dismantle the old floor screed and level the floor horizontally. The surface after dismantling the screed must be thoroughly cleaned of debris, particles of the old screed, dust, dirt, deposits.

The cleaned base of the floor must be covered with a heat-insulating, and then a waterproofing layer. After the necessary manipulations, a damper tape must be fixed around the entire perimeter, then laid according to the lines passing between the pipe contours.

Warming is necessary so that there is no heat sink down. Foamed polyethylene (penofol) covered with foil is best suited. If there is a heated room one floor below, any insulation will do, the most reliable is polystyrene foam in sheets. Its thickness is approximately 20-50 mm. If you insulate the floor on the ground floor, which is located on the ground or above a cold basement, you will have to resort to an expanded clay mound, and choose thicker polystyrene sheets, approximately 50 - 100 mm.

Modern building materials offer special heaters with special channels for pipes. They are more expensive, but more reliable and less troublesome to install. When the insulation is laid on the floor, a reinforcing mesh must be laid on top. Thus, it will be possible to fix a new, still raw, layer of screed covering the entire pipe system.

In addition, it is convenient to attach the hydraulic floor pipe to the grid using plastic ties. This method is more convenient than the design of many mounting strips, clips.

Collector - its selection and installation

Before proceeding with laying, it is necessary to install a collector. It is set after contour calculations.

The selection of a collector (or several collectors) is made after the calculation of the number of circuits. When choosing a collector, you need to decide in advance how many leads you need to connect circuits to it. In addition, the apparatus must have a drain for draining waste water and an air vent valve.

The purpose of the collector is to distribute hot water flows, as well as adjust, turn on and off the heating hydraulic system.

Choosing a collector, you should not save. The simplest, cheapest, collector has only shut-off valves, and this makes the operation of underfloor heating not convenient. Manifolds with built-in control valves, of course, are an order of magnitude more expensive. But by regulating the flow of water in the premises, in each hydraulic loop, as well as the temperature of a particular room, you can save much more.

If we are talking about an industrial building, a large office, or a similar type of premises, then the ideal option would be a collector with pre-mixers, as well as with special servo drives. What are mixers for? They will allow you to regulate the temperature of the water supplied to the pipes, while mixing hot water with the already cooled.

Of course, collectors of this technical level will “eat up” the bulk of the funds that will have to be spent on installing a water floor. Of course, in an ordinary apartment or a private house, where the loads are constant and one operating mode of the system is enough, you can get by with simple-type collectors.

The collector is placed in a special box, it is mounted on the wall. Under the box should be empty, here it will be necessary to bring the pipes of the circuits from all rooms. The cabinet, for interior aesthetic reasons, can be painlessly “drowned” in a wall or in a niche, its width is 12 cm.

An important rule: the pipes must be below the collector box. This is done for free air venting.

When assembling the entire system together, it is important to follow the instructions that accompany the manifold. And only after the box with the collector is installed, you can start laying pipes.

How to correctly calculate and distribute water floor pipes?

The first step is to calculate the exact route for laying pipes. It is best to order an estimate for laying a water floor to a specialist estimator or do it using specialized computer calculation programs. It is difficult to calculate manually, and an error in the calculations will be expensive and will cost a pretty penny when reworked.

The consequences of incorrect calculations, for example, can be undesirable effects: insufficiently active circulation of water inside the pipes, heat leakage in certain areas of the floor, uneven heating of the room, alternation of cold and hot areas of the floor (the so-called "thermal zebra").

The most important rule when calculating: if a warm floor is installed in several rooms, then the calculation of the total length of the pipe is made separately for each.

What parameters must be taken into account in the calculations?

1. Room area.
2. The material of which walls and ceilings are composed.
3. The presence of thermal insulation, its quality.
4. Heating boiler power.
5. The diameter of the pipes and the material from which they are made.

Based on these parameters, the length of the pipe and the distance between its segments during laying (“pitch”) can be calculated so that the heat transfer is optimal. The step is usually 10-30 cm. The higher the heat loss in the room, the narrower the step should be (10-15 cm). If the room does not lose heat, there are no cold walls, huge windows, balconies, then the step, respectively, can be made wider - 30 cm.

Pipe distribution

When distributing pipes, it is necessary to lay a route for laying. Passing through the pipes, the water heated in the boiler cools down, and this circumstance should be taken into account when determining the route for laying the pipe contours. You should remember a few rules, the violation of which can later affect the quality of heating and the inconvenience of operating the entire heating system. What are these rules?

Heating boiler and pump

The main thing to consider when choosing a water-heating boiler for a warm hydrofloor is power. It must correspond to the sum of the capacities of all sectors of the floor, plus - there must also be a power reserve of 20% (at least 15%, but not less).

To circulate water, you need a pump. Modern boilers are designed so that the pump is included with the boiler, built into the boiler. One pump is enough for 100-120 sq. m. If the area is larger, you will need an additional one (one or more). Additional pumps require separate manifold cabinets.

The boiler has an inlet/outlet for water. Shut-off valves are installed at the inlet/outlet. They are necessary to turn off the boiler in case of minor breakdowns or stop the boiler for preventive purposes, so as not to completely drain the water from the entire system.

If several collector cabinets are provided, you will need a splitter to the central supply so that the water is distributed evenly through the hydraulic system, and narrowing adapters.

Pipe installation and screed

For laying a water floor, you will need fixing profiles with nests that are convenient for keeping a step, which will allow you to fix and fix the pipes. The fastening profiles are screwed to the subfloor using dowels and corresponding screws.

The pipes must then be pressed against the reinforcing mesh and secured with a plastic tie. Do not tightly tighten and pinch the soft pipe, the loop should be more or less free. Pipes to be laid must be bent in the necessary places carefully, carefully, but must not be pinched. This is especially true for polyethylene pipes that are vulnerable to deformation processes.

If a white spot or a stripe appears during pinching, the material cannot be used, it is deformed, during operation a crease or stretching may form. A damaged pipe goes into marriage, it cannot be laid in a water heating system in order to avoid a breakthrough and leakage.

After the floors are laid, the ends of the pipes are brought to the collector. If necessary, pipes are laid through walls (only non-bearing ones). Then a heat-insulating layer (polyethylene foam) is wound around the pipe. Convenient for connecting pipes is the so-called eurocone system, and also, as an option, a compression fitting.

So, after installing the system, it is necessary to check its operation under high pressure. The test takes place when water is supplied (pressure 6 bar), the test period is 24 hours. The system is tested ideally with cold water and heated water. Both during cold and hot pressure testing, care must be taken to ensure that all elements of the system are in working condition, function properly, and that the pressure does not drop by more than 1.5 barv.

After making sure that there are no failures, leaks, pipe expansions in the system, you can complete the process of laying a water-heated floor by pouring a screed over the pipes.

It should be noted that with a screed designed for tiles over a warm floor, the thickness of the fill should be in the range of 3 - 5 cm. Under a laminate or similar coating, the screed is made thinner.

Filling should be done with the water heating system running, at pressure. Finally, after pouring the screed, you need to be patient and wait at least 28-30 days. And only after the expiration of this period, you can continue the repair - do the flooring.