How to make a warm floor in the bath from the stove with your own hands?

From time immemorial, the Russian bathhouse was a favorite place for carrying out water procedures. The only drawback of the bath houses was considered cool floors, which were made of wood and even earthen. As is known from the law of physics, warm air from a stone stove immediately rises, heating the room, but the floors remain cold. It is such a temperature difference that leads to an uncomfortable state of a person while taking bath procedures.

Walking on the cold floor causes not only unpleasant sensations, but can also lead to colds, especially in children. Therefore, an attentive owner thinks about how to make a warm floor in the bath from the stove with his own hands. Fortunately, modern industry offers many materials that can facilitate such construction.

Features of underfloor heating

Since the bathhouse is considered to be a room with high humidity and temperature, the materials used to make the underfloor heating in the bathhouse from the stove should effectively resist decay and the harmful effects of water.

For the manufacture of flooring, various types of tiles, as well as natural stone or porcelain stoneware, are best suited. These materials have high heat dissipation and are completely unaffected by high humidity. Laying the underfloor heating in the bathhouse from the stove is carried out on tile glue having high waterproofing properties.

Many owners still dream of a warm floor covering made of natural wood, which creates a pleasant feeling for the legs, but requires great effort in its operation and installation. Under the influence of moisture, the wood gets wet and expands, and a microclimate is created at the junction points, which contributes to the development of mold. Therefore, the manufacture of a warm floor in a bath from a simple stove is recommended to be made from coniferous trees, as they contain a large number of oils that increase the resistance of the material to water, which prevents the wood from decaying.

But when looking for the best coating option, it is better to opt for ceramic floor tiles. Such a material has a high degree of thermal conductivity and is several times superior to wood in efficiency. Stone floors, which transmit heat no worse than tiles, also look great. That's just the process of cleaning the premises will present a certain complexity, but it depends on the choice of stone.

Benefits of using heating

The main advantage, maintaining the health of people taking bath procedures, has already been mentioned. To date, there are a number of positive reviews about the warm field in the bathhouse from the stove:

• The warm floor system is considered absolutely harmless to human health and environmentally friendly.
• Unlike electric underfloor heating, the underfloor heating in the bathhouse completely boasts the absence of electromagnetic radiation, which adversely affects the well-being of a person.
• The use of heating from the stove helps to create a comfortable microclimate in the bathhouse.
• An important role is played by the low cost of fuel for heating and its low consumption.

Of course, skeptics may say that it is difficult to mount such a design. But these difficulties will more than pay off in further operation.

Disadvantages of a floor heating system

However, along with many positive qualities, there are also some disadvantages of using a water heated floor in the sauna from the stove:

1. In the cold season, the heating circuit can freeze, which can lead to pipe damage. Therefore, it is necessary to drain the coolant or heat it constantly, which is economically disadvantageous. You can also use antifreeze instead of water.
2. Reducing the efficiency of the furnace, due to the need to spend its thermal energy on heating the storage tank. This drawback applies to both the washroom and the steam room.
3. An increase in the heating time in several rooms of the bathhouse at once.
4. The inability to install leaking floors, as wet insulation can lead to a decrease in the efficiency of the entire heating system.

Floor installation methods

Before starting construction work on the device of the underfloor heating in the bath from the stove with your own hands, you need to decide on the version of its manufacture.

Using modern materials, you can lay a heated coating in the following ways:

• The installation of the heating system in the wooden floors of the bathhouse will require the builder to make an accurate calculation of the places where the logs are cut for laying heating pipes. The advantage of a wooden coating is the possibility of repair work.

• The best option for a heated floor in the bathhouse from the stove is the manufacture of concrete screed, which has a high degree of moisture resistance and low cost of the materials used. It should only be noted that the operation of such a coating is possible after a certain period of time necessary for the screed to completely dry. It will also be quite difficult to determine where the pipeline leaks in case of damage.
• The use of special polystyrene sheets, which have a foil reflective layer and the necessary recesses for reliable fastening of the pipe system, has become possible with the development of the construction industry. It is worth noting that such a coating still needs to be poured with a concrete screed.

The principle of heating the floor from the stove

To make a warm floor in the bath from the stove, it is necessary to make a metal shirt that looks like a skeleton from a longitudinal pipe with several bends. Such bends are connected at the bottom by tubes, locking into the heating system. The shirt is installed above the firebox, inside the furnace.

If the underfloor heating system in the bath from the stove without a pump, the water circulation occurs due to the temperature difference of the heated medium. It is very difficult to create conditions for the natural movement of water, it is necessary that the furnace and the buffer tank, which is installed outside the heat source, be located at least in one plane. Therefore, the installation of a heated floor in a bathhouse from a forced-convection stove is a more common way to create water circulation.

Buffer capacity assignment

The buffer tank is a mandatory part of the heating system, as it eliminates the boiling of water in the jacket. It is installed immediately after the coil in the coolant system. Natural circulation of water is possible only if the entire boiler room system is located below the floor level in the bathhouse. This arrangement is economically disadvantageous, so forced water movement with the help of a circulation pump is more often used.

It is considered very practical to create a warm floor in the bathhouse from the Thermofor stove, since the design of this device has a built-in metal jacket. The technological process of heating, based on the use of this furnace, consists in the correct connection of the boiler to the heating system.

Ground preparation for underfloor heating

Before starting laying pipes for heating, it is necessary to perform basic preparatory work. These technological operations include preparing the basement of the warm floor, as well as organizing the discharge of water from the premises of the bathhouse.

If the heated floor will be mounted on open ground, it is first necessary to level the surface, with the creation of a slope to remove water. Then you need to do the following:

1. Remove excess soil between the walls of the foundation of the building. Lay the sewer pipe and then tamp the surface.
2. Backfill with a mixture of sand and gravel up to 15 cm high. Tamp this pillow.
3. Then, it is desirable to insulate the surface with a layer of fine expanded clay 15-20 cm thick.

The next step is to warm the base to avoid heat loss during floor heating.

Warming of a wooden floor

Thermal insulation of a wooden surface is carried out in the following sequence:

• supporting beams are installed on the bottom, to which the bars are fastened, which serve as the basis for the vapor barrier;

• then a rough floor is created from unedged boards;
• insulation is laid between the beams;
• a layer of waterproofing must be laid on top of the insulation material;
• the next step will be the installation of pipes for heating;
• this whole structure is covered with a basic floor covering.

Concrete floor insulation process

Here the task looks much more complicated than with a wooden coating. All insulation operations are as follows:

• the foundation for the floor, after making the foundation, is made of concrete screed or floor slab;
• then a waterproofing layer of roofing material is laid on this base;
• on top of this layer is the installation of a foam polystyrene insulation;
• a special mesh for reinforcement is laid on the insulation and this layer is poured with cement mortar.

Experienced builders advise to fill the surface with bituminous mastic before laying the roofing material to prevent moisture penetration.

Laying schemes for heating pipes

Thermal conductors are laid with a snake or snail. In rooms with a large area, the method of arranging the pipes with a snail will be most effective, since with this method there is no temperature loss. The snake laying option is mainly used in rooms up to 10 m ² .

To compensate for heat loss, use a reduction in pitch. So, if the standard step is 30 cm, then the second half of the room passes with a step of 20 cm, and the last quarter - 15 cm. This principle will help to maintain the necessary temperature of the coolant.

The method of laying with a snail has the advantage that it is not necessary to bend the tube 180 °, as when laying with a snake, but it is enough 90 ° or even make a circular pattern.

Regardless of which floor heating system was chosen, all operations must be performed strictly according to the technological process. In this case, the main attention should be paid to the safety and comfort requirements of using the bathhouse.