Today, we can say with confidence that conventional heating radiators are gradually losing ground. Many people who have equipped themselves with warm floors and ceilings have become convinced that they are no worse, and often even better than a conventional heating network. There are two types in total - these are electric and water systems. Most experts say that the second option is the best. But because many are interested in the question of how to make a warm water floor with your own hands?
What the system consists of
In order to do something with your own hands, you must clearly understand how a particular device works. The principle of functioning of the warm floor is considered quite simple. Under the flooring are pipes connected in a single network. A stream of hot water circulates through them. During circulation, heat exchange occurs, as a result of which the floor is heated. The system itself includes several of the following elements:
- a boiler for heating water;
- a pump for pumping water, sometimes it is built into heating elements;
- ball- type valves located at the inlet of the heater;
- pipes for laying under the floor;
- collector and regulation system with floor work tuning;
- fittings for connecting the manifold and the piping system.
In order to successfully build a water heated floor in the house with your hands, without the help of specialists, you need to be able to understand this equipment. There is a description of key details for this.
Description of system elements
The first and most important element is the heating boiler. It must be selected in such a way that its power is enough to heat the entire perimeter of the floor at peak moments of the circuit. Plus, it’s worth adding that he should have some more power left. In other words, it is necessary to choose a heating unit with a small margin of power. If this statement is expressed in numbers, then it is necessary to calculate the warm water floors with your own hands, and add about 15-20% to the results obtained.
Another important element is the circulation pump that pumps water through the pipes. Most often, this item comes complete with a boiler. An additional pump is required only if the area of the room is more than 120-150 sq. m. It is also worth adding that a shut-off valve is installed at the outlet of the pipe system and at the inlet of the boiler. It is needed in order to avoid draining the water from the system if it is necessary to repair the boiler.
The next important element of the system is the collector. This appliance is responsible for the distribution of water in each circuit, as well as for setting and adjusting underfloor heating. There are several options for collectors for arranging a warm water floor in a private house. With your own hands to make such a device, of course, will not work, you can only get it. The simplest models have only shut-off valves. They are the cheapest, but they don’t have the ability to even set the minimum distribution of water. More expensive collectors are equipped with control valves, with which, it is already possible to adjust the distribution of the working substance.
The last element that is used when arranging a warm water shelf from the boiler with your own hands is pipes. They can be made of metal-plastic, cross-linked polyethylene or polypropylene. If the latter option is used, it is best to choose an option having fiberglass reinforcing.
Work before installation
Before proceeding with the analysis of step-by-step instructions on a warm water floor with your own hands, you need to consider several steps that must be completed before starting work.
The first is drafting. It is quite difficult to carry out all the calculations yourself, and any mistake will be practically fatal. At this stage, it is necessary to calculate such parameters as the length of the pipeline, the installation step of the pipes, the power of the heating circuit. In addition, if there are several circuits, then the calculation will have to be done for each separately. Also here you need to take into account many small nuances. For a more convenient calculation, a variety of programs are used to simplify these works. However, as mentioned earlier, any flaw will lead to malfunction or failure of the entire system. It is best to independently carry out the installation of a warm water floor with your hands, the calculation of which was performed by professionals.
Another very important step is the purchase of equipment. It is best to purchase an initially more expensive, but high-quality system than to constantly give money to repair the system.
Another very important step that should be considered at the stage of designing a project is to arrange the contours so that the site does not occupy more than 40 square meters. m. Otherwise, you may encounter the problem of cracking the screed.
It is very important to prepare the foundation for laying your own warm water floor heating. It should be completely dry and almost perfectly flat. Differences of more than 5 mm are not allowed.
The last stage of the preparatory work is the laying of the insulating material on the base. The coating thickness can be from 3 to 15 cm, depending on what kind of temperature you need to achieve when heating. You can use both conventional heat-insulating materials and special mats for the water floor. Their advantage is that they have special "bosses" - pipe mounts, which is very convenient.
Installation option
Before proceeding with the arrangement of a water heated floor with your own hands, you must choose the option of its installation. There are three options - it is concrete, wood and polystyrene.
The most common method is the concrete method of filling the floor and laying pipes. If this method was chosen, then the work is carried out according to the following principle. The base will use a cement-sand screed. A layer of waterproofing material is laid on a perfectly flat concrete surface. A layer of thermal insulation is placed on top of it. Next, the pipeline system is installed directly. It is important to note that the pipes must be fixed. In the case of doing all the work on arranging an underfloor heating water floor in a large room, a reinforcing mesh is used for this purpose. If the work is carried out in a small room, then the use of plastic brackets or mounting brackets is permitted. After fixing the pipe network, you can start pouring the final cement-sand base with the addition of plasticizers. The final stage - laying the floor covering (carpet, etc.)
Additional methods
In addition to the concrete method, two more methods are used - it is polystyrene and wooden. However, they are much less common.
If we talk about the polystyrene system, then it differs from the concrete one in that it is much lighter. It uses a base of special polystyrene plates, characterized by a high degree of thermal insulation. The shape of this material is suitable for the most common installation of a water heated floor with your own hands. At the edges, all elements have special locks. Using these elements, you can create a monolithic coating. A small plus is that the laying of pipes on such a coating does not require special additional fasteners. Pipe laying is carried out by pressing and placing the element in the groove. Metal plates are laid on top of the pipeline onto which flooring can already be laid.
The third option is the installation of a wooden water floor heating with your own hands. In this case, you can use trimmed boards, plywood, MDF boards as the basis. To equip the floor, it is necessary to dissolve the slabs of wood into small strips 13-18 cm wide. They are laid on a wooden floor with a small distance between each other under the pipes. A system of thermal distribution plates with grooves for heating pipes is mounted on top. The grooves of these plates must be placed so that they fit into the distance between the wooden strips. The use of fasteners in this embodiment is also not required. From above, all this is covered with a plastic film, on which drywall sheets are laid. It is they that serve as the basis for a fine floor covering. This creates a wooden warm water floor with your own hands.
Tips for preparing the base and insulation layer
There are several tips for installing a warm floor, which should be followed, regardless of which option was chosen. The first such recommendation is to lay the insulation layer on a perfectly even coating.
Following this advice is practically necessary, as it will help to avoid emergency situations in the heating operation. If the old foundation does not fit, then it is best to remove a small layer and make an even concrete screed. After the solution has dried, it is necessary to check the result of the work with a level. It is worth adding here that private houses built long enough are distinguished by the fact that they have a “walking” base. If so, then to equip a warm water floor in a private house, you will also have to use a reinforcing mesh. Its use will help to avoid such troubles as cracks.
After this, you should divide the available area of the room into several sectors. Each sector will have its own heating circuit. Next, you can proceed to thermal insulation. Today, there are many different materials, but the most practical and cheap will be a sheet of expanded polystyrene. In order to avoid any deformation under the influence of elevated temperatures, a damper tape can be used. Laying of this element is carried out in those places where the floor is connected to the wall, as well as at all joints between sectors in the room. Next, the process of laying a warm water floor with your own hands in a private house looks like this:
- the thermal insulation layer is laid and formed;
- put a layer of waterproofing;
- reinforcing mesh is fixed;
- pipes are installed.
Laying pipes for a warm water floor. Instruction manual
The next step is to mount the piping system on the reinforcing mesh. In order to achieve the desired result, you can use special clamps or flexible wire. It is very important to tighten the clamps correctly. It is not necessary to overtighten, as during the movement of the working medium inside the pipe, minimal displacements of the pipeline are possible. A tightened clamp can damage in such a situation. Do-it-yourself installation of a warm water floor should begin from the place where the water supply system and the heating circuit are connected.
The end of the pipe must be attached to the manifold. After that, you can proceed to the phased process of laying the system on the frame. The desired radius of the contour is set using a spring, which is put on the pipe. This will also help to avoid problems such as severe bending of the product and subsequent deformation of the entire system.
On the comb (the start point of the gasket), the end of the contour is connected and a new one begins. In other words, the next circuit will start from the same point. Thus, the installation of a warm water floor with your own hands continues until all the required space is filled. It is very important to note here that the number of circuits will be clearly limited by the number of exits from the collector, and therefore it is necessary to determine in advance how many there will be and select the corresponding part. After all the circuits are connected on the comb, you can embed the system into the water supply channel.
Screed and start operation
After completing the two previous points, we can assume that the installation of pipes is completed. However, some more work needs to be done before starting the heating. Do-it-yourself warm water floor should also be checked. Need to carry out hydraulic tests. You can also verify yourself if you wish. For this, liquid is poured into the system under a pressure of 0.7 MPa. In addition, a visual inspection of the system for damage, deformation. If such are identified, then eliminating all of them is necessary at this stage.
If during the inspection and testing no deviations were detected, then you can proceed with the pouring of the concrete screed. In order to start work, it is necessary to ensure constant pressure in the system in the region of 3 bar, as well as to ensure that the average temperature is constantly maintained inside the room. Filling the screed will provide not only the basis for the final coating, but also an additional layer of thermal insulation. To prepare the concrete mix, it is best to choose cement grade M-300 and sand.
The final touch is laying the floor. Naturally, it is possible to proceed to this stage only when the concrete mortar is completely dry. It is also worth noting that not every type of coating can be successfully operated together with this type of heating. The best choice is laying ceramic tiles. If you want to put, for example, parquet, you need to have the marking "For underfloor heating" on the packaging.
Do-it-yourself warm water floor under the tiles
Here, a rather important step will be the selection of tiles for floor heating, since not any type of product can be used.
It is very important that the tile has anti-slip and wear-resistant characteristics. Although it is worth noting that these two requirements apply to any type of tile. Those tile models that can be used for flooring are marked with a foot icon. Some have a shaded foot - an indication that there is an improved indicator of resistance to wear. The presence of anti-slip qualities is most often required if the tile will be laid on floor heating in the bathroom. Most often, it can be distinguished visually. It has any reliefs, patterns, and more. If the room where you want to lay dry tiles (kitchen, living room, etc.), then you can get by with a normal matte product.
The following two important points are moisture resistance and strength. Both qualities will directly depend on such an indicator as the porosity of the tile. The floor tiles are characterized by low porosity, and hence a low coefficient of water absorption. This means that mechanical strength and water resistance are at a high level. Porcelain products are characterized by good performance. The cost of this product is lower than that of other types of tiles and tiles.
It is worth adding here that at present there are many synthetic analogues of ceramic tiles. However, they must be used to cover an underfloor heating water very carefully, adjusted for high temperature conditions.
Pros and cons of such heating
The advantages of arranging a water heated floor in a private house by the hands of the owners include the following points:
- Profitability. The presence of a warm water field in the house will reduce energy consumption in the house by about 20%. The reason for this was that the coolant temperature is relatively low - from 30 to 50 degrees Celsius.
- High comfort. A warm water floor creates uniform heating of the entire area of the house. At the level of the legs, the temperature is about +22 degrees Celsius and about +18 degrees at the level of the head. This temperature will be enough to walk barefoot on the floor.
- Safety of use. Since the heating system is under the floor. Any possibility of human contact with the coolant is excluded. This means that the risk of burns and other injuries is virtually nonexistent.
- Lifetime. When fulfilling all the requirements and following all the rules, a correctly installed water heating system will last about 40 years.
However, like any other system, this one has its drawbacks. The main disadvantage lies in the fact that the process of installing a warm water floor with your own hands in a private house is a rather long and very laborious task. Basically, all the difficulties arise due to the fact that the design has the shape of a “sandwich”. If you make a mistake with the sequence of laying each layer or during installation work, then, most likely, there will be a leak of the working substance.A significant disadvantage will be that using a water floor heating system as the only heat source will not work. The system capacity is too low for this. It is necessary to supplement the heating system with radiators and other heating devices.