If you want to provide floor heating, first you need to choose a system, such as electric or water. The first variety is relevant for bathrooms, verandas and loggias. Among other things, an electric system for the floor can be installed in the bathhouse. Many home craftsmen use electric floor heating as a complement to the radiator.
Installation methods for electric underfloor heating
Before starting the manipulation, you must choose which installation method will be used. For example, the system can be laid in a screed layer, on the surface of which a finish flooring is laid. A warm floor can also be laid on the surface of concrete, after which tiles can be applied. Film electric floors are laid, as a rule, directly under a decorative floor covering.
Preparing for installation work
Electric floor heating can be equipped only after certain preparatory work has been completed. You will need a regulator, a copper cable for grounding, an RCD protection system , connecting wires, as well as fasteners.
Subfloor preparation
Electric floor heating will only function effectively if the surface can be properly prepared. If the old screed has become unusable, then it will have to be completely dismantled. The surface should then be well cleaned.
At the next stage, waterproofing is laid, which should be brought to the surface of the walls by 10 centimeters. A damper tape is glued around the perimeter of the room . It will compensate for the thermal expansion of floor materials when heated. Ultimately, you will need to trim the excess damper tape and waterproofing.
In order to prevent thermal energy from going down, the base of the floor should be insulated. Depending on what type of surface is used, as well as where the room is located, you should choose the appropriate insulation.
Electric floor heating systems should be used in tandem with foamed polyethylene, which has a reflective foil coating. This is if the heating system will act only as an addition to the radiators. We are talking about penofol, which is used in this case as a substrate.
Expanded polystyrene canvases or extruded polystyrene, the thickness of which varies from 20 to 50 millimeters, are suitable for apartments in which the lower floors are heated in the cold season. If floor heating is equipped on a previously unheated loggia or veranda, then expanded polystyrene or mineral wool should be laid. The thickness of the material should be up to 100 millimeters. A reinforcing mesh is covered over, but you can do without it.
Installation
Before you start laying the wires, you should check the resistance, referring to the passport data. A run-up of 10% is allowed. It is possible to lay the electric system of the warm floor with the fixation of the reinforcing mesh by means of screeds, as well as using special fixing tapes. If you have to work with an infrared system, then it spreads over the insulation.
Some manufacturers mention in the instructions for use that they need to be fixed with tape or special ears that are located on the strip. In those places where the wire passes over the dividing strip of two floor slabs, it should be placed in a corrugated pipe whose length is 15 cm. This will eliminate or reduce the possibility of cable breakage during thermal expansion of the plates. When electric heating of the floor is arranged, the interface between the power wire and the heating cable should be located 10 centimeters from the strobe. This must be done so that the connecting clips are recessed into the screed.
Final work
After all the elements are placed at their final places, it is necessary to check the resistance of the wire. If it coincides with the passport data or slightly differs from that made earlier, then you can start testing the heating elements using the underfloor heating system. If the health check was normal, then the system must be de-energized by removing the regulator before finishing work. Next, you can begin to form a screed.
Floor preparation before laying the water heating system
In this case, it is also recommended to dismantle the old screed until it reaches the base. It is important to ensure the leveling of the subfloor, so that the differences do not exceed 10 millimeters. Next, a waterproofing layer is laid, and around the entire perimeter, as mentioned above, a damper tape is fixed. It is important to insulate the base of the floor.
Pipe distribution
Laying should start from the colder and outer walls of the room. If the entrance to the room is not from the side of the external wall, then the pipe section to the wall should be insulated. In order to ensure a gradual decrease in heating from external walls to internal ones, a technology called a snake should be applied. To ensure uniform heating in rooms with internal walls, spiral laying should be applied, moving from the edge to the center. The pipe should be brought in a spiral taking into account the double step between the turns. After that, you should turn around and start unwinding in the opposite direction.
Heating the room with a warm floor will work well if you use the method of laying the pipe in increments of 30 to 10 cm. In places where there is increased heat loss, you should reduce the distance between the pipes to 15 cm.
To carry out work in the space of the attic, loggia or porch, a separate contour should be mounted that will not be combined with adjacent rooms. Otherwise, most of the heat will go to its heating, while the room itself will remain cold.
Purpose of the mix module
Many inexperienced masters wonder what the mixing unit of a warm floor is for. Professionals answer this question as follows. This element is necessary in order for water to enter the underfloor heating system with the required temperature, which does not exceed 55 degrees. Whereas in the boiler, the coolant has a temperature of 90 degrees. These mixers are used to connect the floor heating system to a new or existing radiator heating system. The main function of such a mixer is lowering the temperature of the coolant. This is done by mixing water from the return. When choosing a heating floor mixing unit , it should be noted that such elements are used in tandem with three-way valves.
Conclusion
Regardless of which floor heating you choose, water or electric, it is important to familiarize yourself with the manipulation technology before starting work. Otherwise, none of the systems will perform its functions, and the funds and time will be wasted. That is why many inexperienced craftsmen trust the installation of heating systems to professionals in their field.