Do-it-yourself technology for laying a warm floor under a tile

Tiled floors have a lot of advantages when choosing flooring in the kitchen, bathroom, toilet or on the loggia. They are more hygienic, durable and practical than, say, laminate and linoleum. But one drawback is still present: the tiles are cold, especially for walking barefoot. To solve this problem, laying a warm floor under the tile will help. There are several options for the execution of such heating, but the installation technology of each is not so difficult for independent implementation.

Benefits of underfloor heating

Compared to the usual heating scheme using conventional batteries, a warm floor under a tile has a number of undeniable advantages:

The room warms up more evenly. Heating radiators are located at the edges of the room and are raised above the surface. Warm air, rising from them, weakly warms the floor and the corners far from the radiators. Heating elements of a heat-insulated floor pass under a layer of a tile evenly on all area of the room.
If you install a warm floor in an apartment, you can be less dependent on the whims of housing and communal services. As a rule, such systems are autonomous and are able to provide space heating at any time. First of all, this applies to varieties with electric heating elements.
The use of water heated floors will even save money if installed instead of traditional radiators, by lowering the temperature of the coolant.

Types of warm floors

Before organizing such a heating option, you need to select the appropriate design option. According to the nature of the heating elements, the floors are distinguished:

Water. Heating occurs due to the circulation of hot water through pipes located in the thickness of the coating. Installing a water heated floor under the tile is quite difficult. It is better to entrust the construction of the collector cabinet, filling and pressure testing of the system to professionals. This heating option is more suitable for residents of the lower floors or owners of individual houses: there is no chance of flooding the neighbors from below if the tubes are leaking.

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Electrical. Their laying technology is simpler, so they are more often used for do-it-yourself installation. Electric underfloor heating usually serves as an addition to the standard heating scheme. They are preferable to water ones not only in terms of cost, but also in a number of other parameters: there is no possibility of leaks, heating elements are not in danger of freezing when the current is turned off in the cold season, more even distribution of heat.

Features of different types of electric floors

Make an electrically heated floor can be done with a cable, heating mats or a film with infrared radiation.

The use of a heating cord involves careful calculations. In addition, the thickness of the screed, which the laying technology provides for, is the largest among all electrical types of heat supply devices. But the price of the cable floor per m2 will be the lowest.

It is much easier to lay heating mats, which are a cable attached to a fiberglass mesh. In addition to the ease of laying the elements, the smaller thickness of the required screed should also be noted. It is no more than 30 mm, while when laying the cable - from 30 to 50 mm.

Heating mats can be placed in tile adhesive without screed.

Warm floors using film heating material are very easy to install: they do not require any screed. But the film itself is quite expensive. In addition, it is not recommended to use it for heating a tiled surface.The low thickness of the film and its characteristics have determined the use of the material with traditional floor coverings such as laminate or linoleum.

Foundation preparation

Regardless of which type of heating is chosen, the technology of laying a warm floor necessarily includes a thorough preparation of the base. The surface must be perfectly smooth and level, both with water-heated and electric floors. Otherwise, the risk of failure of the heat element increases significantly, and this will already lead to the need for large-scale and costly repairs.

The old flooring is being removed.
The base surface is being examined. The protrusions are removed, and the cracks are sealed. In especially advanced cases, it may be necessary to equip a leveling screed.
Grooves are cut for laying wires in the wall or floor, depending on the elements that make up the selected scheme for arranging the heating system.
The base is thoroughly cleaned from dust and dirt. It is better to use wet cleaning.
The base surface is primed.
To increase the effectiveness of underfloor heating, high-quality insulation is required, which does not allow heat to leave the apartment through the ceiling. Different materials can be used, but most often foam foam is preferred, one side of which is covered with foil. The insulator is laid with this side up, and the joints are glued with metallized tape.

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Thermal insulation should not be placed close to the walls: it is necessary to leave a thermal gap, which is glued with a damper tape. It will compensate for possible changes in the geometry of the screed under the influence of temperature.

A waterproofing film is laid on top.

Features of mounting heating elements

Before installing the heat-producing parts of a water or electric underfloor heating, it is necessary to draw up a diagram of their location. When compiling it, the following recommendations should be taken into account:

Do not place heating elements closer than 5 cm from the walls, as well as in places where plumbing fixtures or heavy stationary furniture are located. This can lead not only to inefficient use of heat, but also to overheating or even to a breakdown of the entire system.

The heating cable is attached to a special tape with latches, or to a metal mesh using plastic clamps. In a similar way, you can fix the water pipes of the heating floor on the grid, but it is better to use special mats for laying them.
At installation of underfloor heating it is important to take into account that the temperature of the coolant is unevenly distributed through the pipes, so you need to choose a suitable scheme, for example, a “snail” or a “double snake”. They guarantee a more uniform heating of the surface.

When laying electric heating elements, the correct distance between the coils must be observed, and they must not be allowed to touch. The necessary contour of the heating mats is created by cutting the fiberglass mesh on which the cable is attached with scissors and turning the individual elements at the desired angle.

Installation of heating floors

Before proceeding with the formation of the screed, you should check the performance of the system. To do this, you need to connect to a collector with water floors or a thermostat with electric ones. The installation of these devices is quite complicated. If there is no firm confidence in your abilities, it is better to turn to professionals. A temperature sensor must also be connected, located according to the instructions. Usually it is placed at an equal distance from the fuel elements so that it remains possible to replace it in case of failure.

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The heating elements are closed with a screed or a layer of tile adhesive very carefully. Care must be taken not to damage the heating device. At the same time, you should try to avoid the occurrence of air cavities in the screed, which can significantly reduce the efficiency of the floors.

Laying tiles on such floors is carried out according to the usual technology with only one feature: tile adhesive and grouting material must be designed specifically for heated floors. Otherwise, cracks may appear at the seams due to thermal expansion. The subtleties of installing a warm floor - in the video below.

Arseniy

For a long time, my wife and I could not decide which underfloor heating is better to choose - with electric heating or with water? Coincidentally, a workmate just had water heating and his pipe burst, he had to remove the tiles and change communications. We decided not to take risks and made electric heating, in the winter period there will not be so much spending on electricity.

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Andrey

I always wanted a warm floor for my home, but I never knew how best to approach this issue. I read this material and took a few moments. I don’t really like tiled floors, but as I understand it, insulation is only installed under such floors. I think that it is better to entrust such work to professionals, since the warm floor itself is not such a cheap pleasure, so you need to install it correctly and according to all the rules.

Oleg

I was going to insulate the floors in the cottage, and then this article turned up. In detail, of course, it is written, but why is it not said about infrared floor heating? Yes, and it is easier to install this heating, as I understand it, on the ceiling. Only now one often hears that such heating dries out products. I wonder how it affects indoor plants and whether it is safe for humans. Who may have come across this?

ibuilder.decorexpro.com/en/

Hello Oleg!
Absolutely all heated objects emit infrared radiation (heat). The article discusses all types of floor heating, from water to film. For floor tiles in an apartment, the most simple and practical is an electric underfloor heating. In private houses, water heated floors are most common, since a boiler is most often installed.
If we talk about exclusively infrared space heating, then in this case infrared emitters are installed. Where to install them is completely irrelevant. Whether it is a wall or ceiling, the main condition is the possibility of direct radiation to the entire space of the room. Infrared radiation directly heats surfaces and objects in the room. Such heating does not dry the air, but it is also not worth placing plants directly at the heater, the heat source is comparable to the scorching sun or a hot object.
All heating systems located behind any hard coating, except for ceramics and glass, heat only this coating, and the coating itself reradiates heat into the room. Therefore, how this coating is heated, IR radiation or just contact heating, there is absolutely no difference.

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