Varieties of underfloor mats

In order for a warm floor to work effectively, it needs a special substrate. Its task is to provide thermal insulation, not to allow heat to go down. Our advice site will tell you what types of substrates, mats for underfloor heating exist today, what disadvantages and advantages they have.

The first type of underfloor heating, in fact, is not mats, but rolled foil insulation, the features of which the portal has already written about. This is an inexpensive option, the material is simply rolled on the floor under the heating cables. Between themselves, the strips of insulation are fastened with special tape.

Isolon is often used with markings that allow the correct placement of cables or underfloor heating pipes. Pros – cheapness, ease of installation, you don’t have to raise the floor height much. Minus – the material is too thin – up to 10 millimeters, it cannot provide full thermal insulation, for example, above the basement.

The second type of underfloor heating is mats, foam or extruded polystyrene plates. Conventional foam is less and less used now. Its density must be at least 35 kg / m³. Otherwise, it simply will not withstand the load from above and will begin to burst. Inexpensive option, but not very reliable.

Extruded polystyrene mats are stronger but more expensive. Installation is easier – each slab has locks that allow you to connect them together with a minimum gap.

Important! If conventional foam or extruded polystyrene boards are used, an additional roll of foil is often placed on top. This makes the thermal insulation layer more reliable..

The third option is the same foam or polystyrene plates, but foiled. A combined material that is made specifically for laying a water or electric underfloor heating, and therefore always has a special marking on the front side. Provides a good level of thermal insulation, but costs a little more than just expanded polystyrene plates – about 250 rubles per square meter.

The fourth option, the most expensive, but the most convenient and increasingly widespread, is expanded polystyrene mats with clamps. These pimples on the front side, the so-called bosses, allow you to conveniently lay floor heating pipes in a spiral, with a snail. Plus, not only in the high quality of thermal insulation and ease of installation, but also in the fact that mats with “bosses” up to 25 millimeters high conceal the thickness of the pipe itself (about 20 millimeters). As a result, there is no need to raise the floor level additionally. In addition, polystyrene mats with “bosses” improve sound insulation in the room, protect the neighbors from noise below. They cost about 500-600 rubles apiece.