How to independently mount a water-heated floor

Recommendation points

• Introduction
• Tools and materials
• Materials for laying underfloor heating
• Required tool
• Getting started

Popular wisdom says: “Keep your feet warm and your head cold.” Water heated floors are fully consistent with this. They evenly distribute heat in the room, so the person in the room feels comfortable. The article describes how to do this in your home or apartment. What tools and materials are needed for this.

Introduction

For the first time, floor heating was used in ancient Rome and Korea. The underfloor heating system consisted of a stove and channels that were laid under the floor. When burning fuel, warm air passed through the channels and heated the floor surface. The special arrangement of the channels made it possible to retain heat for a long time.

Modern underfloor heating uses other sources of heat, electricity and hot water. Water heated floors are more economical than electric ones. However, in some places their use is not acceptable. In multi-storey residential buildings, it is prohibited to use a water-heated floor connected to a common heating system, as this disrupts its normal operation. And in the summer, during the heating shutdown period, the underfloor heating does not work. Another disadvantage of underfloor heating is a decrease in the height of the room by at least five centimeters. And with a ceiling height of two meters forty centimeters, this is essential.

However, all the disadvantages of a water floor heating are nothing compared to the comfort that a person experiences with a similar method of heating. The warm floor is very pleasant to walk on. The distribution of heat in the room occurs more evenly and over the entire area, in contrast to batteries, which distribute warm air according to the principle of convection. Water underfloor heating is also called a “low-temperature heating system” since the water temperature in them is +35; +45 degrees. The installation of water heated floors is not difficult. This is a system of pipes through which a heating medium (water) circulates located between the floor and the floor covering.

Tools and materials

Materials for laying underfloor heating

In order to install water heated floors, the following tools and materials are required.

First of all, you need the tube itself. She is sold in bays.

Another main material, without which the underfloor heating installation cannot do, is thermal insulation laminated with aluminum foil. It significantly reduces heat loss to the lower layers of the floor, distributes heat more evenly.

For the subsequent filling of the floor, cement and sand will be required. The cement-sand mixture is calculated from a ratio of 1: 3, that is, one part of cement to three parts of sand. Water is poured empirically so that the mixture is neither very liquid, but not very thick either. A thick mixture does not level out well, and a liquid mixture spreads over the floor. You can use the “self-leveling floor for warm floors” mixture instead of a cement-sand mixture.

You will also need the necessary little things. Such as tube mounts, self-tapping screws, and dowel nails.

In order to expose the beacons, you will need alabaster or Volma plaster.

You will also need a beacon profile.

Well, that’s all about the materials. Now let’s move on to the tool that will be needed during work..

Required tool

The first and main tool that is needed during the repair is a hammer drill. No repair is complete without it..

Another basic tool is a concrete mixer. If you need to fill a large area (and in small areas, water-heated floors are not made), then you won’t mix a lot by hand.

Well, all sorts of small tools: a hammer, scissors for metal, a spatula. A glue gun, harsh thread and a metal ruler will also come in handy..

Getting started

Before laying water-heated floors, it is necessary to prepare the surface. The old screed is best removed completely to the concrete. This is done so that the warm floor lies on a hard base. If the base will “play” then the cement-sand screed, with which the pipes are poured, may burst over time. And this will lead to the fact that in the place where the ligament broke, the tubes will fray and you will have to do repairs again. Then we put thermal insulation on the cleaned base..

The thermal insulation is laid in strips with the foil side outward and fastened together with adhesive tape. Foil tape is recommended. But if it is not there, then a regular stationery will do..

After the thermal insulation has been laid, the pipe fasteners are installed.

Fasteners are installed in twenty centimeters increments and at a distance of approximately one meter from each other.

It is very important to calculate the length of the tube before starting to install the hardware. You can approximately take the length of the tube at the rate of six linear meters of the tube per one square meter of the room area. If one bay is not enough for a room, then not one, but two contours are conducted.

The photo shows that the tube is laid in a “snake”, that is, one end of the tube is the supply of hot water, and the other end is the return.

We lay foil-clad insulation along the edges of the room. It is necessary so that the walls do not take away heat..

The tubes are laid and it’s time to fill the floor. There are two types of materials used for filling. Cement-sand mortar or self-leveling floor. In order for the floor to be on the same level, it is necessary to mark the water level in all rooms on the walls.

And then connect them in one line. This will be “zero”.

On this line, markers are glued to the opposite walls with a special glue gun..

The thread is pulled between the markers.

Beacons are placed against this thread.

Using a metal ruler, set one size along the entire length of the thread.

To do this, self-tapping screws are screwed into the floor and the thickness of the screed is set by wrapping or unscrewing them. For a water-heated floor, the recommended screed thickness is six centimeters. If the distance from the thread to the floor is 50 cm, then the distance from the top of the screw to the thread should be 45cm. Self-tapping screws are installed at a distance of 50cm. apart.

After all the screws are exposed, beacons are formed.

Self-tapping screws, up to the cap, are coated with “Volma” or alabaster. After the beacons have completely dried, a beacon profile is installed on them and fixed with the same mixture.

Beacon stripes (or “skis”) are set to the length of the rule.

After the beacons have completely dried, the floors are filled with a cement-sand mixture or a “self-leveling floor” mixture.

The mixture is leveled by the rule. You can walk on the cement-sand screed the very next day. But until it dries completely (and this is a week), you cannot load the floor.

In summer, when the temperature is high, the screed must be watered and covered with polyethylene to avoid cracks.