Which warm floor is better?

The warm floor is a popular building trend these days. And it's very easy to guess why. In winter we are cold, the heating is turned on late, but we want the dwelling to be warm and cozy. Now there are so many different offers on the market that before buying it is necessary to know what kind of warm floor is better. Consider all varieties, with all their advantages and disadvantages.

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Kinds of warm floors

This heat source is very convenient. The heat that it produces heats the entire room completely. In addition, both water and electricity can be used for warming up.

All of them have the advantages that are presented:

• Evenness of room heating;
• Complete autonomy;
• Comfortable conditions.

Warm floor

This option is very popular, as it can be arranged not only in the under construction, but also in the finished house.

Important! With the help of such an effective system, it is possible to save about ten percent of thermal resources on a monthly basis.

This option is very simple: a special flexible pipe is installed on the surface. The pipe is designed to circulate hot water. Water, in turn, comes from either a central heating system or a gas boiler.

Important! It is better to choose the option with a gas boiler, as in this case the heat in the house will be independent of centralized heating.

The only nuance - it will not be possible to design such a system in the apartment of a multi-storey building. By construction standards, this is prohibited, and you will not get permits in the relevant authorities. And without it, starting work is unacceptable. Therefore, such a warm floor is better for a dacha, a private house, a cottage.

Electric underfloor heating

This option is also well-deservedly popular. There are several subspecies of such heating, which differ in the types of heating elements used.

Electrical floor heating can be:

• Film;
• Rod;
• Cable.

In addition, there is a different method of heating:

• convection;
• Floor heated by infrared radiation.

Important! When choosing, it should be taken into account that the independent installation of the IR cable is a laborious process, and the use of infrared film is prohibited in wet rooms. For large country cottages, the choice of a water-heated floor is the most suitable, since it allows to save considerably.

Film electrical floor

To know which floor heating to choose, you need to consider all options. In such a system, the heater is presented in the form of a film material made in a special way. You just need to lay this film under the floor covering.

Important! When laying a film warm floor does not need to mount a special cement screed.

Thanks to the above properties, installation is very fast, unproductive time losses during construction are much less. On this floor, you can lay any floor covering."Floor" floor can be presented with laminate, parquet or linoleum. The only exception - you can not lay tiles and carpet.

Important! If the flooring is made of wood, you need to check that the heating element has an operating temperature of not more than 28 degrees.

Film warm floor - what to choose? This is not the easiest question, because it has two versions: carbon film and bimetallic heaters.

The high-temperature floor with bimetallic heater includes two dissimilar layers:

• Aluminum alloy. The composition of the carbon film includes two layers of elements from copper, lavsan and carbon. Usually such a film is produced in the form of a ready-made roll, which can simply be cut into the necessary pieces.
• Alloy of copper and various elements. The composition of the rod warm floor includes special carbon rods. They need to be laid in a cement screed, decorated with a thin layer. On top of this floor, it is possible to install any floor covering: tiles, linoleum, carpet, etc.

Cable warm floor

Here, the heating element is represented by a special cable that looks like a simple cable bay or ready-made heating sections. It is based on a typical twin-core or single-core cable.

Important! On the heating cable you can mount a cement screed, and for heating mats it can not be used.

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Pros and cons of the warm floor

We will touch on a few more nuances of the arrangement of such a system.

Water

For the construction of a warm floor, use metal-plastic pipes that are filled with hot water. This acquisition is quite economical. To get water from the collector into pipes, a special pump is used. The advantages of such heating, as already mentioned, are economy.

Important! If we compare it with electricity, we can save energy by means of water by sixty percent. This will be especially noticeable in the example of a country cottage.

The materials used for making pipes are durable enough to make the entire system even more reliable. In addition, the spectrum of floor coverings when using the water floor is much wider.

Even the best warm floors have their drawbacks. The main disadvantage of water in this case is that you need to purchase and install a special circulation pump. Otherwise, it is not possible to regulate the temperature.

Important! Due to the installation of the pump, a pressure drop can occur in the general water supply system.

Electrical

If you use an electrical cable, no additional equipment is required. In this heating there is a temperature regulator, so it is possible to control the optimal temperature in the room. Thanks to it, you can also save energy, since the power can be easily reduced.

Important! The main drawback lies in the significant consumption of electricity, which leads to additional costs. In addition, some types of coatings are deformed from high temperatures.

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Mounting the hot water floor

After you have decided which warm floor is best to choose, you need to understand its installation.

Important! Before installing the heating system, carefully prepare the surface. You need to get rid of the dust and align the base. Differences should not exceed 5 mm.

Installation of the concrete system

This variant, in which the base and distributing layer are cement-sand screed, is very popular:

• The pre-leveled concrete surface is covered with a layer of waterproofing coating.
• We cover it with thermal insulation.
• We lay and fix the heating pipes.

Important! If the room is large, then use reinforcing mesh when laying pipes. In a small area, special plastic staples, fixing straps or dowel hooks are used to secure the pipes.

• Fill the carrier layer, which consists of sand-cement mixture and plasticizer.
• We lay the floor covering.

The warm floor under the granite tiles - which is better? This one. In addition, it is suitable for ceramic tiles, decorative stones, laminated parquet.

Installation of polystyrene system

In this case, special heat-insulating polystyrene plates are used. They look like convex circles, their diameter is small. On the edges they have locks in order for the clutch to be more reliable. Thus, a monolithic insulating shield is created on the entire surface.

Do not use fasteners when laying pipes. At installation we press on a piece of a pipe and we fix it in grooves. Then, the heat distribution plates are laid out of metal, and afterwards - a clean floor covering is installed.

Assembling wooden

system In this case, the role of the backing layer is performed by the edging board, wood board, plywood, MDF:

1. The wooden slab is cut into narrow strips. Their width should be equal to 13-18 cm.
2. The plates are laid on the base, which is represented by a wooden floor or lags.
3. Top with thermal screws is mounted on top of the heat distribution plates.
4. Omega-like grooves, which are in the plates, are lowered into the recesses located between the plates.
5. The heating pipe must be fixed in the grooves. In this case, the fastener is not used.
6. After laying the pipes, the entire surface is covered with a polyethylene film.
7. As the thermal distribution layer and the basis for the floor covering, sheets of GVL are used, which are fixed with self-tapping screws.

Important! In order for the coolant to be distributed along the heating circuits, use a distribution manifold. The manifold of the supply and return pipes is connected in the manifold. For the supply pipe with hot water, the distribution manifold is installed, the return pipe is connected to the collector for the cooled coolant.

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Mounting the electric warm floor

Of course, the first step is to prepare the base. To do this, you need to remove the old flooring, remove dust, and repair defects with a self-leveling compound. Next:

• We make the packing of heat-insulating material. It should be foamed, with a metallized base, at least three millimeters thick. The insulation is laid on a double-sided adhesive tape with the foil side down. To join pieces of insulation we use ordinary scotch tape.
• Install the thermostat in the junction box, which is prepared in advance.
• We carry out the lead to the earthing box and the power cable.
• Prepare the groove through which the connection to the heating cable will occur.
• We lay the reinforcing mesh.

Important! If the heating mats are laid, the reinforcing mesh is not to be covered.

• We draw the scheme of stacking of heating elements. Be sure to note the location of heavy furniture.
• We repeat the circuit on the floor. For this we use bright tape.
• We lay the cable along the marking lines. He should not bend.

Important! A special tape or clip

• is used to connect the cable and reinforcing mesh. We connect the heating cable, the power cable and the temperature sensor.
• The corrugated tube is put on the joint, then we lay it between the rows of the cable.
• We perform a cable resistance test.
• Connect the cable and thermostat.
• From above we install a screed thickness of four to five centimeters.
• We mount the floor covering.

The warm floor is a very effective heating system, but only with the right choice of the variety and consideration of the functionality of the room. No less important is the choice of the manufacturer, therefore, when building the climate system in your home, consider all the nuances. The main ones we have revealed in this article.