Warm floors, until recently considered a sign of luxury, today enjoy unprecedented popularity. They are installed in apartments, houses, offices, baths and other premises. It can be the main source of heating, and additional - in the kitchen, bathroom, toilet or hallway. Considering that their cost is relatively low, the installation of individual structures is simple, more and more often even the owners of apartments of the old stock have a question of how they can be made and what is needed for this. So, the topic of our article is how to make electric underfloor heating, depending on the design features.
Varieties of designs
Since only electric floors can be installed in apartments of apartment buildings (an exception applies to new buildings, but there water ones are already included with the main type of heating), it is about them that we will talk.
Depending on the heating element used, the floors are divided into:
- heating cable (cable floors);
- heating mats;
- infrared film.
The most difficult to install are cable floors, for which you will need to make a concrete screed in order to embed the cable in it. It is very problematic to make such structures in secondary housing. It is necessary to obtain the consent of the management company, calculate the load on the load-bearing walls, taking into account the concrete floor, correctly carry out all the work so as not to violate the integrity.
In apartments of the secondary fund, thermomats will be the most rational - a film heated floor is electric, we will describe how to make it below. Structurally, this is a thin cable attached to the grid in a certain sequence, which you just need to spread, fasten and turn on. This is an absolutely safe device, protected from electric shocks and mechanical damage, on top of which the actual flooring is laid - laminate, parquet or carpet.
If you are interested in how to make an electric underfloor heating yourself, without any experience and special knowledge, it is best to choose an infrared film. It has a similar principle of operation with thermomats, but the conductive paths are not located on the top of the mount, but inside it, due to which infrared radiation quickly and safely warms up the room.
Infrared film can be used even without flooring, but it is still recommended to use a laminate or carpet.
Heating cable installation
With all the variety of models, it is the heating cable that is considered the simplest. Its minimum service life is 15 years, and this is only a manufacturer's warranty, while in reality such floors last much longer.
Before you make a warm floor, you need to prepare the surface - clean the floor from the previous coating, since it must be perfectly even, without level drops, without potholes and potholes. In order to completely eliminate even the slightest flaws, a cement screed is made. It can be a self-leveling quick-drying composition, after which you can start installation in a day.
Calculate in advance where the heating cable will run - it should not be in areas occupied by furniture and large household appliances.
Pay attention to which cable is one- or two-core. Single-core is looped - the beginning of laying and the end must match. A two-core cable starts and ends in different places in the room, and a sleeve is placed at the end of it.
The second stage of planning is the place of installation of the thermostat, for which you need to gouge the wall. After installation, a temperature sensor is connected here.
Laying thermal insulation
Expanded polystyrene can be used as insulation, which is laid under the entire surface of the heating cable and brought to the walls for another 10 cm. You make a cement screed 3-3.5 cm thick on top of the thermal insulation.
Drying of the cement screed is usually given 3-4 days, so that in the future there will be no failures or traces during the work. Foil is applied over the already frozen screed - it is needed so that the heat from the cable does not go to the floor, but is reflected into the room.
Attach the mounting tape to the foil. This is a special device on which the heating cable is fixed, preventing it from moving in any direction. The mounting tape is attached to the floor with ordinary self-tapping screws.
The mounting tape is laid perpendicular to the direction of the cable with a minimum step of half a meter.
Heat cable installation
After all the preparatory work has been carried out, proceed to the installation of the cable. Starting from the thermostat and laying in accordance with the layout in the room. The cable is laid on the mounting tape and fixed, for which special clips are provided on it. At the end of the gasket, install the temperature sensor and connect the entire system to the thermostat.
On the same day, you can immediately fill the cable with a cement screed. Recall that its thickness should be at least 3 centimeters. After the screed has hardened, the surface is covered with any selected coating, but most often ceramic tiles are used for this. A step-by-step guide on how to do it is set out in another article, for which you can follow the link.
VIDEO: Instructions for laying a two-core heating cable
How are heating mats assembled?
If a concrete screed is a necessary condition for the heating cable, which reduces the height of the room, then you can do without it. We will tell you how to make an electric underfloor heating without a screed, and we will talk about heating mats.
The installation of such a floor is very simple, but you need to decide in advance on the area in order to buy the required amount of material on it. The average cost per square meter starts from 3500 rubles and depends on the capacity and brand. Structurally, this is a heating cable, usually two-core, with a power of 260 W, fixed on a fiberglass mesh. Lay such a floor on tile adhesive in any room where you want to make a warm electric floor.
Thermomat laying
The beginning of work is to draw up a diagram where the heater will be laid. And here the rule also applies - only on an open surface. Do not stack it under furniture and large household appliances.
The surface is prepared in advance, cleaned if necessary, it must be even without significant height differences. Mats are easily cut into pieces. But be careful not to damage the cable. Most often, tile adhesive is used for fastening. In some cases, double-sided tape is preferred, although this is not the most reliable method of attachment.
After the thermomats are laid out, they are connected to a temperature sensor (thermostat) and covered with flooring - laminate, ceramic tiles, porcelain stoneware, etc.
VIDEO: Installation of an ultra-thin underfloor heating based on heating mats
Infrared film - sequence of actions
It is not difficult to figure out how to make an electric warm floor from an IR film yourself, in many respects it coincides with the installation of thermomats. But there is still a difference and it lies in the need for direct thermal insulation, the role of which is most often played by foil lavsan.
For reference. Foiled lavsan is a wear-resistant polyester fabric that differs from analog materials in high mechanical and electrical strength.
Lavsan is laid on the floor under an IR film so that the outgoing heat is reflected inside the room, and does not go to the floor.
The film is rolled out and laid parallel to each other, fixing them together with special crimp connectors. On top of the film, you can immediately lay the floor covering. It can even be a carpet, as the film is protected from mechanical damage and electric shocks.
You can make warm floors in any apartment or room without exception. The main thing is to choose the right material. It can be a cable floor for which you will have to knead concrete and make a screed. And you can choose thermomats or infrared film, which are absolutely safe to use, and even a beginner can handle the installation.
VIDEO: How to make an IR warm floor under a tile
