With all the advantages of a water warm floor, you should not forget one thing — the floor heating system functions very well, but for this it should be properly designed and implemented. Elimination of errors can be very laborious and expensive.
For floor heating systems, the project is the basis.
If, for example, you decided that the room with radiator heating is poorly warmed up, it is enough to replace the radiator with a more effective and, accordingly, large. In the case of a warm floor, the situation is much more complicated.
If you try to save the situation by increasing the temperature of water supply, the room will become warmer, but this will be an exceeding the permissible operational temperature of the floor. This is unacceptable to human health (leg swelling, uncontrolled movement of dust) and will entail the destruction of the flooring (the formation of cracks, the «spinning» of the parquet panels).
The basis for the implementation of the floor heating system, in particular water, should always be a carefully thought -out project, taking into account the needs of the building in the warmth (properties of structural materials) and technical parameters for each room. This cannot be done by eye. Retreats from the project can afford only very experienced installers.
You can afford a little more freedom by mounting electric heating, which plays only an auxiliary role in the radiator system. But if the electric heating is the main heating system in the building, you must develop it as carefully as water.
Where to install the floor with water heating?
Heated floors are installed, as a rule, not in the entire building, but in some rooms that include: kitchen, bathroom, toilet, room and living room. Rarely warm floor is installed in the bedroom, this is due to the fact that the floor surface is almost all busy with furniture and an open area, radiating heat, very small. In practice, the most efficient use of two heating systems in the house is the floor and radiators.
Installation of a warm floor systems is cheaper in the construction of a house, overhaul of the apartment, since it requires special preparation of floors for installation. Before starting work in the room, work should be completed at facilities related to electricity, water supply and sewage. It is also necessary to connect all the radiators and install the cabinets of collectors (radiator and floor).
The correct organization and sequence of work are of great importance. In premises with a heated floor, all other communications taking place in the floor should be under a stacked water warm floor. This is a prerequisite for the correct functioning of heating. Subsequent laying of communications can ultimately damage the floor heating pipes. Incorrect floor preparation leads to the fact that the screed in some places will be a few centimeters higher or lower than the general level, which will lead to uneven heating of the floor, a decrease in strength and durability (optimal thickness of the classic cement screed 6-7 cm). Only after the work on the proper preparation of the floor, you can start building floor heating.
The procedure for installing a floor heating system
Waterproofing (if necessary) and insulation (3 cm of polystyrene with a reflector over heated rooms, about 20 cm for the first floor) are placed on the prepared base.
The next step is the installation of insulation (damping tape) around the perimeter of the floor, it is intended for thermal insulation and compensation of the floor expansion during heating, to reduce the load on the walls and partitions.
The next step will be the laying of the circuits of the pipes of water floor floor according to the project, fixing their position on polystyrene with plastic anchor brackets. When passing pipes through joints to prevent their damage during operation, they must be protected by a corrugated pipe.
After the completion of the above work, before pouring concrete, it is necessary to perform a tightness test at a water pressure of 0.6 MPa during the day.
After the screed dries, which is 28 days for concrete, it is necessary to warm up the floor. Most modern boilers perform this function in automatic mode, however, you must make sure that the set temperature regime (program) on the boiler corresponds to the operation parameters of the warm floor.
After warming up the floor, you can start laying the flooring, for example, ceramic tiles. For other coatings, it is necessary to use only those materials that are approved by the manufacturer for operation with a warm floor.