Often the concept of “heating” is associated with cast iron radiators, which used to be in every apartment. Such radiators took a long time to warm up, but kept the house warm for a long time, and, in general, they functioned quite well, the only negative by and large is their unsightly appearance.
With the advent of new materials and technologies, everything has changed. Nowadays, a worthy replacement for old heating radiators has become a heated floor system, for which the heating line is installed in the floor. To date, all new buildings are equipped with such structures in the floor.
Having decided to lay heating pipes in the floor under a screed, you need to decide what type of pipes will work reliably for a long period. This decision at first glance seems quite simple, but practice shows that it depends on many factors.
Why laying heating pipes in a screed is called the right choice? After all, there is an easier way out - this is the replacement of batteries. Yes, this is easier to do, but it does not mean it is more effective than this installation, because no one has yet canceled the laws of physics.
According to the principle of operation of the heating system are completely different. Traditional heating radiators give off heat. It then goes along the walls into the ceiling area. It turns out that it is the ceiling zone that warms up first.
Afterwards, the air moves to the lower region, but it gets here already cold. Thus, the following situation arises - in the ceiling area it is warmer, but below the temperature is much lower. The same applies to the convection principle.
But installing underfloor heating changes everything. The maximum heat is located at the bottom, and then, when it cools, it moves to the top. This principle of heat distribution greatly increases the comfort of housing. Accordingly, such a system seems to be the most effective.
Underfloor heating: advantages and disadvantages
Before hiding heating pipes in a concrete screed, it is necessary to study in detail all the pros and cons that this heating system demonstrates. They should not be ignored, because this will guarantee that the finances will be invested wisely.
Let's look at the advantages of an underfloor heating system.
- Long period of use.
- Uniform heating level.
- The system in concrete poured into the floor is distinguished by cheaper maintenance when compared with classic options.
- Easy care.
- No moisture.
- Economical use of space.
- Complete safety (installation of the system in a concrete screed allows you to avoid child injuries and burns from hot pipes).
- The required level of humidity is constantly maintained in the air.
There are not many disadvantages of a network under a screed, but you need to familiarize yourself with them.
- First of all, when laying the heating line under the screed, the height of the room is reduced.
- Repairing pipes is not as easy as in classic cases, because finding a leak in a hidden pipeline is not easy.
- It will not be possible to carry out installation in specific places. These include a flight of stairs, etc.
IMPORTANT! These buildings in mansions can be carried out without restrictions, but an apartment will require a different approach. In apartment buildings, you need to make sure that the central network can cope with the large hydraulic load.
The disadvantages must be carefully studied, and you need to be prepared for the fact that sooner or later the heating in the screed may leak. Do not forget that pipe leaks in such structures are not easy to detect.
And after determining the location of the leak, repairs will not be easy. Therefore, it is important to approach the work with full responsibility.
What types of materials can be used and which cannot
Before making a screed, you need to find out which heating pipe materials are most suitable for installation in the floor. There are many options - you can choose products made of copper, you can choose such an inexpensive and practical material as plastic, which, if installed correctly, will work one hundred percent.
It is also worth paying attention to metal-plastic products. Which one is better to choose? In order to answer the question posed, let’s look at pipes made from the listed materials in more detail.
Pipe products for laying in the floor must have the following properties.
- High strength index.
- Resistant to corrosive formations.
- Impermeability to oxygen, which causes corrosion of steel parts of the heating network.
- Good heat dissipation.
- Low expansion coefficient.
- Environmentally friendly.
The listed requirements for laying in the floor under a screed are fully met by a range of the following materials - polyethylene, polypropylene and metal-plastic.
Polyethylene pipes and other types of pipes that are used in screeds have pros and cons, therefore, before hiding them and making screeds, you need to study each material thoroughly.
Polypropylene pipes for laying in screeds they are favorably low in cost. But these products have not found widespread use. The reason is that polypropylene pipes hidden in a screed have a number of significant disadvantages.
Thus, the polypropylene (PP) range is distinguished by an eight-diameter bend radius. When laying a polypropylene underfloor heating system, this affects the distance between adjacent main branches.
If the diameter of the polypropylene line is 15 mm, then the branches will move 120 cm apart from each other, which will have a bad effect on warming up the room. It is also possible to install a polypropylene water-heated floor only at a temperature of at least fifteen degrees. Products made from polypropylene are inexpensive and have a large number of positive characteristics.
Polyethylene pipe materials Only cross-linked ones are suitable for this task. Cross-linked polypropylene is durable, reliable and resistant to high temperatures. But, in a cement floor, these pipes do not hold their shape well. Therefore, to fix such pipes it is necessary to use a large number of fasteners.
Experts speak well of metal-plastic products. The metal-plastic pipe used in the screed lasts quite a long time.
Metal-plastic products appeared on the market not so long ago, but quickly took a leading position. The special three-layer design of these pipe materials allows them to last up to 30 years.
The disadvantages of metal-plastic pipelines include the relative complexity of installation work at home. It’s not difficult if you have some experience in this kind of work.
Therefore, it is important to know the sense of proportion when clamping. At home, laser or ultrasonic welding is not used for this range.
If you don't clamp the joint well, you should expect leaks. And, if you “pinch”, the fitting will fail and will have to be replaced.
And here is the pipe rolling made of copper included in the list of impeccable leaders. It is much superior to its polyethylene counterparts. Cross-linked polypropylene and metal-plastic are also inferior to copper. In this case, there is only a huge list of positive characteristics.
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But copper products have one drawback. It too high price, which becomes the reason that not everyone can afford to use a structure made of this material for laying under a screed.
Speaking about the “warm floor” system, you need to remember such a material as metal. Metal pipe products In the screed, experts call it an unreasonably risky undertaking. The water in the heating network is often saturated chemicals, and metal can just can't resist before this aggressive influence.
Ultimately, corrosion appears in the metal structure, which means further leakage. Hard water also has a detrimental effect on metal.
Therefore, plastic and copper products are a more practical solution for laying in the floor. Therefore, metal pipe-rolling materials are not recommended for this work.
Room preparation
Before sealing the heating pipes in the floor screed, it is necessary to remove all supply points for other communications and install windows and doors. It is recommended to remove pieces of furniture from the room and dismantle the old heating system, if this work is not carried out in new buildings.
Irregularities on the surface are allowed within a radius of one centimeter. If their dimensions exceed these indicators, then the base for heating should be leveled.
The final stage of preparatory work is cleaning. It must be done before sealing the structure with a concrete screed. Industrial vacuum cleaners cope with this task perfectly.
Laying “warm floor” in a screed
This option is used in apartments and private houses. It is even used for wood flooring, or under a coating such as laminate.
Filling is performed on a rough or wooden floor. They act in these situations according to the same principle.
- Spread waterproofing.
- Install insulation.
- Lay reinforced mesh.
- The pipeline is being laid out and secured.
- Glue damper tape.
- The entire structure on the floor is filled with mortar.
We carry out waterproofing
It protects against moisture and prevents wet mortar from coming into contact with the floor. Afterwards it is necessary to insulate the working surface. The best option for this task is polystyrene foam. A foam-derived material, Penoflex, also received high marks from experts.
A steel mesh is applied to the insulating material. It is needed to evenly distribute the load over the frozen fill. Without such reinforcement, the screed may crack.
Piping in such networks is carried out in two ways.
- A snail.
- Snake.
The first scheme is laying in a circle from the walls to the center of the room. In such actions, sharp turns of the circulation direction are not used.
The snake is directed from any wall, and then goes to another, located on the opposite side. With this design, on all pieces the direction of movement of the liquid changes by 180 degrees. In everyday life, the first installation option is most often used.
The contour should be strengthened on the surface part. When doing these actions, it should be taken into account that it increases the dimensions in length. Consequently, the fasteners cannot be rigid, and the pipeline must have the ability to slide. For this task, plastic clips attached to the floor are effectively used. You can also install simple clamps.
It is very important to remember to use damper tape. It is a strip of foamed polymer material. It needs to be glued around the perimeter of the room on the wall. And the bottom edge of the tape should be drawn along the floor. This measure will help level out the increase in filling and will not allow the solution to stick to the walls.
Many people are interested in how many centimeters the screed must cover the pipe structure. The masters say that it cannot be less than three centimeters. Its optimal size is 7 cm.
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When laying heating pipes, it is very important to maintain the same pitch between turns or zigzags. So, for example, for a room of 20 square meters. m, this distance is equal to twenty centimeters. In a room with a large area, it is recommended to install several spirals or coils for heating.
Heating pipes in the floor can be hidden under wet or dry filling. The first method is more common. Because when “dry” filling voids, the density level is lower, and because of this, heat transfer is slowed down.
It is not difficult to build such a heating structure with your own hands. The main thing is to have patience and some knowledge. If you add a little more diligence to this, then the excellent results of floor heating can delight you for many decades.
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