How to make electric floor heating from laminate?

masters We define with the view of

heater We recently considered types of electric underfloor heating where a bit concerned the question ofuse of different heaters for tile and wooden flooring.

In the case of wood flooring, it is not recommended to use heating mats and cables, for the following reasons:

1. Electrical conductors may unevenly emit heat, which adversely affects the wooden surface.
2. Heating by electric cable( or mat) consume more electricity, so on the cost side of saving the laying of the film warm floor, again, wins.
3. For the infrared coating, the presence of a concrete screed is not mandatory, which can not be said for alternative options.
4. Thickness of the film is less than a millimeter, which will allow to maintain the height of the ceiling after installation works. In the case of an electric conductor due to the screed, the ceiling height can be reduced up to 10 cm.
5. Since the laminate has a low thermal conductivity, it is not recommended to use cable heating. This is due to the fact that the conductor first heats the screed, which transfers heat to the floor covering itself. As a result of this heat transfer, the efficiency is an order of magnitude lower than with infrared radiation, which immediately heats up all the objects in the room.

It is for these reasons used laying of a film warm floor under the laminate and parquet board.

Prepare all the necessary materials

At this stage, it is necessary to calculate the warm infra-red floor under the laminate to determine the right amount of all materials. The calculated part of the content is simple, you just need to calculate the useful area of ​​the room and taking into account the chosen capacity of the heater, calculate its area.

So, in order to facilitate the perception of information, we will present everything according to the points:

1. Determine the useful area of ​​the room. Lay material should be at a distance of at least 15 cm from the wall, and under heavy furniture and household appliances, the film must not be laid. Based on these requirements, create a scheme and determine the usable area.
2. Select the power of the system. Typically, a 150 W / m2( if there is no central heating) and 90 W / m2 if the heating system is present in the house is used to heat the warm floor. You can also choose intermediate values ​​based on your own application conditions.
3. Calculate the amount of film. To do this, the useful area is multiplied by the power that you have chosen. For example, for a room of 15 m2 without central heating, a warm floor with a capacity of 2250 watts( 15 * 150) is required. We go to the store and buy a roll of the right size.

Also additionally you need to purchase a heater( preferably penofol), foil tape and polyvinyl foil( protect the heater surface from mechanical damage).

When all materials are counted and purchased, you can proceed to the installation process.

We carry out installation work

The technology of laying the film warm floor under the laminate consists of several stages:

• surface preparation;
• base thermal insulation;
• material flooring;
• laminate flooring.

We draw your attention to the fact that this technology is also used in the case of a parquet board, while installation is carried out in a similar way!

Preparing surface

At this stage, it is necessary to remove the old finish of the floor covering, remove all debris and view the condition of the concrete screed. It is necessary that the surface is flat, without chips and cracks. Otherwise, you have to fill in the black screed, which will remove all defects.

Immediately it should be noted that in rooms with high humidity( on an unheated loggia or in a bath), the laying of the infrared coating is strictly prohibited. If the humidity is small, in addition you need to take care of the quality waterproofing of the floor!

We make thermal insulation

To heat upwards( to the room), and not downwards( to the lower floors or to the foundation), it is necessary to take care of the quality warming of the base under the film warm floor. For this, it is best to use penofol. The material is thin, so the height of the ceiling will not noticeably change after it is laid.

As one of the sides of penofol is self-adhesive, there should not be any complications in thermal insulation. Joints between sheets should be sealed with foil tape.

We lay the

film Now, when the base is completely ready, we can safely proceed with laying the film warm floor under the laminate with our own hands.

According to the scheme, you must spread the material over the surface. If you need to cut a certain piece, do it in the appropriate places.

• it is forbidden to lay sheets overlapping, but butt-butt-butt;
• sheets should be positioned so that the contacts are directed to the wall on which the thermostat is installed;
• the copper side must be at the bottom( adjoin to the base).

Next, install the thermostat in a suitable place. It's better to do this in a stroke on the wall, next to the sockets( for convenient connection to the network).

After that the film is connected to the thermostat with the help of contact wires, which are clamped with special clamps.

It should also be noted that all the places of clamps and independent cuts of the material must necessarily be insulated with bitumen insulation!

From the thermostat, you need to output a temperature sensor that will be connected to the underside of the film cover. To do this, a special shroud, no more than 30 cm in length, is created in the base. The sensor is placed in a protective corrugation and installed under the heater sheet. Be sure to place a layer of thermal insulation under the thermal sensor, otherwise there may be an appreciable error in the accuracy of the measurements, which will affect the efficiency of the system use. It is possible to connect a film warm floor under the laminate without a thermostat, but in this case the power consumption will increase, and the control of the temperature regime will be completely absent.

When all contacts are connected and insulated, you can proceed to a checkout. To do this, turn on the thermostat and check that the entire surface is evenly heated. It is also recommended to check the coating with a multimeter for compliance of the resistance with the real resistance( the value should not exceed the difference of 10%).

If everything is correct, a protective polyvinyl foamed film can be laid over the warm floor and proceed to the decorative surface finish with a parquet board or laminate.

Also for your attention is a visual video in which you can see the features of each of the stages of installation:

Useful tips from

masters To simplify the process and make the laminate flooring more durable, we provide to youra few useful tips:

1. Install the temperature sensor near the cold wall to adjust and control exactly the coldest point in the room.
2. Do not fasten the heater sheets with nails or screws.this can cause the system to fail. Use only foil tape.
3. Infrared film is easily damaged by mechanical impact( if it is pressed by heavy furniture).Take care that under all heavy objects there is no heater.
4. For the choice of laminate for a film warm floor, take it seriously. Not everyone can normally function with a floor heating system. Those models that are designed for heating, have the appropriate logo:
5. Take care that no other heaters are installed on the floor( eg oil heater).Otherwise, the film overheating and its failure can occur.
6. One piece of cover should not be longer than 15 meters.
7. Be sure to ground the heater. To do this, along the perimeter and the diagonal, glue the foil tape, which is connected to the ground terminal by the other end.
8. Do not lay the film warm floor at minus temperature.
9. Check your home electrical wiring so that it can withstand the loads from this heating system. If it turns out that the RCD, circuit breaker and wire diameter are not suitable, replace all the elements with more powerful ones.

That's the whole technology of laying a warm film floor under the laminate with your own hands! As you can see, the installation is quite laborious, but even a person who does not have relevant experience is able to do it.

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