At one of the facilities our engineers and installers performed "fine" work on the installation of heating pipes, "warm floor", water supply and sewerage. The fact is that it was a difficult task to place all engineering communications in a thin floor screed. Here we will disclose the details of this workflow.
In spite of the fact that, as a rule, there is a reasonable frame of free space for installation at the engineering communications facility, for various reasons it is necessary to fit into even narrower and more rigid frames. And it happened on one of our objects. To place the pipes of the heating system, the "warm floor", water supply and sewerage, our company's engineers usually recommend the thickness of the floor screed in the range from 130 to 150 mm. This kind of screed is usually enough to accommodate the listed systems in the floor. In this case, even if there are pipe intersections somewhere, this fact will not be critical during the installation.
On the object under consideration, it turned out that the balcony doors, thresholds, entrance hall were already erected (shoals were repulsed), and stood up the task is to accommodate all engineering communications in the rigid and very narrow framework of the floor screed from 80 to 100 mm. This means that the intersections of pipes in the floor screed should be excluded categorically at all stages of the work from design to execution installation works.
Special skill was shown by our engineers-designers. This is how the heating project looks like, " warm floor»And water supply:
Drawing with the distribution of pipes from the heating project (the picture can be enlarged)
Drawing with the distribution of pipes from the project of "warm floors" (the picture can be enlarged)
Drawing with the distribution of pipes from the water supply project (the picture can be enlarged)
As already mentioned above, the employees of our company had the task of installing pipes of all systems in one layer to fit into the allocated floor screed on the site. The installers with this issue coped well. Of course, there were places where installers used the distance between the plates, but in general, everything was successful.
Photos of the installation work are shown below.
The edge insulation at the walls will be mounted a little later.
Due to the large number of pipes that are suitable for the collector cabinets, it was necessary to arrange connection to one of the cabinets "from the back".
It is possible that not every facility can be used to install HVAC pipes in one layer for a smaller screed. On the other hand, as this example shows, the solution to this difficult task turned out to be our team's strengths.
Pipes for heating in the floor (in the interstore or basement overlap) are installed either during the latent laying of the heating system, or during the installation of the "warm floor" structure. It is worth noting that in these cases, fundamentally different types of pipes are used and different technologies are used to assemble the pipeline.
Therefore, in this article, we will describe the installation of heating pipes in the floor, placing emphasis on all the details of the technological process. In addition, we will say a few words about the technology of the "warm floor".
Heating pipes under the floor: materials and requirements
Under a floor covering it is possible to establish far not any pipe as the future system should be strong enough and maintain both internal, and external pressure.
By the way, the pipe should not be corroded. Otherwise, the owner of the system will have to regularly disassemble the overlap to replace the rusted site. Pipes for heating under the floor should not penetrate the vapors, especially oxygen, as it leads to the development of rust, which destroys the power structures and fasteners.
Given these factors, it is possible to make a heating system in the floor using pipes exclusively from these materials:
- Pipes of copper. This option is the most expensive, but such pipes are suitable for all the standards required for a hidden heating installation. Copper is not corroded, is resistant to mechanical damage and does not pass oxygen.
- Polymer pipes from a vapor-proof material (polybutylene or polyethylene). These pipes are quite resistant to external and internal pressure and are not at all corroded. At the same time, polymer materials do not have enough hardness, they can easily be cut, therefore it is recommended to install these pipes in cement screed, which acts as a protector.
- Multilayer composite pipes made of composite materials. These pipes have a hardness, strength and resistance to rust. At the same time, metal plastic will cost much less than copper. This option can be called the most optimal of those that are presented on the construction market in Russia now.
Features of fixing heating pipes under the floor
The technology of mounting and fixing the heating pipeline in the floor depends on the type of pipes chosen, the thickness of their wall and the diameter. After all, during the installation of a hidden heating system, they try to avoid tie-ins, joints and other areas connected by means of fittings.
In other words, the pipeline must be laid in a screed or in a wall in one section, and all bends, angles and rounding should be created with your own hands or using pipe benders. Naturally, this scheme of laying pipes is suitable only for flexible structural materials, such as cross-linked polyethylene, metal plastic and copper.
It is necessary to know that the distribution of heating in the floor must be made according to a pre-designed scheme. If you can not work it out yourself, then you should use an alternative solution - a scheme for routing a pipe system, planned for a heat insulator or a waterproofing substrate.
To the floor, the pipes are attached using special laths, inside of which there are landing slots for the required diameter. In addition, you can use single clips or staples. The most the best option is laying pipes for heating in the floor or screed necessarily in the grooves cut in the panel heater.
As a compulsory insulating material, special plates of extruded polystyrene foam are used, in which holes for laying the pipe of the desired diameter are pre-equipped. These plates are installed on waterproofing mastic from bitumen. The tubes themselves fit into the grooves and bend as needed.
Heating pipes in screed
The location of the heating pipes inside floor covering or screed allows you to abandon the use of non-aesthetic heating radiators, spoiling the interior of the room. In addition, the "warm floor" in terms of its efficiency and heat output is not inferior to some convectors, and in the role of the radiator is the entire floor covering.
Warm floors can be installed in any room, as in the kitchen, covering the screed with tiles, and in any other functional rooms, having installed a parquet or a laminate on top of the heating system.
The process of installing a "warm floor" is carried out in accordance with the following instructions:
- Before starting the installation, it is necessary to make the surface of the overlap level, filling the concrete floor with a filler layer, which eliminates all kinds of cracks and irregularities in the structure of the rough finish of the floor.
- After eliminating unevenness in the floor, horizontal waterproofing can be installed. Usually in its quality is a lubricating or roll waterproofing. It is best to use water-based mastics, which plays the role of an adhesive for the insulation.
- Then the installation of the heat-insulating material follows. As it uses any hydrophobic material, for example, extruded polystyrene foam. This substance can withstand a high load on the overlap and acts as a frame for the pipeline system. The minimum thickness of the insulation is one centimeter.
- Fixing the insulation on the mastic can begin installation of the pipeline construction. It is necessary to avoid ruptures, joints and matings in his body. Over the heater, the whole pipe is rolled out of the bay, giving it the desired shape using a reinforcing mesh with clips. Also bends can be formed with the help of strips with perforation or a heater with rolled channels. The optimum pipe size is 16 millimeters.
- After installing the pipes, it is recommended that they be crimped. This process is a leak test. This procedure must be performed before filling the upper level of the screed, because the pipe can be damaged not through your fault, but a fallen heavy object on the polymer pipes is capable of causing them a serious defect.
- Having finished the process of installing pipes, you need to take care of the reinforcing screed, which will hide a relatively soft pipe. Note that the screed must only be laid over the pipeline filled with a coolant. Otherwise, pipes made of soft materials can get defects under the weight of concrete. To fill the screed, you can use a standard cement-sand mixture or finished sand cement. The volume of the required solution depends on the area of the room with a warm floor and the selected thickness of the upper screed, which is usually 3-7 centimeters. The heating system can be switched on after the curing of the screed has completely hardened, this process takes about a month.
After the final screed hardens, directly on it you can install a floor covering - parquet, tile, laminate and the like. Please note that if there are no problems with choosing a tile to install it over a "warm floor", then the choice of parquet or laminate can cause serious difficulties for the buyer. This is due to the fact that these materials must have a special marking, which says that it can be used for installation over a warm floor.
It is desirable to lay the heating pipes under the floor in the warm season and good weather. If the time does not allow the use of the classic system of "warm floors", then you can use an alternative option, a flooring system, which is even easier to mount.
Flooring "warm floor" (water or dry)
This kind of heating system under the floor appeared on our market recently and has already got a lot of positive feedback. Water flooring "warm floor" is simply necessary in those cases where the installation of a classical system is impossible for various reasons, such as the weight of the structure or the timing of installation. One square meter of the usual "warm floor" weighs up to 300 kilograms. Naturally, the installation of such a heavy system is unacceptable in the premises of the old building or with a wooden ceiling.
Another obvious drawback of installing the heating system in the screed is the height of the structure, usually it "steals" from the room more than 7-10 centimeters in height. The way out of this situation was the flooring systems. They allow you to install water heating under the floor without large losses in the height of the room and unnecessary load on the floors. In addition, this system can be used immediately after installation, rather than wait a whole month until the screed is fully ready.
Of course, with water-based systems, not everything is as smooth. They are less effective than the traditional option, and cool faster. This indicates that such a system is unlikely to be suitable for full-fledged self-support of room temperature. However, for residents of southern latitudes, this option can be approached with good thermal insulation at home.
If you do not live in the south, then together with the floor variant of the "warm floor" you need to use other heating systems, as a rule, they are radiators, and in some situations convectors. The fact that the deck structure cools faster indicates that they are quicker to gain operating temperature and spend less energy on it.
The flooring dry "warm floors" are divided into two types: polystyrene and wooden. Regardless of the material used, they include 2 components: heat distribution metal strips and flooring systems. Due to the low level of thermal conductivity of the base material, laying pipes directly into the slots of the blocks does not give the desired heat transfer, so they are placed in aluminum plates.
Wooden flooring systems are very popular.
Their advantage is environmental friendliness and a high level of availability, and it's quite easy to install such a design yourself. On sale you can find ready-made modular dry "warm floors" made of wood. They are blocks of chipboard or OSB, in which channels for pipes are made. The width of the modules is determined by the standards - 13, 18 or 28 centimeters, and they are connected by the lock method.
Polystyrene water floors are truly weightless, standard systems have a thickness of 15 to 70 millimeters. When choosing this type of "warm" floor, you can save on thermal insulation, since polystyrene itself acts as it. Plates are laid on a clean and level ground, and if necessary, first lay a layer heat insulating material. Plates of this system can be rotary or simple. They are installed so that it is possible to lay pipes in this scheme.
After the installation of polystyrene or wooden modules is complete, heat distribution plates made of metal are laid out on them. They have grooves in which the pipes are installed.
Regardless of the selected material of the flooring system, the "warm floor" along the perimeter of its installation, it is necessary to place a damper belt. It will compensate for the thermal expansion of the floor and will not allow the appearance of cracks between the wall and the floor. If several contours are located in one of the rooms, they must also be separated by a damper belt.
In the floor screed, the heating pipes are laid either to create a "warm floor" heating system, or for the purpose of concealing the installation of a heating pipeline. To solve these problems, different types of pipes and different construction technologies are used.
Requirements for the elements of the "warm floor" system
Since the laying of the pipeline in the screed is carried out for a long time, its elements must be strong and durable. It is necessary to use pipes that are resistant to corrosion and metal damage. In order not to rust the power elements of the structure, it is recommended to install steam-proof pipes when installing a warm floor system.
The following types of pipes correspond to the listed requirements:
- polymeric - are made of polybutylene and polyethylene, are resistant to increased external and internal pressure, do not skip steam. The only drawback is the lack of hardness, because of what their styling is performed only in;
- composite - are made of metal-plastic, characterized by stability and durability. Hard and relatively cheap.
Sometimes experts recommend using copper pipes, but this is not the best option. If it is planned to supply low-quality water to the under-floor system saturated with aggressive chemicals, it is better not to install metal pipes. Under the action of hard water they quickly become unusable. Polymeric materials perfectly tolerate contact with low-quality water, almost do not wear out.
Features of installation of a "warm floor" in a concrete screed
When installing a horizontal heating system, it is necessary to avoid tie-ins, joints and other sections of the pipeline, where its elements are fastened with fittings. Therefore, metal pipes are used rarely, mainly for the latent laying of an ordinary heating pipeline. In this case, soldering is used - so you can achieve a monolithic design. This is important, since in the event of breakthroughs in the heating circuit due to the unreliability of the fittings, the floor covering must be disassembled.
Products made of polybutylene easily bends, so there should not be any problems with their lining. Bends and angular matings of metal-plastic pipes are made manually with the help of pipe benders. Connect various elements system will help soldering. Flange and electric couplings are also used to connect parts.
Preparation of a heat-insulating layer
Installation of the warm floor begins with the installation of the thermal insulation layer. To create it, sheet or roll materials are used, they are laid in such a way that gaps do not appear between the joints of the elements of the thermal insulation coating. The plates from basalt fiber or polystyrene, finished with a reflective foil, are best for making a heat-insulating liner.
When the layout of the thermal insulation is completed, with the help of a special tape get rid of the gaps on the joints of heat-insulating plates with walls. If a distance is formed between the plates and the walls, the thermal substrate must be reinstalled.
Creation of reinforcing mesh and fastening clips
Depending on the features of the room, the thickness of the gasket varies from 30 to 150 mm. When using insulation boards without bosses, the reinforcing mesh is laid over the thermal insulation layer. The size of its cells depends on what the pitch of the pipes will be. Usually, each side of the cell is less than the step, or equal to it.
The grid is installed on two supports and a self-tapping screw, located with a beacon profile in one plane. For greater strength, soldering of structural elements can be carried out. To the grid are mounted rotary clips, intended for installation of the heating circuit. When carried out in the floor, the clips of the heating system are fixed with the help of clips. The distance between the clips also depends on how long the distance between the pipes is.
If the slabs with lugs are used for insulation, it is not necessary to use clips for fixing the pipes of the warm floor. Then the heating circuit is laid between the lugs of the bosses, and the installation scheme and step are indicated by the manufacturer of the thermal insulation boards in the instructions.
Piping installation
Before proceeding to laying, the pipe is connected to the manifold. At one of its ends put on a metal ring and do the recalibration. Then the tube is introduced into the collector, another ring is put on and pressed.
Pipes made of polymer and composite materials are usually supplied in one piece. This eliminates the risk of leakage, since during the laying joints between the structural elements are not formed. More difficult with metal pipes: for their installation, soldering is required, but the bonding points are a weak link, and here a breakthrough can occur. Therefore modern manufacturers of systems of a warm floor have refused use of metal. Pipes from this material are appropriate to use in cases where the floor is required to hide the usual heating pipe.
Installation of the pipeline of a warm floor is carried out by loops on a spiral. When the step is 20 cm, it is allowed to lay the pipe on an area of not more than 20 square meters. m. To equip the heating in a large room, install two or more spirals. It is desirable that the distance between them corresponds to the distance between the rings of each of the spirals.
Installing reinforcing mesh and filling the screed
Over the pipeline is mounted one more. By its structure, it completely repeats the grid, located above the plates of the heater. The upper reinforcing mesh is needed in order to avoid deformation of the elements of the system under the weight of the screed: because of the pressure of the mass of the solution, the pitch of the pipeline will shift and the distance between its elements will change. This will degrade the performance of the heating system.
This completes the heating pipes. The grid is poured with a cement-sand, gypsum or quick-drying mixture, depending on the technology of construction. The volume of the solution depends on the area of the room and the thickness of the screed, which can be 30-70 mm.
One of the important tasks that become during the installation of the heating system of housing is the correct laying of heating pipes in the floor. From this will depend not only the efficiency of heating the room, but also the durability of the system, as well as its correct operation and safety.
The way in which we chose the material for the heating circuit will depend on the way in which we will build it.
The heating circuit can be hidden either in the screed or with a floor covering. Where to hide them, we choose depending on the room and the way it is more convenient and requires less labor and financial expenses.
Laying heating pipes for screed
We can hide the contour in the screed. This method is widely used for the installation of "warm floor" systems. The step-by-step process is as follows:
- We carry out a rough screed made of a mixture of concrete and expanded clay. Claydite is a new generation of insulation, which also has a very small mass and helps to reduce the load on the foundation and floors;
- After drying of the screed, we spread its surface with bituminous mastic, thus providing waterproofing;
- On the layer of waterproofing we put a warming layer. For this we can use Penoplex - a material from air and expanded polystyrene. Penoplex perfectly holds the load on compression, has high heat-insulating and noise-insulating properties, a small mass and is perfectly processed with the help of the simplest tools. All joints in the heat-insulating layer are treated either with glue or with mounting foam. Also sold slabs of penoplex with the already finished marking for laying pipes;
- On penoplex we stack either dense polyethylene as a vapor barrier, or penofol. Penofol is modern insulation, consisting of foamed polyethylene and foil. This material is characterized by high thermal insulation properties, does not leak and does not absorb moisture, is highly ecological and non-toxic. The foil serves to reflect the heat radiation back into the room. Therefore, in the case of unilateral foam foil, we put it with the metallized side up. It will provide protection for the penopolix and will further reduce heat loss. At the joints, we glue penofol with an aluminum adhesive tape;
- Next, the heating circuit is laid. Its fixation can be carried out with the help of special clips and reinforcing mesh. You can use a heater, where pipes for pipes have already been laid. Use also perforated strips. The process itself is carried out in such a way that the bay of the collapsed pipe is placed on the floor surface and stacked according to a previously calculated scheme;
- Next, pour a layer of concrete 30-50 mm thick - this allows us to hide the pipes in the screed;
- After the solution has dried, we can begin installing the floor covering.
Inclusion of the system "warm floor" should be done gradually to avoid the appearance of cracks in the screed. For laying under concrete it is best to use pipes made of cross-linked polyethylene either.
Laying the contour under the surface of the flooring
If there is a question, where to hide the heating pipes, but for some reason we do not want to fill them with a screed, you can do it with the floor covering.
Let us consider this process in more detail:
- A roughing screed made of concrete mixed with expanded clay is carried out;
- After the solution dries, spread the surface with bituminous mastic and glue the foam board onto it. At the joints, remove the slots, gluing them with glue, or blowing the mounting foam;
- Over a penoplex, we put either dense polyethylene or penofol. Penofol have a shiny coating up. Polyethylene glued together at the joints with adhesive tape, penofol - glued metalized tape;
- We lay the heating circuit, fixing them with clips, clips, or we use a heater with already marked channels for laying pipes;
- Between the pipes we place the lags and we carry out the installation of the floor covering on them.
If we choose this option, then the contour should be made of metal-plastic. Polymer pipes in this case are not suitable, since they can easily be damaged and require mandatory protection in the form of a concrete coating.
Conclusion
The methods that make it possible to hide heating pipes under the floor are fairly simple and quite feasible on their own. The choice of method depends on the conditions of the gasket - both are equally effective and convenient.