How to choose a warm floor for a laminate: varieties of electric heated floor

By installing an inexpensive warm electric floor under the laminate, you can solve the problem with the cold in the room, ensuring the comfort of living in a private house. It is not difficult to carry out heating under the flooring on your own. Electric underfloor heating technology is economical, which will allow the homeowner to significantly reduce his utility bills.

Description of technology

Today, three main technologies are most widely used warm electric floorsthat can be easily laid under the laminate:

• Cable floor.
• Heating mats.
• Infrared film technology.

While cable floors and heating mats were initially the most popular, today an increasing number of homeowners are choosing infrared film technologywhich is easy to install, providing efficient and fast heating, reducing homeowner's costs.

Cable underfloor heating

For heating, a resistive cable is used, which is laid under the floor covering and, when voltage is applied to it, begins to actively

emit heat. The installation of a cable floor will require the obligatory arrangement of a screed, the minimum height of which will be 40 millimeters.

The disadvantages of cable floor heating include the following:

• Significant consumption of electricity for heating.
• The complexity of installation work and the need to fill a four-centimeter screed.
• The impossibility of subsequent adjustment of the intensity of heating.

In recent years, cable underfloor heating is becoming less common, which is explained by the laboriousness of repair and the complexity subsequent operation floor covering.

Heating mats for laminate

A distinctive feature of this technology is the use of small matsinside which there is a thin heating cable. According to the technology, the mats are laid on the completed screed, and subsequently they are connected to the control unit. The minimum screed thickness is 10 millimeters, which simplifies installation work, eliminating the need for the homeowner to raise the floor level.

Infrared floor heating

This technology appeared in the early nineties and is popular in the market today. Installation of a film heater under a laminate not particularly difficult, it is not required to fill the screed, cracking of the floor material along the seam is excluded, and the homeowner gets the opportunity to significantly save electricity for heating the room.

An electric infrared floor under the laminate is the most economical heating option today. The ability to smoothly adjust the power allows you to quickly solve cold problems in the room, maintaining comfortable temperature in the room.

The principle of this technology is extremely simple. The film is made of bimetals, which, when voltage is applied to them, begin to emit heat, quickly heating the floor and the entire room. It is only necessary to properly plan the installation work, using high-quality heat insulators and special foil material, on top of which the heating elements are laid.

Choosing the right laminate

When planning to lay a heated floor under the laminate, it is necessary choose wisely used coating. At the same time, it will not be difficult to determine what is the best material for electric heating. When choosing a floor covering, the coefficient of thermal resistance must be taken into account. The higher this indicator, the better thermal insulation properties of the selected laminate. The minimum indicator of thermal resistance for the laminate, under which the electric heat-insulated floor will be laid, is 0.15 sq. M. * K / W.

The easiest way is to lay a laminate with locks, but the technology of glue installation will require the use of expensive substrates, which leads to a significant increase in the work budget, and subsequently decreases efficiency heating the room.

An important characteristic is the indicators of the maximum heating temperature. Without damaging the characteristics of the material, its surface should be heated to at least 30 degrees. Accordingly, depending on the selected temperature class of the coating, in the future it will be necessary to adjust the temperature sensors that control the operation of the electric underfloor heating.

Today, many manufacturers offer customers a special laminate designed for use with heated floor materials. Such a coating will have a special marking, which greatly simplifies the choice of material.

Substrate selection

Choosing the right underlay for your laminate flooring will have crucial for performance indicators of the entire heating operation.

Characteristics of a quality substrate:

• Complete environmental safety.
• Resistant to significant temperature changes.
• Excellent reflectivity.

The minimum thickness of the support to be used must be at least three millimeters. Base options made of extruded polystyrene are popular.

Laying electric heating

The laying of an electric heating cable is carried out in several stages, the correctness of which will depend on subsequent trouble-free the use of flooring:

1. At the first stage, the base is prepared, for which it is vacuumed, debris and dirt are removed. Further, appropriate measurements of the surface are carried out, which will allow calculating the required number of substrate and heating elements. It is forbidden to lay the film with an overlap; accordingly, it will be necessary to select the optimal number of solid strips, between which the minimum possible gap is left.
2. The installation of a heat-reflecting substrate is carried out, which is laid over the entire surface of the floor, and double-sided tape is used to fix it to the screed. All joints of the substrate should be processed by gluing from the outside with mounting adhesive tape. A small recess is made in the substrate, in which the temperature sensor will subsequently fit.
3. The film is cut according to the available dimensions of the room. Cuts can be made with a sharp clerical knife or scissors along the lines that are painted in white. The film is laid over the entire floor surface.
4. In the places of the cut, it is necessary to insulate the tires, for which they use a special adhesive electrical tape, which is twisted through the cut. Air must not enter under the adhesive tape at the insulation points.
5. The ground bus is being processed. It is located in the center of the heating sheet. The bus is bent from both sides, after which it is grounded using an electrical film.
6. Each heating strip has a temperature controller to which you need to solder the wires connected to the control unit. The cross-section of the wire should not exceed 2.5 millimeters, and the power of the soldering iron is chosen no more than 60 watts. Carefully melt the solder and seal the wire inside the temperature sensor.
7. Connecting the sections of the film with wires, they are guided by the phase-zero rule. The wires should be used with multi-colored insulating coatings to avoid incorrect assembly of the infrared film. All soldering points should be insulated with adhesive electrical tape.
8. A temperature sensor is installed in a recess made in the substrate. The wires that come with the temperature sensor connect it to the main regulator.
9. A power cable, wires from a temperature sensor and a heating circuit are connected to the main thermostat.
10. Having completed the connection of the wires, you should fix the film on the substrate, for which use mounting tape. The heating foil should not overlap each other.
11. A trial switching on of heating is carried out, which will make sure that the connection is made correctly.
12. A polyethylene film is laid on top of the heating, on top of which a laminate is mounted on the key joint.

​

Installing an electric floor under laminate flooring may seem like a daunting and time-consuming job, but if the homeowner has the initial skills of working with a soldering iron and an electric tester, you can do all the work yourself, without resorting to professional installers. You just need to choose the right laminate to use and purchase a high-quality substrate with a heating infrared film.