A heated floor in a sauna is a useful addition that helps to create an optimal microclimate necessary for taking hygiene procedures. Consider one of the options for installing a water heated floor in a bath. Content:
- System elements
- Water floor design
- Rough screed
- Manifold cabinet
- Warming
- Pipe laying
- Finishing floor
The water heated floor in the bath provides comfort in a popular resting place and allows you to quickly dry the room. Such a heating system can be used in a washing room, a changing room and in a rest room, in a steam room - it makes no sense. A water heat-insulated floor is allowed to be installed in any section of the bath; other systems, for example, electrical ones, are unsafe to install in washing rooms.
Elements of a warm water floor in a bath
To make a water floor in a bath with your own hands, buy the following devices in advance:
- Water heating boiler. The device must provide hot water to the heating system at peak load, while a margin of 15-20% must remain.
- The circulating pump that builds up pressure in the system is often already built into the boiler.
- Shut-off valves, which are installed at the outlet and inlet of the system, allow not to drain the water from the system during the boiler repair.
- A collector is a device that distributes water along the circuits, with its help individual circuits are adjusted and provide uniform heating of the room. Equipped with drain flange and air bleed system. The simplest manifolds are on sale, which have only a shut-off valve, and expensive automatic devices with servo drives.
- Water pipes. The most popular are polypropylene or metal-plastic with a diameter of 16-20 mm. Fiberglass-reinforced pipes have a low linear expansion rate. Pipes must withstand 10 bar, temperature - 95 degrees. Also, products should have low resistance, flexibility and thermal conductivity.
Designing a water floor in a bath
For the effective operation of the system, it is necessary to determine the length of the pipes, select the laying step, calculate the boiler power and other parameters.
When determining the length of the pipes, use the following guidelines:
- The maximum area of the room heated by one circuit is 20 sq. m. If heated floors are planned in the bathhouse in the washing room and the rest room, two circuits are made, and each is connected to the collector cabinet individually.
- Each circuit has no more than 60 m of pipes.
- The distance between the pipes after laying on the floor is an average of 30 cm.
- The connection to the manifold cabinet requires 2 m of pipes.
When calculating the power of the boiler, take into account many factors, including the volume of the room and the material of the walls, etc. Also take into account that the temperature of the water in the pipes should be no more than 55 degrees, although in the boiler it is much higher. Incorrect power calculations will lead to the impossibility of the system functioning, it is better to contact specialized companies.
Making a rough screed for a water floor in a bath
The device of a water heated floor in a bath begins with the manufacture of a rough screed, the procedure is as follows:
- Dig a pit and install the drainage elements that are under the floor. Provide a right angle between the walls for proper installation of the insulation. Level the floor of the excavation in a horizontal plane, tamp it.
- Pour 8-10 cm of sand at the bottom. Tamp well.
- On top, add the next layer of bedding - crushed stone (layer 7-8 cm), also compact well.
- Prepare cement, sand and crushed stone, water, mix everything using a ratio of 1: 3: 5. Fill the floor with concrete with a layer of 5-10 cm. Tilt the surface towards the water drain, at an angle of 10 degrees. Let the concrete cure (approximately two weeks).
Installation of a collector cabinet for a bath water floor
Determine the location of the manifold cabinet. If a warm floor is supposed to be in several rooms (washing room, rest room), the cabinet should be located at the same distance from the rooms, closer to the floor. The stores sell ready-made collector cabinets with already built-in equipment - pipes, valves, taps. There you will also get advice on how to make a water-heated floor in a bath and what equipment is still needed. Make an opening in the wall according to the dimensions of the cabinet and fix the device. Lay a dense cellophane film for waterproofing on the cement screed.
Thermal insulation of the water floor in the bath
Lay insulation on the film - foam 25 density 50 mm thick, or polystyrene, which is denser and does not deform. You can also use glass wool, mineral wool, foam concrete.
In the insulation, make holes for the installation of beacons, along which the filling of the screed is controlled. Install beacons in the holes, set their surface in one plane, with an inclination to the water drain.
Attach a polyurethane foam damper tape to the bottom of the walls to compensate for expansion of the screed when hot water is supplied, so that cracks do not form in the concrete. The tape should be between the finishing screed and the wall.
Laying pipes for a water floor in a bath
Lay a reinforced metal mesh made of 8 mm bar with 100x100 mm cells on the insulation. The mesh is needed to fix the pipes. It is not needed if a special insulation for warm floors is used. The heat insulator is a mats with bosses, which are designed to fix pipes.
Perform further work in the following order:
- Mark the position of the pipes on the floor. Pipes can be laid in different ways - with a spiral, snake, loops, geometry does not affect heating. Provide a gap of 10 to 40 mm between the pipes, the gap from pipe to wall is at least 25 cm.
- Pipes are delivered in coils, do not pull them out along the turns, but unwind and immediately fasten with clamps every meter. Do not tighten the hinges, allow the pipes to expand freely when heated.
- Make turns with a minimum bend radius of five pipe diameters.
- Secure the pipes to the flanges on the manifold.
- Check the system for leaks by filling the pipes with water and applying a pressure of 5-6 bar. Carefully inspect all joints, otherwise you will soon have to re-lay the warm water floor in the bath.
Pouring the finished floor in the bath
The finished floor can be poured with a special solution that is sold in stores, or you can prepare it yourself. The advantages of the ready-made mortar are the presence of additives in the composition that increase the heating rate of the screed and prevent the screed from cracking.
You can independently prepare concrete based on fine-grained crushed stone (dropout). The floor is much stronger, less cracking. On sale there is crushed stone, already mixed with sand. If the crushed stone is without sand, cement, crushed stone, sand are taken for the preparation of the solution, in a ratio of 1 to 4 to 3, 5. Water is poured into a semi-liquid state. You can also add a plasticizer to the concrete to obtain the required plasticity. Also, reinforcement wool is sometimes introduced into concrete to increase the strength of the floor.
When pouring the screed, adhere to the following recommendations:
- Before work, create a pressure in the system - 1.5-2 atmospheres.
- Perform work at positive temperatures.
- While pouring, compact the concrete with a vibrator or other method.
- The optimum thickness of the fill is 7-8 cm, the minimum is 5 cm. If tiled flooring is planned, the thickness of the screed is 3-5 cm.
- Make the surface with a slope towards the drain, along the lighthouses.
- After pouring, it is better to darken the room, and cover the floor with plastic wrap until it dries completely.
- If the floor is covered with tiles, choose a matte finish to prevent slipping. Often the floor is left uncoated or slats or mats are used.
Watch a video review of installing a warm water floor in a bath using flexible pipes:
[media = https://www.youtube.com/watch? v = NZtrqh0Wvo4] Lovers of hot baths prefer floors with artificial heating. Water heated floors completely satisfy users and have been used in saunas for a long time.
