Warm floor on the balcony itself
The most common designs of modern balconies and loggias do not allow them to operate at street temperatures that fall below a certain level. However, this situation does not suit all owners of communal housing. That is why many of them think about the device on the loggia additional heated area, operated throughout the year. It is possible to solve this problem by partially warming the part of the apartment area we are considering while heating it simultaneously by one of the known methods. Immediately, we note that most often for the organization of such heating systems are used such as "warm floor". In this article we will learn how to make a warm floor on the balcony with your own hands.
Mounting methods
The simplest and most affordable way to organize such systems is to use cable or film electric heaters placed in the following areas of the sub-floor as sources of heat:
- in a concrete screed;
- over the screed;
- directly on the floor.
In the following subsections, each of these mounting options will be considered in its most general form.
In a concrete screed
This heating method involves laying the heating elements on the prepared concrete base, after which they are poured on top with another layer of screed. Note that in such a “cake” insulating and waterproofing pads can be used additionally, which significantly enhances the expected effect.
The very procedure of embedding a “warm floor” in a screed consists in laying out an electric heating cable on a previously prepared concrete base and then pouring it with a solution.
Under ceramic tiles
Warm floor on the balcony can be equipped on top of the screed with the calculation of its laying under the ceramic tile. In this case, first prepared screed, on which (as in the first embodiment) is placed waterproofing and insulation. And already on top of the resulting "cake" is mounted a cable or film of the insulation system, which is then applied a layer of special tile adhesive used to fix the tile itself.
The simplest of these is the option of using a special infrared-type film electric heater mounted on top of an old cement screed (that is, directly on the floor).
Under such a heater is placed a layer of insulation, which is most often used special (foam) polyethylene with a layer of reflective foil.
Installation of IR film on the floor surface
Preparing the surface of the floor for laying film electric heater begins with the dismantling of the old coating (and, if necessary, the old screed). After that, a screed of cement mortar is applied to the thoroughly cleaned and washed base, the level of which is controlled by the marks on the walls of the loggia. After some time, a flat rail is placed on it, with the help of which the horizontal position of the resulting coating is checked. After careful leveling, the screed is sprinkled with dry cement powder, and then rubbed with a trowel or grater.
Following this, a layer of waterproofing material (polyethylene film) is mounted on it with an overlap on the walls of about 10 cm. And at the final stage of the preparatory work, insulating plates of your type are placed on the waterproofing layer with a thickness of at least 7 cm.
Before you make a warm floor on the balcony - you need to worry about preparing a special place for the placement of an auxiliary electronic device (thermostat), which is included in the system and controls its operation mode.
This device is mounted in the chosen place on the wall of the loggia, after which a small groove (strobe) of the required depth is made from it to the floor. When installing the electrical part of the heating system, a plastic box with wiring is placed in the prepared gates.
The procedure for mounting an infrared film floor on an already finished base is as follows:
- First, a special reinforcing mesh is laid over the finished heat insulating layer, which is the carrier base of the entire heating structure.
- After that, directly on the grid is mounted film heater, fixed on it with adhesive tape or special tape.
- When mounting the film, special attention should be paid to the location of the contact of the heating cores with the supply wiring coming from the thermostat. This place should be no further than 15–20 cm from the previously prepared strobe, which will ensure the convenience of fixing the wires with special connecting clips.
Upon completion of the installation of the system from above, it is covered with a second layer of tie or your chosen type of finishing coating.
Video
How to lay the cable floor heating on the loggia, you can learn by watching the video:
You can find out how to make a heated floor on foam plastic by watching the following video:
A photo
