Which floor is better to put under the tile: a comparative overview of heating systems

Tile, despite its spectacular appearance, is used infrequently in homes. The owners complain about its cold surface, which you can’t walk barefoot in the winter. Indeed, the clay from which tiles are made has high thermal conductivity. But this disadvantage is easy to turn into an advantage, because in the summer such a floor will be nice to cool your feet, and in winter it will replace the Russian stove. How? It's simple: you just need to mount warm floor under the tile. Tiles are an excellent conductor of heat, so you do not need to install batteries. It remains to decide what type of underfloor heating is more profitable to lay in your home - electric, infrared or water.

Water floor: not recommended for apartments

The cheapest energy resource is still water. That is why demand for water underfloor heating does not decrease. But this option is not possible in every home, because it will have to be connected to the heating system. In a private house there will be no problems, since it is heated autonomously. But the apartments are powered by central heating mains and are included in the city-wide heating system.

Installation of water floors in this case is prohibited, because it increases the city’s expenses for heating water, it requires high-capacity pumping units. In this case, you can cause a decrease in temperatures in nearby apartments. For unauthorized installation of warm water systems, the owners will pay high fines. They will have to dismantle the structure, which means that all costs for equipment and installation will "fly into the pipe."

The second reason that water floors in apartment buildings are not laid is the increased load on the floor slabs. After all, during installation, you need to fill in a cement-sand screed, lay the reinforcing mesh and pipes. This is a significant weight, and for apartments in old buildings it can be critical, causing the collapse of the slabs. And if a pipe rush unexpectedly occurs, then you risk "bathing" your neighbors from below in hot water.

The third reason is purely aesthetic. The apartments have already low ceilings, and when laying the water system, the floor will rise at least 10 cm. From this room they will seem squat and cramped.

Water floors are difficult to install and maintain, but in large areas they are worth the cheap cost of water as an energy carrier.

But in private homes, especially with a large quadrature, this type of underfloor heating has no equal in efficiency. True, the owners will first have to fork out for a boiler of greater power and complex installation. And those who heat the house with gas will pay a little more, but within a couple of years the system will pay for itself, and you will get a plus, compared to electric floors.

Step-by-step installation instructions for a water heated floor are presented in our next article:http://aquatech.tomathouse.com/en/otoplenie/teplyj-pol/kakoj-teplyj-pol-vybrat.html.

Electric floor: choose the best option

The main advantage of an electric floor is its ability to work all year round. It does not depend on the heating period, so on damp spring-autumn days it will warm your home when all the neighbors are freezing. This is the only possible option for residents of apartments, although in private houses such floors are also often laid, using as an addition to the main source of heat.

Many residents choose electric underfloor heating for subsequent laying of the tile because its temperature can be adjusted by setting the optimal mode for a particular season. Water systems are deprived of such an opportunity.

But since the electric heated floor is cable, in the form of mats and film, we compare that it is more profitable for a tile.

Option # 1 - cable electric floors

Laying cable underfloor heating under the tiles is rare. Firstly, these systems require pouring a concrete screed somewhere around 4 cm, and taking into account the height of the cable, the floor rises by 6-8 cm. Secondly, the screed gives a load on the base, which is undesirable in apartment buildings.

The cable floor cake is quite high and heavy due to the screed, so it steals the height of the room and increases the load on the base

This version of the electric floor is most beneficial to owners who have just received or built their living space without finishing. Then, at the stage of creating rough floors, they still have to fill in the screed to level the base. This is where the cable system is attached.

Please note that single-core cables are cheaper, but they are inconvenient in premises of complex layout, because they require a mandatory return to the thermostat. Those. both ends should converge at one point. Twin-core options are thicker and higher, but their ends are not tied to each other, so laying is easier.

The launch of the cable underfloor heating system for tiles is carried out only after the concrete screed and tile adhesive have completely dried.

Option # 2 - electric heating mats

In our minds, the word “mat” evokes associations with sports equipment, but the electric options are not at all as thick as their sports “brothers”. On the contrary, the basis of the heating mats are very thin cables that are glued into a reinforced mesh. The thickness of the roll does not exceed 3 mm, so it does not reduce the height in the room.

This option is very convenient for those apartments and houses where there is already a concrete base. The mats are simply rolled out on concrete, covered with tiled glue, and the tiles are fixed on top.

Due to the lack of cement-sand screed and the small thickness of the heating mats, such floors are recommended for rooms with low ceilings

Installing a heated floor from electric mats under the tiles is so simple that it does not require any professional knowledge.

Installation of underfloor heating mats does not require specific knowledge. The main thing is to study the installation instructions and remember the school physics course

Any man can put out the “mats” and bring the cable ends to the socket, where the temperature regulator will be installed. But this option of a warm floor will cost a third more expensive than cable.

Option # 3 - film floor

The most modern type of electrical system is film. Such a floor is also called infrared, because it does not allow infrared radiation from the room to the underground and does not emit electromagnetic waves. It is believed that this type of heating is the most efficient and heat-saving.

The material is represented by a film of polymers, broken into squares. In each square, a large number of heating plates are soldered, which are powered from the mains.

Since tile adhesive does not fit with the material of the infrared floor, they are sometimes separated by a plasterboard layer, thereby reducing the reflective properties of the coating

If you opted for film warm floors, then the instructions for calculations, design and installation, which is presented in our next material, may come in handy to you:https://aquatech.tomathouse.com/en/otoplenie/teplyj-pol/infrakrasnyj-plenochnyj-teplyj-pol.html.

Despite its effectiveness, it is not recommended to lay infrared underfloor heating under the tile, since the film material does not connect to the tile adhesive very well. If to lay such a floor, then only carbon. The bimetallic version is generally not used for ceramic tiles. To improve the quality of the film-adhesive bond, an assembly fiberglass mesh with small cells (up to 3 cm) is laid between them.

By the way, many experts believe that under a hard coating, such as tiles or porcelain tiles, infrared floors lose some of their useful properties. So is it worth it to pay a high price for the material, if you can achieve high-quality heating more budget systems?

However, some place such a system under the gypsum plasterboard sheets, and then lay the tile on top. But this is not effective - the floor will warm up for a long time, and even for the money, electricity will fly into a pretty penny.