How to make a warm floor on the balcony?
Heating cable
The most time-consuming process is laying a heating cable on the balcony or loggia. If you decide to make just such an option for an electric heated floor (as in the photo), then note that the height of the room will be reduced by 12-15 cm (due to screed and insulation).
You should also understand that installing the heating cable and filling the cable ties under it will take a lot of time. If you understand all this and still decide to make a balcony heating with a cable, then follow the instructions below:
- Remove the old flooring and level the surface under the screed.
- Warm the floor and walls with foamed polyethylene foil. Be sure to glue the joints with metal tape.
- Glue the damper tape around the perimeter of the balcony, which during the thermal expansion of the screed will protect the floor from deformation.
- On a layer of insulation, fix the grid or mounting tape for attaching the electric underfloor heating to the loggia.
- Fix the heating cable with the same step, which must be calculated based on the area of the room and the recommended heating power - 250 W / m2.
- Install the temperature controller and temperature sensor in a suitable place.
- Ring the circuit to make sure everything is properly connected and working.
- Take a picture of the finished electrical heating system so that you need to know exactly where what is located if repairs are needed.
- Prepare a cement-sand mortar and fill the screed with a thickness of 4-5 cm.
- When the solution hardens completely (in the summer it is enough to wait a few days), you can proceed to laying tiles or flooring linoleum.
If you decide to make an electric heated floor on the balcony using a heating cable, note - the laminate and parquet board in this case cannot be used as a floor covering.
See the process cable laying on the loggia you can in this video example:
Heating mats
Installation of thermomats on the balcony is much simpler, because for this, it is not necessary to calculate the pitch of the conductor and fill in the concrete screed. The advantage of heating mats is that they do not reduce the height of the ceiling so much.
If you decide to heat the loggia with electric thermomats, use the following technology:
- Prepare a suitable piece of mat to cover the entire area of the room.As a rule, thermometers are produced with a width of half a meter and a length of up to 30 meters. You can cut a suitable piece for your conditions. The main thing - do not touch the heating cable on the grid.
- Place the material on an old tile or concrete screed.
- Connect the temperature sensor and temperature controller.
- Check if the connection is correct.
- On top of the mats, pave the tiles on a special tile adhesive.
As you can see, the installation of an electric heated floor on the balcony with your own hands in this case is quite simple. Please note that the thermomats are installed without the use of insulation!
You can see the installation process in more detail in the video tutorial below:
Infrared film
Well, if you decide to use a laminate or a parquet board as a floor covering on the balcony, then the only option islaying infrared film underfloor heating. Its advantage is the minimum thickness of the material, which will not affect the height of the ceiling.
So, you can independently make an infrared warm floor on the loggia using the following technology:
- Level the surface by making a rough screed (if the old floor has defects and bumps).
- Spread a layer of insulation.
- Stack the infrared film.
- Install the temperature sensor and thermostat.
- Connect the wires to the film, carefully insulate the connection points with a bituminous compound.
- Cover the finished underfloor heating on the balcony with laminate or parquet.
This option of heating the loggia with electricity is the most modern and economical. The film has better heat dissipation, because part of the heat will not be expended on heating the concrete screed. According to reviews on thematic forums, the installation of a film underfloor heating on the balcony is the most effective option for electric heating.
Video instruction for laying infrared film:
So we have provided all the existing options for heating the room through flooring. We hope the material provided helped you find out what material to choose for your own conditions and how to make an electric heated floor on the balcony with your own hands!
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