Warm floor under the linoleum itself

Today, there are many methods of arranging a warm floor. Under floor heating is combined with various floor materials. Linoleum is also no exception. This material has many advantages, since for its combination with a warm floor there is no need to flood the screed if you decide to install an infrared heated floor. In this article we will look at the features of creating a warm floor under linoleum with your own hands, based on IR film.

Infrared floor. Why precisely he?

Such material as linoleum requires uniform and smooth heating. So, on 1 m² heating power should be 150 watts. This will avoid many negative consequences associated with damage to the flooring. If linoleum is subjected to intense thermal stress, the following may occur:

• Material delaminates due to expansion.
• Change the color.
• Will release harmful substances into the air, such as phenol.
• Soften, which will lead to a rapid breakthrough of the coating.

All requirements for heating linoleum corresponds to infrared floor heating. It is worth noting that laying IR film under linoleum does not require special knowledge. All work can be done by hand.

Material for mounting IR film

In order for all the work to go smoothly, you should purchase and prepare all the building material that is necessary for laying the film floor under linoleum:

• IR film.
• Insulation and contact clamps.
• Thermostat
• Temperature sensor.
• Wiring.
• Heat-reflecting material, for example, infraflex, penoterm, izolon and others.
• Plain and double sided tape.
• Fiberboard and other similar material.

Note! Aluminum foil should not be used as a heat-reflecting material. Thermal insulation should be soft.

Most of the materials are sold with an infrared film, so you will need to purchase only a part of the list. If you have everything ready, you can proceed to the installation.

Assembly work

All the work on laying the infrared film under linoleum can be divided into several stages:

• Training.
• Installation / connection of the heating circuit.
• Laying linoleum.

Consider each stage in its sequence:

1. First you need to make a project room. It is important to indicate the location of the furniture on it, since large-sized items should not be installed on the IR film.
2. If necessary, the floor should be leveled, making a finishing screed.
3. At the next stage of the preparatory work, the heat-reflecting material is laid. Cloths should be connected to each other with scotch tape.
4. Then cutting of a thermofilm is carried out. This will help you made the project, it must be specified in advance the location of the film and the dimensions of each section.

Note! The size of one strip should be from 17 cm to 8 m. To prevent a large number of scraps, it is important to consider the location of the film so that the longest segments are obtained.

After all the preparatory work, you can start laying the infrared film. This process takes place in the following sequence:

• Lay the thermofilm copper strip down.
• For the film to fit under its weight, it will take some time. This is because the formation of an air space between the film and the heat-reflecting material cannot be allowed.
• Between the segments of the IR film should be a small distance. This will ensure uniform heating of the floor covered with linoleum.
• Now mount the clips on the copper strip, which should be insulated with bitumen insulation.
• It is also necessary to insulate all silver contacts.
• At the end of the film is fixed with tape so that when laying linoleum it does not move.
• Now mount the thermostat, which will allow to control the temperature. Installation is carried out so that it does not have access to small children.
• It is recommended to hide the running wire from the film to the thermostat in the gate.
• Connection is carried out according to the scheme from the manufacturer.
• It is important not to forget to install the temperature sensor under the film and connect it to the thermostat.

Note! If you do not have experience in working with electricity, then entrust the process of connecting a qualified electrician.

After installation work and connection of a heat-insulated floor, carry out system testing. Make sure that all connections are insulated beforehand. If everything works properly, then you can proceed to the final stage - laying linoleum:

• Before laying linoleum, lay a plastic film on top of the thermal film.
• Next, lay the fiberboard, on top of which will be mounted linoleum.

Note! There is a technology of laying linoleum without fiberboard on a warm floor. But it is risky, since this material has a small density and can be punctured from a sharp object, and as a result damage the IR film.

We follow safety rules

When laying the infrared floor is important to observe a number of safety rules. Here are some of them:

• Installation and connection of the thermostat is performed only when the power is off.
• The inclusion of thermofilm can be done only after checking the insulation of each compound.
• At the thermostat can not set the temperature above 30 ° C.
• Thermofilm should not be stacked on top of each other. This will lead to damage to the heating circuit.

From this article we learned that installation of an infrared floor heating under linoleum is not so difficult. However, it is important to properly connect the electric floor heating. If you have already done this, we will be interested in your observations. We will be grateful for the comments left at the end of this article.

Video

The provided video material will tell you about the intricacies of installing an infrared floor heating under linoleum: