Creating comfortable and favorable conditions in the bath by warming the concrete floor. The technology of floor insulation in the bath

One of the problems that can upset the owners of a brand new steam room may be the floor is too cold in the room. If they collected a bath box in the summer, they could also insulate the floor in the bath, as they say, according to the season or according to the standard adopted for ordinary housing on a light foundation. With the advent of winter, thermal insulation is clearly not enough, and in the steam room, not to mention the dressing room and dressing room, it becomes chilly even with a properly working stove.

Warming the bath floor with mineral wool will be the cheapest

Why is the floor in the bath cold

It is clear that the boards on the floor in the bathhouse should not be overheated, but it is even worse if at a height of 10-20 cm from the surface the air already seems cold, and even icy in severe frost.

There are few reasons for such cooling of the lower tier, mainly these are mistakes made when planning the design and power of floor insulation in the bath:

Alteration of the summer steam room - a temporary hut into a full-fledged bathhouse, without thermal insulation of the foundation and soil under the floor;
Incorrect position of the stove. If the distance from the boards or tiles to the stove blower is more than 25 cm, and plus everything, a screen is installed, then even the insulated floor in the bath will simply not have time to warm up in a few hours of visiting the steam room;
The erroneous device of the drain system, or worse, the equipment of the drainage pit under the bathhouse.

Important! The main reason is still the illiterate arrangement of thermal insulation. The method of warming the floors of the bath differs from the installation of warm walls and ceilings.

Another factor that prevents you from properly performing floor insulation in the bath with your own hands can be considered elementary illiteracy or the desire to save on building materials. For example, when planning floor insulation for different bath rooms, different materials and techniques are used. You can’t do everything one size fits all, if in the steam room it is necessary to lay reflective thermal insulation under the subfloor, then it is pointless to do this for a concrete base, just a waste of money. It will not be a mistake to make the floor as hot as in the steam room, but if it is the other way around, it will be impossible to heat the steam room even in 4-5 hours.

Insulation of the bath floor without vapor barrier is wasted effort and money

Cold floor in the bath: how to fix it

Even if the bath room has a weak and cold floor, no one will rebuild the building, and there is no particular need for this. But it is necessary to correct the insulation, waterproofing of the foundation and thermal insulation of the steam room, washing department and rest room.

Important! There are few options for keeping warm, but each of them requires a very careful, balanced approach. In addition to warming the bath floor, it is necessary to ensure normal ventilation of the space, otherwise the underground will not only be cold, but also wet due to condensation, and, as a result, infect the bath room with a sick atmosphere.

What can be done:

In the rest room and washing department of the bath, remove the floors, lay insulation and pour concrete screed. A clean floor is laid on top. Due to the air gap and the insulated concrete base, heat loss will decrease by 3-4 times;
For small steam rooms, the problem can be solved by laying a heat-insulating layer and changing the air movement pattern between the subfloor and front floor. A 10 kW stove of thermal power, with the correct arrangement of air channels, heats the floor in the dressing room and in the sink even faster than the walls;
Tiny bathhouses, with an area of 4-7 m 2, can simply be equipped with a “warm floor” water heating system. For most winter country steam rooms today this is the most optimal option for warming.

A hot water tank installed on the stove will provide not only floor heating, plus everything, it becomes possible to regulate the temperature depending on the weather and frost. And most importantly, upon completion of the bath procedures, the heat stored in the water container will be enough to dry the floor and drain even when the stove is extinguished.

You can heat the floor of the bath from the stove

Of course, all of the above activities make sense only with the correct primary insulation of all floor levels in the bath, otherwise the effect of heating the wooden base will be reduced to zero.

How not to do floor insulation

Separately, mention should be made of the methods by which it is impossible to insulate the base of the bath floor. First, you cannot rely only on the air gap between the wooden flooring from the boards and the ground. If the basement of the bathhouse is made without waterproofing, in other words, open ground or a dug hole for collecting water remains under the logs, then it will not be possible to insulate the floor. Humid air conducts heat very well, so the soil must be covered, an outlet sewer and an additional layer of heat-insulating material must be installed.

Insulation from cut foam packaging is unlikely to save the floor of the bath

Secondly, it is impossible to cover the outer parts of the foundation and walls with soil. Sometimes this is done to close the outer layer of insulation in the bases of residential buildings, but the earth embankment itself leads to the accumulation of water and rotting of the lower crowns of the walls. For a bath, it is more profitable to insulate the floor inside the room, rather than deal with general heat loss.

Thirdly, you can not use electric heaters, no matter if they are film or based on a high resistance cable. This is a direct violation of safety rules, and the effectiveness of such a warm floor in a bath room is low.

What insulation for the floor in the bath is better

Of the entire list of heaters used in domestic construction, only some of the most resistant to high temperature and humidity can be used to insulate the lower tier of the bath:

Extruded polystyrene foam or polystyrene;
Bulk insulation based on granulated perlite or expanded clay;
Multilayer polyethylene foam with a reflective aluminum layer;
Mineral wool.

In addition to standard ways to insulate the floor, there are many folk methods of keeping warm, most of them are still used in practice for small country steam rooms and padded jackets.

The floor can be insulated with standard foam and fiber materials

Important! Folk methods are quite laborious, require patience and good knowledge of the characteristics of the preparation of insulation, therefore, if there is no exact information about what and how to lay the material, then it is better to use more understandable traditional methods and heat insulators.

Bulk insulation

Many builders do not like floor insulation in the bath with expanded clay or perlite for one simple reason. The process itself turns out to be quite dirty and dusty; upon completion of the work, the walls and the wooden floor have to be washed and dusted for a long time. Perlite is especially "dusty" in nature, it has to be laid in the floor in the form of an additive 3: 1 to the cement mortar.

Perlite is not cheap, but the insulation from the granules is ideal

Expanded clay itself tolerates high temperatures well, therefore it retains its insulating qualities without degradation for decades. But burnt porous clay has one drawback - expanded clay, like a sponge, absorbs water vapor and odors.

If in the bath part of the moisture through cracks or through cracks in the logs gets into expanded clay, then the material will have to be changed, even prolonged heating will not restore heat-insulating qualities.

Of the advantages, one can name a simple technology, do-it-yourself floor insulation in a bath with expanded clay is considered the most affordable way of all existing ones. Expanded clay is ideal for a steam room and dressing room, but subject to good waterproofing and vapor barrier. The recommended layer thickness is up to 20 cm.

Mineral wool for the floor in the bath

Mineral fiber plates are used for insulation, basalt, gabbro-basalt or even slag processing products can be used, it is better not to use glass wool. Of the most popular brands, Rockwool or TechnoNIKOL are recommended.

The thickness of the thermal insulation layer for the steam room must be at least 15 cm, with mandatory protection of the vapor barrier on the lower layer and waterproofing on the upper one. Unlike expanded clay, thermal insulation with mineral fiber of the floor in the bath is possible only along wooden logs.

Foam materials

There is a certain prejudice in the use of expanded polystyrene and polyethylene foam in the insulation of the bath floor. Many owners of the bath, and experts too, believe that when the floor and walls are heated in the steam room, the appearance of polymer decomposition products is inevitable. In the case of walls and ceilings, this statement may have some basis in fact. Facing in the ceiling space can be heated up to 100 o C.

Insulation with polystyrene foam is the most durable

Another thing is the floor in the bath, it is always wet or even wet, the temperature rarely exceeds 50 ° C, so it is also possible to insulate the floor in the bath with polystyrene foam, but under the screed.

Advice! In cold climates, the floor in the bath can be additionally insulated using foil-wrapped polyethylene foam. One additional layer of thermal insulation can reduce losses through the floor by 20%.

How to properly insulate the floor in the bath

It is clear that the choice of insulation method fully depends on the design of the floor and foundation. For example, for a steam room installed on an uninsulated earthen base, moisture-absorbing insulation cannot be used. In this case, it will be necessary to make a screed and additional waterproofing of the base.

The scheme of warming the wooden floors of the bath on columnar supports

If the bath box is installed on piles, then the lower level of insulation is covered with a vapor barrier, and a waterproofing membrane is laid under the finishing floor, on top of the insulation. The same film acts as a water collector for the inlet funnel of the built-in sewage system.

Snipovskaya scheme of insulation for a bath on the ground

Insulation of the wooden floor in the bath

If it so happened that the bath box, including the floor, is on the ground, then the best option for warming would be to use EPS. Extruded polystyrene foam does not allow water vapor to pass through, so you can lay out and glue the sheets directly on the ground covered with plastic wrap. The next layer is laid from waterproofing, and then you can lay out the boards of the finishing floor. In the steam room, they are usually made removable to make cleaning and drying easier.

EPPS can be laid directly on the ground

It is customary to glue EPPS at the joints, therefore, if polyurethane glue is used and plates with a thickness of at least 50 mm are taken, then the bottom layer of the film can be completely abandoned. True, in this case, you will have to make a pillow of gravel and sand in order to protect the wooden floor and the entire bath building from ground moisture. If the room is planned for a steam room, then the wooden floor can be insulated with an additional layer of mineral plates.

Insulation on a sand and gravel pillow

The result is a very simple and dry floor, in which, apart from plank floorboards, there are no details, logs and beams made of wood, which means there is nothing to rot, there is no basis for the reproduction of the fungus.

Warming along the lags

In most cases, they try to raise the bath box on a foundation of piles or columnar supports in order to avoid rotting of the basement or the lower crowns of the walls. In this case, the floor is made on logs.

You can insulate the floor by laying EPS or foam plastic in the space between the wooden beams. A layer of waterproofing is preliminarily laid, then a heater and a vapor barrier membrane. The joints between the slabs and beams are blown with foam.

The second option involves the use of mineral wool slabs. In this case, there should be a ventilation gap between the wooden floor and the insulation surface, 10-15 cm high.

Thermal insulation on Rockwool with reflective foil

How to insulate a concrete floor in a bath

The easiest way to perform thermal insulation on the foundation is to use perlite concrete. Perlite moistened with water and a small amount of liquid soap are added to the usual solution. In this case, the mixture becomes fluid, and you can easily fill in insulation up to 12 cm thick.

A more complex, but at the same time better option for insulating a concrete floor in a bathhouse involves the use of an embedded insulating layer of XPS. A waterproofing film is laid on top of the laid polystyrene foam panels and beacons from a perforated profile are glued.

If the thickness of the screed is less than 40 mm, then a mesh of fiberglass reinforcement is preliminarily laid. It is clear that a concrete floor with insulation is just a rough basis; to ensure the necessary level of comfort in the bath, you will need to remember about the surface waterproofing and the sewer system.

Next, it remains to lay oak or larch beams and lay wooden floorboards. With such insulation, sanded boards are laid with a gap of 2-3 mm. The cracks do not interfere with walking in bath slippers and at the same time do not allow the wooden floorboards to swell and stand on end. In the process of cleaning, they are easy to remove, clean, dry and return to their place.

How to insulate the floor in the bath with your own hands: video

Oddly enough, but when arranging floor insulation in the steam room or other rooms of the bath, groundwater drainage is not done, these tasks are solved with the help of drainage laid around the perimeter of the foundation of the building.

The first thing to do is to tear off part of the soil inside the bath to a depth of at least 15 cm and replace the removed mass with a sand-gravel mixture or expanded clay, in which case the insulation will be softer. It is clear that the layer will need to be carefully planned and aligned with the rails.

At the second stage, the pillow is covered with a film and the main layer of foam or EPS insulation is laid out.

Next, a perlite concrete screed is poured and waterproofing is applied. A tile is laid on top of the concrete field. The use of floor ceramics in the steam room and dressing room usually causes a lot of controversy. It is believed that part of the heat is lost in this way, and the floor becomes slippery and unsafe.

On top of the insulation in the bath, you need to lay tiles and wooden ladders

In fact, the ceramic coating is ideal for a bath, tiles can be glued in one step throughout the bath, and wooden ladders can be laid on top.

As a result, we get additional bonuses:

Ideal waterproofing and insulation of the bath floor;
Lack of soil odors and penetration of fungi and bacteria from the ground;
Cleaning the floor in such a bath is much easier and faster than a purely wooden floor.

If it is required to insulate the floor with mineral wool, then a system of lags is assembled over the concrete screed, between which the slabs are laid. A PVC membrane is used as a vapor barrier, then a layer with a reflective coating and a finished floor made of wooden floorboards.

One of the options for laying Rockwool for floor insulation in the bath is shown in the video:

Warming folk methods

The simplest folk method is still used today, before steaming in a bath, a cold floor is poured with a large amount of boiling water. The procedure has to be performed until the oven warms up the floorboards, logs and underground. The technology is simple, but too troublesome.

For stone baths on the foundation, you can insulate the floor with a mixture of grated and burnt clay mixed with chopped reed stalks. To prevent the insulation from getting wet from moisture, the top was covered with larch or oak sawdust.

The most difficult option was to form channels in the subfield from clay and rye straw. When passing hot air from the stove, the floor of the bath warmed up and remained warm for 4-5 hours.

Conclusion

There are quite a few options for qualitatively insulating the floor in the bath. Even if you just do the waterproofing and vapor barrier correctly, then after laying the insulation material in the base, the floor of the bath will in any case be warm. Practice will show how durable the insulation made "by eye" will turn out.

The bathhouse or sauna has already been built, but is the heat consumption too high? Would you like the room to warm up faster and stay warm longer? Or construction is in full swing, but the tasks are the same. The ceiling, walls, floor - all parts of the structure of the bath in both cases must be insulated. Although, there is an opinion that warming the floor in the bath is a waste of time and money. Moreover, because of the insulation, the floors begin to rot and quickly collapse. There is some truth in this, but modern materials and proper insulation of the bath floor allow you to avoid these troubles and make the room even warmer, and the washing process itself is much more comfortable.

The process of insulation directly depends on the device of the floor. There are two options: concrete or wooden floors.

Bath concrete floor

Wooden floors in the bath

In any case, do-it-yourself warming of the bath floor with the correct sequence of actions is quite realistic and does not require a mandatory appeal to specialists.

Insulation of the concrete floor in the bath

If you decide to equip a concrete floor, it is assumed that first the foundation is poured, on which a concrete floor slab is placed, the third layer is waterproofing, on top of which insulation is laid, then comes the screed with a reinforcing mesh, the sixth layer is the underfloor heating system, the last is ceramic tiles . Since the tiled floor is slippery and cold, it is advisable to additionally cover it with a wooden grate, which, if necessary, can be removed and dried.

When insulating a concrete floor in a steam room, perlite, glass wool or expanded clay are most often used as a heat insulator. A layer of insulation is laid between two layers of concrete. An exception is expanded clay, which is "kneaded" directly into concrete. If perlite is chosen as a heater, then in the process of working with it, it is imperative to close the room, because. due to its lightness, the material can easily fly apart. However, due to its low thermal conductivity, perlite is often used to achieve this goal. First, you need to mix perlite with water, in a ratio of 2: 1, cement is added to the resulting solution. The mixture is thoroughly mixed until smooth, and then about 0.5 liters of water and an additional bucket of perlite are added to it. In the resulting insulation solution, water should not be released. The finished mixture is laid out in a thin layer on a concrete slab. In order for the solution to dry completely, it will take about a week, after this period the second concrete layer is poured.

Expanded polystyrene is a modern alternative to mineral wool and loose insulation. In the process of insulation, plates with a thickness of 10 to 25 cm or sprayed material are used. The recommended thickness is 10-15 cm. The most popular brands are:

Natur-III-PZ;
Styrodur;
Ursafoam/Glascofoam;
Ursa XPS Natur-III;
Penoplex.

This material has a lot of positive qualities, namely: lightness, wear resistance, excellent thermal insulation, economy in use.

However, some difficulties may arise in the process of warming the floor in the bath with foam, because. you need a perfectly flat base. The process of insulation using expanded polystyrene is similar to that described above.

Insulation of the wooden floor in the bath

Although concrete floors will last longer and are more comfortable to use, many steam bathers still opt for wooden floors. In addition to the fact that such floors are environmentally friendly, they, unlike cold tiles, retain heat for a long time. The most suitable wood species are larch, fir and pine. Boards made of oak, linden, aspen and poplar will not work. It is believed that the tree in the bath begins to rot rather quickly, but with the right approach and treatment with an antiseptic, floors can be protected from decay and fungus. Directly in the steam room, it is not recommended to treat the floor with an antiseptic or other substances, since harmful fumes adversely affect the skin and lungs. In this room, it is enough to use well-dried boards that do not rot, but darken over time.

The design of the wooden floor in the bath is not much different from the concrete one, only beams are placed instead of the floor slab, and a cranial beam is placed on top of them. The insulation goes directly over the subfloor. As a heater in this case, you can use the same expanded clay, sand, slag, fiberglass or mineral wool mats.

The parchment is most often used as a vapor barrier.

When laying the floor in the bath, one should not forget about the flow of water. Steam room lovers sometimes do not nail the boards of the wooden floor, using the so-called removable floor. As soon as the boards are wet, they are removed and put out to dry, and spare ones are laid on the floor. There is also a special technique for drying a wooden floor.

Whichever version of the floor for the bath you choose, it is better to insulate it during the construction process. How to do it with rockwool stone wool, see the video.

The technology of floor insulation in a bath room is not as simple as it might seem at first glance. Given that the floor in the bath is constantly in contact with water, it is necessary to provide high-quality waterproofing insulation. In addition, a drain arrangement is required, which also adds to the worries.

However, by following the recommendations in this article, you can easily do it yourself. We will consider what materials should be used for thermal insulation, and learn how to insulate the floor in a bathhouse on piles and strip foundations with our own hands.

1 Why do you need to insulate the floor in the bath?

First of all, floor insulation in the bath is necessary to reduce the overall heat loss of the room. As practice shows, about 15-20 percent of the heat in the steam room is lost precisely because of the cold floor. Therefore, special attention should be paid to the internal.

As a rule, a bath with missing or poor-quality thermal insulation is no longer suitable for use the next morning. You can’t say the same about a room with an insulated floor, in such a steam room you can bathe even the next day, because due to a decrease in the rate of heat loss due to a cold floor, it keeps the temperature better.

In addition to the practical factor, there is also an equally important health factor. The fact is that the difference between the temperatures of hot air in the steam room and the cold floor in the waiting room or washing room has an extremely negative effect on your body.

Of course, in the steam room itself, even an uninsulated floor, due to heat exchange with hot air, will quickly warm up to the desired temperature. However, in order for the cold floor in the washing room and dressing room not to cause a cold or illness, it must be insulated with high quality with your own hands. For this you can apply.

2 Material selection

As a rule, expensive thermal insulation materials are rarely used to insulate irregularly used baths. Let's dispel the doubt and say that even in the budget price category there are quite high-quality heaters that perform their functions perfectly. should start with this segment of thermal insulation materials.

We will not consider floor insulation with bottles and similar exotics, we will focus on specialized materials with an optimal price-quality ratio. I would like to mention that the widely presented on the market has proven itself well.

The main requirement for the thermal insulation material used for the bath floor is the minimum water absorption (hydrophobicity), on which the life of the insulation directly depends, since any material will lose its thermal insulation properties when moisture accumulates.

This requirement, from the relatively affordable options, is met by two options: ordinary polystyrene foam, and extruded polystyrene foam (penoplex). The most popular option is to insulate the floor of the bath with foam. It is almost two times cheaper than extruded polystyrene foam, but at the same time, it has all the necessary parameters.

Also, this material is characterized by a high density (from 100 to 500 kg / m3, if we talk about high-strength foam made using pressing technology), which makes it the best option for floor insulation under a concrete screed.

The technical characteristics of penoplex (extruded polystyrene foam) are an order of magnitude better. If you are not limited in funds, then it is worth insulating with foam plastic, as it is more durable, has better thermal conductivity and is generally not prone to absorbing moisture. This has worked out quite well.

The technology for insulating the floor in the bath with foam plastic and foam plastic is essentially the same, since both heat insulators are produced in the form of small plates, which are convenient to work with with your own hands. using foam is quite easy due to the ease of installation of this material.

3 Technology of floor insulation in the bath

It is immediately worth clarifying that only dry-type floors are subject to thermal insulation. That is, monolithic structures made of wood or concrete, for the flow of water in which a special drain hole is provided.

If you do the correct insulation of such a floor with your own hands, then the heat insulator will not come into contact with water, which will positively affect the durability of the entire insulation.

3.1 We warm the wooden floor

It is best to perform thermal insulation of the floor even at the stage of bath construction, however, if desired, this can also be done in an already operated room.

The wooden floor in the bath can be based on both strip foundations and screw piles. In principle, the technology of thermal insulation of both options does not have significant differences. Waterproofing of heaters with high hydrophobicity is necessary only in the washing room, in the dressing room and steam room, this can be omitted.

Consider the steps for creating a wooden floor insulated with foam with your own hands:

We install supports for the subfloor on the sides of the support beams. To do this, we need a bar with dimensions from 4 * 4 to 7 * 7 centimeters, the dimensions are selected based on the thickness of the support beams and the step between them. The cranial beam is nailed on both sides along the lower edge of the beams;
Between the support beams on the cranial beam, wooden boards fitted to the size are laid and fixed with nails or self-tapping screws;
A waterproofing film is laid on the surface of a do-it-yourself subfloor. Waterproofing, in addition to the floor, should cover 15-20 bath walls adjacent to it. It is recommended to fix the film with construction glue so as not to violate its integrity;

Scheme of the construction of the lag floor

Insulation is placed in the space between the support beams. It is important to adjust it in size so that there are no gaps between the beams and the heat insulator, which adversely affect the effectiveness of the insulation. If you insulate with foam or foam, then you can fix the material with the help of adhesives;
Insulation is placed in the space between the support beams. It is important to adjust it in size so that there are no gaps between the beams and the heat insulator, which adversely affect the effectiveness of the insulation. If you insulate with foam or foam, then you can fix the material with the help of adhesives;
The joints of individual insulation boards are glued with reinforcing tape. On top of the insulation, lay the top layer of a waterproofing film;
The gap between the drain pipe hole and the insulation is sealed with liquid penoizol, or mounting foam;
A finished wooden floor is installed on top of the insulation on the support beams.

3.2 We warm the concrete floor

When insulating a concrete floor in a washing room or dressing room, the heat-insulating material is already laid on a pre-prepared rough screed.

The choice of heaters for subsequent pouring with a concrete screed is quite extensive, it can also be insulated with high-strength foam plastic of class PS-1 (about 10 centimeters thick), foam plastic (7.5-10 cm thick), perlite concrete (7.5-10 cm), fine expanded clay with fractions of 0.16- 0.5 mm (you will need a layer of 10-15 cm).

You can also use mineral wool with a high density (layer 10-15 cm).

The technology of warming the concrete floor in the bath with your own hands is extremely simple. A layer of insulation is laid on top of the rough screed, on top of which a waterproofing film is laid.

Waterproofing inside the concrete screed is necessary so that the heat insulator is not saturated with cement laitance from fresh concrete. As a budget option, you can use the usual roofing material, which is laid with an overlap of 10 centimeters. The joints of sheets of roofing material are lubricated with bituminous mastic.

A metal or fiberglass reinforcing mesh is installed on top of the waterproofing agent, and a finishing screed is poured. It is recommended to install a galvanized pipe in the water drainage hole located in the bath floor, which will prevent contact between the insulation and the draining liquid.

3.3 We insulate the floor on screw piles

In baths built on screw piles, as a rule, a wooden floor is equipped, so the technology of thermal insulation of the floor on piles is not much different from that for a conventional lag wooden floor.

The heads of the screw piles are tied with support beams, which will act as a support for the wooden floor. The grillage made of wooden beams mounted on piles must be waterproofed, since protection against liquid ingress will significantly extend its service life. To do this, you can cover it with bituminous mastic, and glue it with roofing material.

Further, inside the contour of the grillage, in increments of 30-40 centimeters, load-bearing beams are installed, which will serve as the basis for the subfloor. A cranial bar is nailed to the underside of the beams, and a draft floor is made according to the previously given technology.

The floor surface is covered with a waterproofing film, on which insulation is laid, for example,. Further, the top layer of the film is laid on top of the insulation, and a fine wooden floor is arranged.

3.4 Bath floor insulation technology (video)

For laying the floor in the bath, various materials are used, including wooden boards and bulk earth. To understand how to insulate the floor in the bath with your own hands, you should know a few nuances. So, recently inexpensive wooden flooring has become popular.

Types of flooring materials

But it has one significant drawback - a tree, even the most expensive species, is exposed to hot water and steam. Over time, it begins to deteriorate and break down. Another option is a clay floor. It is considered environmentally friendly, but when water gets on it, it begins to swell and crack. Liquefied soap gets into the cracks, which does not dry out and becomes a source of an unpleasant odor.

Concrete

Because of these shortcomings, concrete pavement is more often used recently, which is able to withstand humidity and high temperature. The main advantage of a concrete floor is that it is easy to maintain. Most often, such floors are poured in the steam room.

A wooden floor is perfect for a waiting room, but even here it needs to be insulated - with decent thermal insulation, you can save a lot on fuel and simply increase comfort. As for comfort: heating the feet in the steam room, going out on the cold floor is not only unpleasant, but also not always good for health. Work with floors begins after the installation of the drainage system, roofing, windows, door blocks, as well as after the completion of all finishing work.

Types of heaters

Warming of the concrete floor in the steam room is carried out using perlite, glass wool or expanded clay. Such a layer is laid between the layers of concrete. An alternative to mineral wool and bulk materials is polystyrene foam 10-25 cm thick or sprayed material.

Penoplex

The advantages of penoplex are its lightness, thermal insulation, efficiency. in the bath requires compliance with two rules:

perfectly flat base;
foam boards should not be placed close to the furnace or pipes that heat up to 75 ° C.

mineral wool

Mineral wool as a heater for a bath floor has the following positive characteristics:

low thermal conductivity and resistance to physical stress;
fire resistance, which is especially important for a bath;
long service life due to resistance to rot and mold, and cost-effectiveness.

It is unacceptable to use insulation in the form of synthetic materials in the bath - linoleum and laminate.

Additional materials

In order for the insulation to perform its functions, it must remain dry, for which waterproofing is used. As a vapor barrier, glassine is often used - cardboard impregnated with oil bitumen, 0.2 mm thick polyethylene film, as well as roofing material.

Hydrobarrier

A modern "hydrobarrier" is popular - a polyethylene film reinforced with a nylon thread. The vapor barrier is spread on the floor between the beams and reinforced with a stapler or nailed. Insulation is laid on this layer. Also, rubber-bitumen mastic is used as a waterproofing.

Before applying mastic to concrete, you need to clean the surface of debris and paint, level all bumps and pits. The mastic is applied in 2-3 layers, a rolled waterproofing agent (a film, for example) is laid on top. For vapor barrier, foil is often used, which is glued at the joints with construction tape. It is also worth trying foilizol - a fiberglass-based insulator.

Thermal insulation with mineral wool

Thermal insulation with mineral wool can be carried out on three types of floor surfaces - on the ground, on logs and on a concrete surface. If the bath is just being built, then you can resort to compacted soil.

On the ground

So, the flooring is laid based on logs installed on compacted soil in the form of a mound of gravel and slag. After the embankment of gravel, a layer of expanded clay and a waterproofing film between the lags are laid. Mineral wool mats or slabs are placed directly on the entire structure so that there are no gaps between them. Mineral wool is sheathed with a vapor barrier film, after which a reinforced screed or subfloor is laid.

On the bricks

There is a second option - soil with brick columns, which are needed to fix the same lag. The sequence of warming is as follows:

expanded clay is poured to the upper edge of the columns;
bars are stuffed along the length of the log, on which wooden flooring is attached;
waterproofing and mineral wool are laid on the logs;
a vapor barrier is applied on top with an overlap, gluing the joints with construction tape.

Concrete

In the case of a concrete surface, the object of insulation is the floor slab:

a vapor barrier film is laid on the plate with the foil side;
mats or mineral wool slabs are placed on the film - evenly and without gaps;
a layer of vapor barrier is laid on top of the mineral wool with the foil side up.

Thermal insulation with a mixture

The most effective way to insulate a concrete floor is to lay two layers of concrete mixed with heaters such as expanded clay, glass wool and perlite. Perlite is an expanded sand that is light in weight and has low thermal conductivity.

Stage 1

In the case of a concrete floor, the foundation is first poured, on which a concrete slab is placed. The third layer is waterproofing and insulation, which are tightened with a reinforcing mesh. When working with perlite, you need to close the room, as this material can scatter from a draft.

The first stage is mixing perlite with water, adding cement to this mass. After harvesting, add another bucket of perlite and half a liter of water to the resulting mixture and mix well. This mass is laid out on a concrete slab and left to dry for a week, after which they begin laying the second layer. Such a floor, made by hand, will last for many years.

Stage 2

Ceramic tiles are laid on top of the floor. Such a tiled floor for a bath is not always convenient - slippery, usually cold - so it is covered with a wooden grate. If desired, this grate can be removed and dried, and during operation it allows you to maintain balance on a wet field.

Regulation systems

Underfloor heating often requires connection to an underfloor heating system with three options - resistive cable, water source heat pump or infrared system. The resistive cable is laid with a snake on a concrete-cement screed, and the infrared floor is rolled out on a stitch in strips, after which tiles are glued on it. A warm water floor is based on thermoregulation and the supply of warm water to the floor contours. Temperature regulators are located in the dressing room.

Thermal insulation with expanded clay

Floor insulation on concrete can be carried out using expanded clay:

a layer of concrete is laid and left until completely solidified;
a layer of expanded clay of 8-10 cm is poured onto the frozen concrete;
a second layer of concrete is poured onto expanded clay, which is necessarily reinforced (you can use a simple chain-link mesh);
a cement-sand screed is applied on top;
the last aesthetic layer is floor tiles.

Thermal insulation with foam

The use of foam as a heater is very effective: this material does not absorb moisture, retains its properties for a long time. It is well suited for brick baths that absorb moisture from the outside and from the ground. Foam boards are lightweight, not weighing down the ceiling and foundation. When working with foam, there is practically no waste, which reduces the cost of costs.

Stages of work

The bath takes place in several stages:

the foundation is laid on which the floor slab is installed;
floor waterproofing;
foam boards are laid, and a screed is laid on top;
the screed is coated with glue with the effect of a warm floor, and ceramic tiles are laid on top.

The thickness of the heat-insulating layer is 15 cm, but for weakly it is recommended to lay materials with a thickness of 25 cm.

wood floor insulation

Wood is preferred not only because of its cheapness, but also because of the heat it can store, unlike concrete. For a bath, materials such as spruce, pine or fir are suitable, and species of linden, poplar or aspen that give resin are not recommended. The boards are covered with a special solution that prevents the wood from rotting - so they will last for ten years without requiring replacement.

Wooden materials for laying the floor in the steam room should be well dried, and for the dressing room - also impregnated with an antiseptic to avoid rotting and fungus damage. The wooden floor in the bath has the following design - beams are placed on the poured concrete, and on top of them, respectively, a wooden beam.

The insulation goes over the subfloor. As a heater for a wooden bath floor, expanded clay, fiberglass and mineral wool, sand and slag can become.

Pile structures for the foundation

Often a bath is built on piles, which are a supporting structure and are used for installation under a log house. This is considered the simplest type of foundation. When insulating a bath on piles, there is one significant advantage - reliable waterproofing of the foundation itself by raising it above the ground. Most often, piles are represented by long metal pipes with blades that cut the ground.

After the construction of the foundation on piles, it is necessary to lay a wooden coating, which in itself will retain heat in the bath. However, one wooden flooring is not enough - it is necessary to make a base from a pipe that will connect all the screw piles, and then carry out waterproofing with a film.

Mineral wool tiles can be used as insulation between the film and the boards. External thermal insulation is carried out along the contour of the base using fasteners. After completion of work, you can begin finishing the facade.

Historically, the floors in the baths have received the least attention. This was explained by the fact that there was no centralized sewage system, and all the water flowed through the floor covering into the ground. Constant moisture would lead to the appearance of bacteria, fungi and an unpleasant odor on the insulation, so the bath floor insulation was simply not used.

At the present time, when all capital buildings have a connection to the central sanitary systems, experts advise to carry out insulation work after all activities with the log house are completed:

Roof installation;
Connecting the drainage system;
Installation of doors and windows.

At the moment, such buildings are not just places for hygiene and relaxation, but also complex engineering structures, which are often installed on piles. Such structures must be adapted to work at high temperatures and with high levels of humidity.

Floors in the bath

The service life of the bath is related to the quality of its constituent elements. The most common floors are clay and wood. The timber may not withstand constant changes in dampness and temperature, and the clay first absorbs moisture, and then cracks when it dries.

It becomes obvious that materials that are safe for human health and are good heat insulators quickly become unusable. Under such conditions, a laminate or linoleum can be used for a long time, but because of its synthetic component, this is unacceptable.

If you are puzzling over how to insulate the floor in the dressing room, then it is better to take a wooden board for this, and concrete will be the best solution for the steam room. The latter has high strength and does not enter into harmful chemical reactions under atmospheric influences.

But in order for floors made of concrete or timber to have good thermal conductivity, measures must be taken to install thermal insulation.

concrete floor insulation

There are many options on the building materials market for building an insulating layer with your own hands. Depending on the budget of the works, they can also vary.

There are two most effective methods of insulation:

With the use of perlite;
Using foam or polystyrene foam.

Insulation with perlite

Perlite is a modern material that is of volcanic origin. It has excellent thermal insulation properties, and also does not react with any substances and does not lend itself to combustion.

Important. By itself, perlite is a lightweight material, it is able to scatter with gentle gusts of wind. Therefore, when working with it, it is necessary to avoid drafts - close doors and windows.

As for working with perlite, at first it is mixed with water, but the liquid should be taken two times less. Next, cement is added to the resulting mixture. Such a solution must be continuously stirred until excess water begins to appear on its surface.

After that, the resulting solution is laid out on the floor, and it dries out within a week, after which it is again covered with concrete.

The main advantages of such multilayer thermal insulation are:

Durability;
Reliability.

The main advantage of this method is its simplicity. The foam itself has a low cost, light weight and ease of processing. In addition, its plates are almost completely hygroscopic (do not absorb water) and do not rot.

Installation process:

Such a heater for the floor in the bath is mounted mainly in two layers;
The joints formed between them are sealed with mounting foam or plugged with scraps of this material;
A screed is laid on top of the heat insulator under consideration, using fittings;
Further, when the structure is completely dry, it is faced with ceramic tiles.

Advice. If you decide to make the insulation yourself, then before laying the foam, apply an additional layer of waterproofing to the concrete coating, it will prevent the penetration of moisture.

We warm the floors from a bar

For baths, which are located on piles, insulation at the same time is also a protection that can extend their life. Therefore, special attention must be paid to its quality and reliability, the installation instructions and other recommendations must be observed.

It should be noted that the manufacture of thermal insulation for wooden floors should consist of the following items:

Logs are laid on the subfloor;
The space formed between them is filled with insulation - expanded polystyrene, expanded clay or mineral wool;
Works on installation of a waterproofing are made;
The floor board is being installed.

Important. When laying boards in this type of bath, you need to observe a slight slope in order for the water to drain.

Expanded clay insulation

Another excellent insulation for the floor in the bath is expanded clay. It has a low weight, and the pores contained inside the granules increase its thermal insulation properties. When buying, it is better to take it with a margin, because during transportation the granules tend to break (