How to check the installation status of floor heating panels

Abstract

To identify an arrangement position of a heating medium flow pipe and an arrangement position of a small joist, in a state where a floor heating panel has been constructed, and to easily confirm construction state of the floor heating panel.SOLUTION: A method for confirming construction state of a floor heating panel comprises: a panel identification process of identifying an arrangement position of a floor heating panel 1 and the size of the floor heating panel 1 using a panel detector, in a state where the floor heating panel 1 is arranged on a floor substrate, a floor finishing material 9 is laid on a surface side of the floor heating panel 1, and the floor heating panel 1 and the floor finishing material 9 are fixed using nails and screws; a display process of displaying the arrangement position of a heating medium flow pipe 2 and the arrangement position of a small joist 4 on an upper portion of the floor finishing material 9, according to the size of the floor heating panel 1 identified in the panel identification process; and a nail and screw identification process of identifying an arrangement position of the nail and an installation potion of the screw using a nail and screw detector that detects nails and screws, in a state where the arrangement position of the heating medium flow pipe 2 and the arrangement position of the small joist 4 are displayed according to the display process.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for checking the installation status of a floor heating panel, which checks the installation status of the floor heating panel in a state where the floor heating panel has been installed.

Background Art

[0002] The floor heating panel as described above is provided with a panel base material in which a heat medium flow pipe is disposed and small joists arranged side by side, and a heat equalizing body disposed across the panel base material and the small joists is arranged on the surface side of the panel base material (for example, see Patent Documents 1 and 2).

[0003] When installing this floor heating panel, the floor heating panel is laid on the floor base, and a floor finishing material is laid on the surface side of the floor heating panel. As a method for fixing the small joists, as described in Patent Document 2, the small joists are fixed to the floor base by driving screws for fixing the small joists to the floor base. As a method for fixing the floor finishing material, as described in Patent Document 1, in the heat equalizing body, the portion corresponding to the small joist is removed, an adhesive is interposed on the upper surface of the small joist, and the floor finishing material is fixed to the small joist by the adhesive. In addition, as described in Patent Document 2, in addition to fixing with an adhesive, there is also a configuration in which the floor finishing material is fixed by driving nails so as to penetrate the small joists at the joints of the floor finishing material.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Summary of the Invention

Problem to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] When floor heating panels are installed, a problem may occur where a creaking sound is produced when stepping on the floor finishing material laid on top of the floor heating panels. Possible causes of this include the effect of nails driven into the joints of the floor finishing material fixed to the joists, and the effect of screws driven through the joists to fix the floor heating panels to the subfloor.

[0006] Furthermore, other potential problems include accidentally driving screws intended to secure door stoppers into the locations where the heat transfer fluid pipes of the underfloor heating panels are installed, or accidentally driving nails intended to be driven into the joints of floor finishing materials into the locations where the heat transfer fluid pipes of the underfloor heating panels are installed. This could result in holes being created in the heat transfer fluid pipes, potentially causing leaks of the heat transfer fluid.

[0007] Therefore, it is necessary to confirm whether the nails and screws are driven into the desired locations once the floor heating panels have been installed. While the installation locations of the floor heating panels can be identified using, for example, a metal detector, in order to confirm whether the nails and screws are driven into the desired locations, it is necessary to further identify the installation locations of the heat transfer medium pipes and the joists in addition to the floor heating panels whose installation locations have been identified.

[0008] Traditionally, in order to determine the placement of the heat transfer fluid pipes and the joists, workers would, for example, measure the dimensions of the floor heating panels by looking at the panel specifications and using a measuring tape. However, this process is time-consuming and complicated.

[0009] Incidentally, while Patent Documents 1 and 2 describe how the placement of small joists can be identified in a heat-distributing body by removing the parts corresponding to the small joists, this only identifies the placement of the small joists when the floor finishing material has not been laid. It does not allow for the identification of the placement of the small joists when the floor finishing material has been laid.

[0010] In view of these circumstances, the main objective of the present invention is to provide a method for confirming the installation status of floor heating panels, which allows for easy confirmation of the installation status of floor heating panels by identifying the location of the heat transfer medium passage pipes and the location of the joists when floor finishing materials have been laid and floor heating panels have been installed. [Means for solving the problem]

[0011] The first characteristic configuration of the present invention is a floor heating panel provided in which a panel base material and small joists are arranged side by side, with a heat transfer medium passage pipe provided on the panel base material, and a heat equalizing element is provided on the surface side of the panel base material that extends across the panel base material and the small joists. In the state where the floor heating panels have been installed by laying them on the subfloor, laying floor finishing material on the surface side of the floor heating panels, and fixing the floor heating panels and floor finishing material with nails and screws, A panel identification process involves using a panel detector to determine the installation location and size of the floor heating panels, In the panel identification process, according to the size of the floor heating panel identified, a display process is performed to indicate the placement locations of the heat transfer medium passage pipes and the placement locations of the joists on the top of the floor finishing material. The key feature is that, after the display process has shown the locations of the heat transfer fluid pipes and the joists, a nail and screw identification process is performed to identify the locations of nails and screws using a nail and screw detector.

[0012] According to this configuration, with the floor heating panels installed, the panel identification process, marking process, and nail / screw identification process are performed sequentially. In the panel identification process, for example, a panel detector such as a metal detector is used to identify the location and size of the metal heat distribution element, thereby allowing the location and size of the floor heating panels to be determined.

[0013] In floor heating panels, the placement of the heat transfer fluid pipes and the joists is determined by the size of the panel. Therefore, in the display process, the placement of the heat transfer fluid pipes and joists can be determined by the size of the floor heating panel identified in the panel identification process. Thus, the placement of the heat transfer fluid pipes and joists can be displayed on the top of the floor finishing material.

[0014] In the nail and screw identification process, with the installation locations of the heat transfer medium pipes and joists displayed, a nail and screw detector that uses magnets or the like is used to identify the locations of nails and screws. This allows the worker to confirm the exact locations of the identified nails and screws.

[0015] By comparing the placement of nails and screws with the indicated placement of heat transfer fluid pipes and joists, workers can easily confirm whether the placement of nails and screws overlaps with the placement of heat transfer fluid pipes, and whether the placement of nails and screws overlaps with the placement of joists to the desired locations. This allows for easy confirmation of the installation status of the floor heating panels by identifying the placement of heat transfer fluid pipes and joists after the floor finishing material has been laid and the floor heating panels have been installed.

[0016] A second characteristic configuration of the present invention is that a plurality of sheet bodies indicating the arrangement positions of the heat transfer medium passage pipes and the arrangement positions of the small joists are provided according to the size of the floor heating panel. In the aforementioned display process, a selected sheet body, chosen from a plurality of sheet bodies according to the size of the floor heating panel, is laid on top of the floor finishing material, thereby indicating the placement locations of the heat transfer medium passage pipes and the small joists on top of the floor finishing material.

[0017] According to this configuration, in order to display the installation positions of the heat medium flow pipes and the installation positions of the small joists on the upper part of the floor finishing material, it is only necessary to provide a plurality of sheet members, whereby the configuration can be simplified and costs can be reduced. Furthermore, in providing the sheet members, utilizing the relationship that the installation positions of the heat medium flow pipes and the installation positions of the small joists are determined by the size of the floor heating panel, a plurality of sheet members are provided that display the installation positions of the heat medium flow pipes and the installation positions of the small joists according to the size of the floor heating panel. Therefore, according to the size of the floor heating panel, by simply selecting one selected sheet member from the plurality of sheet members, the installation positions of the heat medium flow pipes and the installation positions of the small joists can be appropriately displayed on the upper part of the floor finishing material. Brief Description of the Drawings

[0018] [Figure 1] View seen from the upper side with the floor heating panel and peripheral panels laid [Figure 2] Cross-sectional view in a state where the floor heating panel is constructed [Figure 3] (A) A diagram showing the panel identification step, (B) A diagram showing how to use a nail and screw detector [Figure 4] Diagram showing the sheet member [Figure 5] Perspective view showing the display step [Figure 6] Flowchart showing what steps are performed in the work of confirming the construction status Modes for Carrying Out the Invention

[0019] An embodiment of the method for confirming the construction status of a floor heating panel according to the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

[0020] First, the floor heating panel 1 will be described based on FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. This floor heating panel 1 is provided with a panel base material 3 in which heat medium flow pipes 2 are disposed and small joists 4 arranged side by side, and a heat equalizing member 5 disposed across the panel base material 3 and the small joists 4 is provided on the surface side of the panel base material 3.

[0021] As shown in Figure 1, the panel substrate 3 is made of a rectangular plate-like body manufactured from, for example, a foamed resin such as polystyrene, and has grooves formed therein for arranging the heat transfer medium passage pipe 2. The heat transfer medium passage pipe 2 is made of, for example, a cross-linked polyethylene pipe and is configured to allow hot water or the like to pass through as a heat transfer medium. The joists 4 are made of elongated rectangular plate-like bodies manufactured from, for example, wood or plywood.

[0022] As shown in Figure 2, the upper surface of the panel base material 3 and the upper surface of the joist 4 are configured to be flush, and by laying the panel base material 3 and the joist 4, a flush, flat surface is formed. As shown in Figure 1, by arranging multiple panel base materials 3 and multiple joist 4 side by side, a single rectangular floor heating panel 1 is constructed.

[0023] Regarding the arrangement of the panel substrates 3 and joists 4, for example, as shown in Figure 1, the panel substrates 3 are arranged adjacent to each other in a certain direction (the vertical direction in Figure 1). In the orthogonal direction perpendicular to that certain direction (the horizontal direction in Figure 1), the panel substrates 3 and joists 4 are arranged alternately. The joists 4 are positioned so that their longitudinal direction aligns with the certain direction and their short direction aligns with the orthogonal direction.

[0024] In a certain direction (up and down in Figure 1) which is the longitudinal direction of the joist 4, there is a section where the joist 4 is absent. Through this absent section 6 where the joist 4 is absent, a heat transfer medium passage pipe 2 is installed between adjacent panel substrates 3 in a perpendicular direction (left and right in Figure 1). The heat transfer medium passage pipe 2 is installed in a meandering manner throughout the entire floor heating panel 1. Both ends of the heat transfer medium passage pipe 2 are connected to a header (not shown), and the heat transfer medium supplied through the header is passed through the heat transfer medium passage pipe 2 throughout the entire floor heating panel 1, and the passed heat transfer medium is returned to the header.

[0025] In Figure 1, a rectangular floor heating panel 1 is installed in the central part of the room or other area where it will be installed, and surrounding panels 7 are arranged around the floor heating panel 1. The upper surface of the surrounding panels 7 is configured to be flush with the upper surface of the floor heating panel 1.

[0026] The heat-distributing element 5 is made of metal, such as aluminum foil, and is installed across the entire floor heating panel 1, spanning multiple panel substrates 3 and multiple joists 4. This allows the heat from the heat transfer medium (hot water) flowing through the heat transfer medium passage pipe 2 to be transferred to the entire floor heating panel 1, ensuring uniform heating throughout the entire floor heating panel 1.

[0027] When installing the floor heating panel 1, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, the floor heating panel 1 is laid on the subfloor 8, and the floor finishing material 9 is laid on the surface side of the floor heating panel 1. The subfloor 8 can be made of wood or wood-based materials, for example, and the floor finishing material 9 can be made of composite flooring materials with decorative sheets such as veneer and sawn veneer of natural precious wood or olefin sheets, or wood-based floor surface materials such as solid wood veneer.

[0028] When laying the floor finishing material 9, as shown in Figure 1, multiple floor finishing materials 9 are laid adjacent to each other with the longitudinal direction of the floor finishing material 9 (left-right direction in Figure 1) and the longitudinal direction of the joist 4 (up-down direction in Figure 1) being perpendicular. In the longitudinal direction of the floor finishing material 9, as shown in Figure 2, the floor finishing materials 9 are laid so that the protrusions 11 and recesses 12 of the floor finishing materials 9 fit together at the joints 10 of the floor finishing materials 9.

[0029] As shown in Figure 1, the joint portion 10 of the floor finishing material 9 is positioned above the joists 4 in the floor heating panel 1. For example, the placement positions of the joists 4 are indicated on the surface of the floor heating panel 1 by coloring or other means. By using the indications on the surface of the floor heating panel 1, the worker positions the joint portion 10 of the floor finishing material 9 above the joists 4.

[0030] As shown in Figure 2, the small joists 4 are fixed to the subfloor 8 by driving screws 13 through the small joists 4 into the subfloor 8. As for the method of fixing the floor finishing material 9, adhesive 14 is interposed in the heat distribution body 5 at a position corresponding to the upper surface of the small joists 4, and the floor finishing material 9 is fixed to the small joists 4 by the adhesive 14. For example, the heat distribution body 5 at the position corresponding to the upper surface of the small joists 4 can be removed, and the small joists 4 and the floor finishing material 9 can be directly joined with adhesive 14. In addition to this fixing with adhesive 14, the floor finishing material 9 is fixed by driving nails 15 through the small joists 4 into the subfloor 8 at the joint portion 10 of the floor finishing material 9.

[0031] In this manner, when installing the floor heating panels 1, screws 13 and nails 15 are used to fix the joists 4 and floor finishing material 9. When the floor heating panels 1 are installed, a problem may occur in which a "creaking" sound is produced when stepping on the floor finishing material 9 laid on top of the floor heating panels 1. Possible causes of this include the effect of the nails 15 driven into the joints 10 of the floor finishing material 9 fixed to the joists 4, and the effect of the screws 13 driven through the joists 4 to fix the joists 4 to the subfloor 8.

[0032] Furthermore, other potential problems include the possibility of a hole being created in the heat transfer medium passage pipe 2 and the heat transfer medium leaking out, if the screws used to secure the door stopper are mistakenly driven into the location where the heat transfer medium passage pipe 2 of the floor heating panel 1 is to be installed, or if the nails 15 used to drive into the joints 10 of the floor finishing material 9 are mistakenly driven into the location where the heat transfer medium passage pipe 2 of the floor heating panel 1 is to be installed.

[0033] Therefore, in the state in which the floor heating panel 1 has been installed, it is necessary to perform a work to check whether the nails 15 and screws 13 have been driven into the desired locations. To this end, in this embodiment, as shown in the flowchart of Figure 6, the work to check the state of installation is performed by sequentially carrying out the panel identification process (step #1), the display process (step #2), the nail / screw identification process (step #3), and the confirmation process (step #4) in the state in which the floor heating panel 1 has been installed.

[0034] In the panel identification process (step #1 in Figure 6), as shown in Figure 3(A), the installation location and size of the floor heating panels 1 are identified using a panel detector 16. For example, a metal detector can be used as the panel detector 16. The worker uses the panel detector 16 from above the floor finishing material 9 to identify the installation location of the metal heat equalizer 5 in the floor heating panels 1, and also identifies the size of the heat equalizer 5. Since the heat equalizer 5 is installed throughout the entire floor heating panel 1, the installation location and size of the floor heating panels 1 are identified by identifying the installation location and size of the heat equalizer 5. Incidentally, if the heat transfer medium passage pipe 2 is made of metal, the installation location and size of the floor heating panels 1 can also be identified by identifying the installation location of the heat transfer medium passage pipe 2 with the panel detector 16.

[0035] In the display process (step #2 in Figure 6), as shown in Figure 5, the placement positions 2a of the heat transfer medium passage pipe 2 and 4a of the small joists 4 are indicated on the upper part of the floor finishing material 9.

[0036] This section explains how the placement positions 2a of the heat transfer medium pipes 2 and 4a of the joists 4 are indicated on the upper surface of the floor finishing material 9. As shown in Figure 4, a sheet 17 is provided on which the placement positions 2a of the heat transfer medium pipes 2 and 4a of the joists 4 are indicated. The sheet 17 is made of a transparent sheet and the placement positions 2a of the heat transfer medium pipes 2 and 4a of the joists 4 are indicated by printing or other means. As a result, as shown in Figure 5, by laying the sheet 17 on the upper surface of the floor finishing material 9 at the placement positions of the floor heating panels 1 identified in the panel identification process, the placement positions 2a of the heat transfer medium pipes 2 and 4a of the joists 4 are indicated on the upper surface of the floor finishing material 9.

[0037] In the floor heating panel 1, there are not just one, but multiple patterns for the placement of the heat transfer medium passage pipes 2 and the placement of the joists 4. For example, in the floor heating panel 1, the pattern for the placement of the heat transfer medium passage pipes 2 and the placement of the joists 4 is determined by its size. Therefore, the sheet body 17 is also provided with multiple sheets 17, each displaying a different pattern for the placement of the heat transfer medium passage pipes 2 and the placement of the joists 4, according to the size of the floor heating panel 1. When the worker identifies the size of the floor heating panel 1 in the panel identification process, they select one sheet body 17 from the multiple sheets 17 that displays a pattern for the placement of the heat transfer medium passage pipes 2 and the placement of the joists 4 corresponding to the size of the floor heating panel 1, and lay the selected sheet body 17 on top of the floor finishing material 9.

[0038] Thus, even if there are multiple patterns for the placement of the heat transfer medium pipes 2 and the joists 4, by specifying the size of the floor heating panel 1 installed in the panel identification process, it is possible to select a sheet 17 that displays the patterns for the placement of the heat transfer medium pipes 2 and the joists 4 corresponding to the size of the installed floor heating panel 1. By laying the sheet 17 corresponding to the installed floor heating panel 1 on top of the floor finishing material 9, the placement positions 2a of the heat transfer medium pipes 2 and 4a of the joists 4 in the installed floor heating panel 1 can be superimposed and displayed on the upper surface of the floor finishing material 9.

[0039] In the nail and screw identification process (step #3 in Figure 6), as shown in Figure 5, with the installation positions 2a of the heat transfer medium passage pipe 2 and 4a of the joist 4 displayed, the installation positions of the nails 15 and screws 13 are identified using a nail and screw detector 20, as shown in Figure 3(B). The nail and screw detector 20 detects the nails 15 and screws 13 using, for example, a magnet. To explain how to use the nail and screw detector 20, as shown in Figure 3(B), the nail and screw detector 20 is moved over the area to be detected, and when it reaches a position corresponding to the top of the nails 15 and screws 13, it detects the nails 15 and screws 13. By marking this position as the nail and screw installation position 21 (see Figure 3(B)), the installation positions of the nails 15 and screws 13 can be identified.

[0040] Therefore, in the nail and screw identification process, as shown in Figure 5, a sheet body 17 is laid on top of the floor finishing material 9, and the placement positions 2a of the heat transfer medium passage pipe 2 and the placement positions 4a of the small joists 4 are superimposed on the upper surface of the floor finishing material 9. Then, as shown in Figure 3(B), the placement positions of the nails 15 and screws 13 are identified using a nail and screw detector 20, and for example, the identified placement positions of the nails 15 and screws 13 are marked on the sheet body 17 or the like.

[0041] In the verification process, the worker compares the placement positions of the nails 15 and screws 13, which were identified in the nail / screw identification process, with the placement positions 2a of the heat transfer medium passage pipes 2 and 4a of the joists 4 indicated on the sheet body 17, as shown in Figure 4, to confirm whether the placement positions of the nails 15 and screws 13 are in the desired locations. The worker confirms whether the placement positions of the nails 15 and screws 13 are in the desired locations by determining whether the placement positions of the nails 15 and screws 13 overlap with the placement position 2a of the heat transfer medium passage pipes 2 on the sheet body 17, and whether the placement positions of the nails 15 and screws 13 overlap with the placement position 4a of the joists 4 on the sheet body 17 and are in the desired locations.

[0042] The sheet body 17 displays not only the placement positions 2a of the heat transfer medium passage pipes 2 and 4a of the joists 4, but also the header 19 and the no-nailing zone 18. This allows workers to compare the placement positions of the nails 15 and screws 13 identified in the nail / screw identification process with the no-nailing zone 18 displayed on the sheet body 17, as shown in Figure 4, to confirm whether or not they have mistakenly driven nails into the no-nailing zone 18. The no-nailing zone 18 corresponds to the area 6 in Figure 1 where the joists 4 are not present, and is an area where the heat transfer medium passage pipes 2 are concentrated across adjacent panel substrates 3.

[0043] In this way, the verification process involves comparing the placement locations of the nails 15 and screws 13 identified in the nail / screw identification process with the indicated locations of the heat transfer medium passage pipe 2 (2a) and the small joist 4 (4a) on the sheet body 17 shown in Figure 4. This allows for confirmation of the placement of the nails 15 and screws 13, and thus confirms the installation status of the floor heating panel 1.

[0044] [Another embodiment] Other embodiments of the present invention will now be described. Note that the configurations of each embodiment described below are not limited to being applied individually, but can also be applied in combination with the configurations of other embodiments.

[0045] (1) In the above embodiment, when installing the floor heating panel 1, in addition to fixing with adhesive 14, nails 15 are driven into the subfloor 8 at the joints 10 of the floor finishing material 9 so as to penetrate the joists 4, thereby fixing the floor finishing material 9. However, the nails 15 can be omitted, and the floor finishing material 9 can be fixed with adhesive 14 only. In this case, the placement position of the screw 13 will be determined in the nail / screw identification process.

[0046] (2) In the above embodiment, the sheet body 17 is used in the display step to show the placement positions 2a of the heat transfer medium passage pipes 2 and the placement positions 4a of the joists 4. However, the placement positions 2a of the heat transfer medium passage pipes 2 and the placement positions 4a of the joists 4 can also be shown on the upper surface of the floor heating panel 1 installed on the floor finishing material 9 using, for example, a projection device, and the method is not limited to using the sheet body 17. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0047] 1. Underfloor heating panel 2 Heat medium flow pipe 2a Placement of heat transfer medium passage pipes 4 Small joists 4a Placement of small joists 5 Soaking body 8. Subflooring 9. Floor finishing materials 13 screws 15 nails 16 Panel Detector 17 Sheet Body 20 Nail and Screw Detectors

Claims

1. A floor heating panel is provided, which is arranged with a panel base material and small joists side by side, on which heat transfer pipes are installed, and a heat equalizer is installed on the surface side of the panel base material, extending across the panel base material and small joists. In the state where the floor heating panels have been installed by laying them on the subfloor, laying floor finishing material on the surface side of the floor heating panels, and fixing the floor heating panels and floor finishing material with nails and screws, A panel identification process involves using a panel detector to determine the installation location and size of the floor heating panels, In the panel identification process, according to the size of the floor heating panel identified, a display process is performed to indicate the placement locations of the heat transfer medium passage pipes and the placement locations of the joists on the top of the floor finishing material. A method for checking the installation status of floor heating panels, which involves a display process that shows the locations of the heat transfer medium pipes and the joists, followed by a nail and screw identification process that uses a nail and screw detector to identify the locations of nails and screws.

2. Multiple sheet bodies indicating the placement positions of the heat transfer medium passage pipes and the small joists are provided according to the size of the floor heating panel. The method for confirming the installation status of a floor heating panel according to claim 1, wherein in the display step, a selected sheet body chosen from a plurality of sheet bodies according to the size of the floor heating panel is laid on top of the floor finishing material, thereby indicating the location of the heat transfer medium passage pipes and the location of the small joists on top of the floor finishing material.

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