In Floor Radiant Heat Installation In Concrete

This article explains how to avoid some fatal mistakes when installing radiant heat in a concrete floor slab by describing an incompetent radiant heat floor installation along with an explanation of why things went wrong and how to avoid these errors.

In floor radiant heat installation in concrete.

The most cost effective system for medium to larger homes is hydronic since the amount of power it would take to heat a whole home with electric would be substantial. Remember since you will only have 1 chance to pour the concrete slab you will only have 1 chance to put the pex tubing in it. In fact any type of flooring that employs adhesive as its joining system is a poorer choice for radiant heating systems than flooring that uses tongue and groove or fold and lock seaming. The design and layout of concrete floor radiant heat is often complex and typically should be done by a certified radiant heating professional rather than the concrete contractor.

Offering 20 watts per square foot the slab heat mats are ideal if you. For new construction homes there is yet another way to heat up a cold slab and it starts before the concrete has even hardened. The heat is made possible in two ways. How does radiant heat work.

So even if there are no existing plans for the radiant floor heating or a snow melting system installing pex tubing in it may turn out to be a good decision. Instead of blowing hot air through a vent or pumping hot water to a baseboard radiator along the wall radiant heat warms up the entire floor. We have a radiant floor heating system with a concrete slab and need to replace the wall to wall carpet in the bedroom with laminate flooring. Very helpful information regarding flooring choices that go with radiant heat.

There s two basic types of concrete floor heating hydronic and electric. For concrete floor radiant heating systems the warm water tubing or electric heating elements can either be embedded within the slab on grade anywhere from the bottom of the slab to within 2 inches of the surface depending on the design and installation technique or fastened to the top of a concrete subfloor and then covered with an overlay. Either through pipes carrying hot water embedded in or directly below the floor or via electric mats in or below the floor. The rest of the house has clay tile.

Radiant heating system design or installation mistakes that must be avoided. Since concrete flooring is homogeneous concrete alone is a poor choice for radiant heating. The workers in the photograph at page top where our concrete slab. Slab heating mats and cables can be installed directly in the concrete when it is being poured.

A lot of planning and teamwork early in the process will help ensure a successful installation says the radiant panel association in its 2008 radiant flooring guide.