A friend of mine want to know the best way to install some underfloor heating in his conservatory, he has had the concrete floor layed and is now ready for the heating. What is the best way to go about this? What he needs to know is 1. type of heating system 2. amount of insulation 3. how to lay the floor 4. temperature setting for the heating system Are there any school boy errors I need to avoid?
wet system is best but needs to go in before the concrete so your left with electric. if its a new built concrete base the insulation should already be under it. If your installing ceramics you will need a mat/mesh system. You cant put insulation underneath it as the tiles need to bond to the concrete. If you was installing a wooden floor floating you can use insulation boards and a vapiour barrier along with a carbon mat system. Max floor temp should never be higher than 27c and you can only raise or lower the temp by 2c per day to avoid damage to adhesives etc. Ceramics can cope with a bit more of temperature change tho.
Surely electric isn't the only way to go..... The concrete has been layed but there is 100mm left to the FFL. Can insulation be layed (50mm) and then a wet system put down and covered in screed (50mm)? Seems feasible to me?
yes, but use fibre bonded screed. Make sure the boiler has enough power to add the underfloor heating onto it. Or you may need a slighty bigger boiler also. :thumbs
Fibre bonded screed, never heard of it? Is this stuff expensive? Any manufactures you recommend? Can the tiles be layed directly to this?
fibre bonded is used on almost all floating slabs over insulation. When you phone any cerment/screed supplier thay will ask you what its for and they will advice you the correct one for a base over insulation at what ever depth you will be laying at. Depending on what area your in depends on who you use. Try yellow pages. And providing you lay properly you wont need any more prep work apart from priming the floor. Once laid cover the screed with a plastic sheet for 1 week to slow dry process which will stregthen the subfloor. Then allow to dry for a few weeks if ceramics are to be installed. Any other products will need a drying time of 1mm per day. The concrete must read below 75% RH on a flooring hygrometer before install.
