In Floor Radiant Heat Installation In Concrete

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 floor radiant heat installation in concrete.

The rest of the house has clay tile. The heat is made possible in two ways. 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. 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.

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. Slab heating mats and cables can be installed directly in the concrete when it is being poured. Very helpful information regarding flooring choices that go with radiant heat. 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.

Since concrete flooring is homogeneous concrete alone is a poor choice for radiant heating. 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. Due to it s density and low conductivity concrete retains heat very well. 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.

For new construction homes there is yet another way to heat up a cold slab and it starts before the concrete has even hardened. Radiant heating system design or installation mistakes that must be avoided. 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. How to install radiant floor heating in concrete.

Basic materials for radiant floor heat installation in a slab. 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. The workers in the photograph at page top where our concrete slab. Either through pipes carrying hot water embedded in or directly below the floor or via electric mats in or below the floor.

How does radiant heat work.