Installing Radiant Floor Heating Over Concrete

Retrofitting radiant heating over a concrete floor is the hardest to do but it is possible.

Installing radiant floor heating over concrete.

Radiant heat warms a floor s surface through electric mats or water tubing installed on the surface of a concrete floor and encased in an additional thin layer of concrete or thinset. Quite simply concrete floor radiant heat is a system of pex tubes that carry hot water throughout a concrete floor or slab. The system works via pex pipe a small pump a water heater and a thermostat. While hot water and air based radiant.

While it was done as a new house was being built in my last house i poured a concrete floor on top of a wood framed floor system and could have put radiant heat in that as well. What is radiant floor heating. The major requirement is being able to add another layer to the top of the floor. You can step onto a warm and inviting floor even one built on a concrete slab by adding in floor heating.

Installing pex tubing in a concrete slab is one of the easiest ways to install radiant heat. Radiant heating works well with ceramic tile and vinyl but not with wood floors. Best flooring properties for radiant heating. Properties that make a floor covering good or bad for radiant heating systems tend to center around the thickness of the flooring the flooring s thermal conductive nature its tendency to expand and contract and whether it is prone to water and heat damage.

Its success with carpeted floors depends on the length of the weave thick carpets or those with thick pads won t work well as heat generated by the system will stay trapped in the floor. There are two basic types. This system does not move the air with blowers and thereby reduces dust and. Second what types of flooring can be applied over the radiant floor heating system.

We are considering a seamless epoxy floor surface to cover the floor heating system. Radiant heat can be an electrical heating element embedded into a very thin concrete overlay then tiled carpeted or have wood flooring installed over it. Installing underfloor electric radiant heat. As stated above regarding condensation over a concrete slab is condensation an issue.

This is about installing hydronic radiant floor heating in a slab floor system.