Putting an island over under floor heating

rosie383

As part of our new extension we had under floor heating installed and screeding on top of that. Then the area will be tiled.
We are now concerned about how the island is going to be fixed to the floor and the fact that there is going to be a washing machine in the island too.
Ikea kitchen staff said that they do supply an island fixing kit and it would entail drilling down into the floor.
Any advice would be very welcome before any more work is done on this area. We are now aware that perhaps the under floor heating should not have been installed under the island area, but we trusted that the installers would know what they were doing.
We haven't bought the kitchen yet as we have nowhere to store it, so could change our plan if we have too. All of the electrics and drainage have already been installed in the island area.

JP08

Sounds a messy situation - but it does at least look like you can find where the pipes are ...


eg https://www.red-current.com/thermal-imaging-surveys/under-floor-heating


... I just Googled "detecting underfloor heating pipes" :O)

rosie383

JP08 wrote: »

Sounds a messy situation - but it does at least look like you can find where the pipes are ...


eg https://www.red-current.com/thermal-imaging-surveys/under-floor-heating


... I just Googled "detecting underfloor heating pipes" :O)

At what cost though? Really don't want to have to shell out more money because someone who should know their job, hasn't bothered to think it through. We have never done anything like this before and have learned so much. Some things we have entrusted to the professionals, but honestly, why should we have to research very little thing and know what we should be researching in the first place?
So much to think about.

Kiran

When you say island, do you mean in the middle of the room with no adjoining walls? If you have 1 adjoining wall you can fix back to that. How big is the island setup, does it need to be fixed down?

JP08

Can't help you with what the detection would cost. But given the situation is what it is, it may be the best solution. I actually suspect it isn't that dear - a guy for an hour or so with a thermal camera plugged into a laptop and a printer !


As to who pays, that may be a different kettle of fish.


If you are employing someone (a single firm) to install or organise the installation of the heating, flooring and the kitchen then it is their responsibility to ensure that the fitting of the latter doesn't damage the former. And they should carry the can for any extra cost for not thinking it through (or the cost of repair if taking pot luck in drilling the holes !)


If, however you organised the heating guy (or changed the design of your kitchen) then you're going to be left holding the baby.

Hoploz

Just wondering, had you already planned to have the island when the under floor heating and floor was put down? Or is it a new addition to the kitchen layout? Does the rest of the floor have heating right to the edges, or is there a gap where the units are going around the edges?

rosie383

We planned the under floor heating and it is covering the whole floor as far as I know. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. I just wish that either the builder who recommended it, or the people putting it in, would have said that it normally doesn't go under units.
The builder today has said that because the island units will be on legs and all of the units clamped together with quartz on top, that it won't actually require a lot of fixing into the floor.
And to answer a previous point, different trades are doing different bits.

Hoploz

I've never had underfloor heating, hence asking the question about what's under the rest of the units. But I would say that if there will be tiles and concrete on top of the heating them the fixings would be unlikely to be longer than this.

I don't know what the norm is, but I was wondering about the impact of the heat on the enclosed units - not sure I'd want to put food stuffs in a cupboard or drawer that's heated underneath, for example.

rosie383

Not knowing that the heating would be under the units until now means that I will now have to rethink food storage. Things like oils and spices should be okay and most dried foods but I will probably put most foodstuffs in the wall cupboards.

ic

rosie383 wrote: »

The builder today has said that because the island units will be on legs and all of the units clamped together with quartz on top, that it won't actually require a lot of fixing into the floor.

You will most definitely need lots of attaching to the floor. Legs alone will be too prone to being pushed sideways on their own, especially with that weight to them. Are you having plinths or visible legs? Behind plinths the ikea legs are simply plastic tubes - they're very strong with compressive loads from above, but pushed sideways they fall to bits - so the units must be well and truly bolted in place. My island has four of these underneath, in addition to the legs - http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/20298405/.

victor2

We have an island in our kitchen and it is not fixed to the floor in any way. It does have solid sides and a granite top - which it took two burly men to carry in - but it does not move, and has been in place for about 8 years now.
No underfloor heating, although we did have power run under the floor to the island.