Underfloor Heating

stueyhants

Be careful of damp issues if you do fill in with screed. When it rains heavy is there any water on the ground for a brief period of time , all depends on the ground conditions around you. If so when you fill in the void you will force the water elsewhere which might have consequences.

FreeBear

J_Smotthies2021 said:  My builder is not suggesting to replace the wooden floor with concrete slab. He is referring to screed only so heating works properly. Having said that he also said that he needs to remove the flooring first to see how deep it actually is.

Struggling to see just how this floor would be constructed if the builder is going to remove the existing floor and put down insulation+screed - Without a well prepared base, the floor will sink and end up being a right mess within a couple or three years. On the other hand, if he is looking at retaining the joists and slapping a layer of screed on top, budget for a complete replacement once the timbers have started to rot.

stuart45

The problem is often in the language used. You often explain something to a customer in the same way as talking to someone in the trade, instead of making sure they understand exactly what you mean. People will often nod as if they understand, but probably don't know what you mean. They then have a completely different version of what the intended work involves.

fenwick458

J_Smotthies2021 said:

I prefer laminate wooden floor in all areas including kitchen. 

Laminate is not a good floor covering to use. firstly it's an insulator, so it doesn't conduct heat well. secondly the floor is unlikely to be perfectly flat, so you'll probably end up with air pockets and an uneven distribution of the heat.

Emmia

fenwick458 said:

J_Smotthies2021 said:

I prefer laminate wooden floor in all areas including kitchen. 

Laminate is not a good floor covering to use. firstly it's an insulator, so it doesn't conduct heat well. secondly the floor is unlikely to be perfectly flat, so you'll probably end up with air pockets and an uneven distribution of the heat.

It's also not great if it gets wet, which is a risk in a kitchen with appliances like dishwashers, washing machines and pipework for sinks...


I'd do a good LVT instead throughout.

mug2007

We have installed underfloor heating on the ground floor of our 1930s house, the house has been internally insulated and it is double glazed as I understand it is not recommended unless your home is sufficiently draught proofed and insulated.  Seems to be very effective at heating our home so far.  I understand that the screed we used will take about 100 days to dry (watertight and heating on) before we can glue down the LVT.  We tested after 30 days and it failed the humidity test.  We will live with a dusty floor for a bit and hope it passes in due course.

Eldi_Dos

mug2007 said:

We have installed underfloor heating on the ground floor of our 1930s house, the house has been internally insulated and it is double glazed as I understand it is not recommended unless your home is sufficiently draught proofed and insulated.  Seems to be very effective at heating our home so far.  I understand that the screed we used will take about 100 days to dry (watertight and heating on) before we can glue down the LVT.  We tested after 30 days and it failed the humidity test.  We will live with a dusty floor for a bit and hope it passes in due course.

Interested to hear how this was done,I wonder if you could tell what type of screed was used and where it was placed and how heating elements and floor are in relation to each other,I would imagine in winter it would be luxurious.

mug2007

The builders broke up and removed the existing floors then other prep work such as membrane, concrete, insulation as specified in drawings.  Then the screed company sorted a ufh design with the layout of pipes (not under kitchen units) and location of manifold. We agreed heating zones and purchased thermostats for each. Then all in one day they covered floor with black dpm, pipes down and then liquid screed piped in.   Lots of videos on you tube.  Quite impressive and quick.

grumbler

mug2007 said:

The builders broke up and removed the existing floors then other prep work such as insulation, concrete, membrane as specified in drawings.  Then the screed company sorted a ufh design with the layout of pipes (not under kitchen units) and location of manifold. We agreed heating zones and purchased thermostats for each. Then all in one day they covered floor with black dpm, pipes down and then liquid screed piped in.   Lots of videos on you tube.  Quite impressive and quick.

What sort of "existing floors"?

What about the insulation?

Rosa_Damascena

grumbler said:

mug2007 said:

The builders broke up and removed the existing floors then other prep work such as insulation, concrete, membrane as specified in drawings.  Then the screed company sorted a ufh design with the layout of pipes (not under kitchen units) and location of manifold. We agreed heating zones and purchased thermostats for each. Then all in one day they covered floor with black dpm, pipes down and then liquid screed piped in.   Lots of videos on you tube.  Quite impressive and quick.

What sort of "existing floors"?

What about the insulation?

And drying time?

How big is your manifold btw? Where have you sited it?