Do It Yourself Hydraunic Floor Heating On Existing Concrete Floor

Radiant air floors don t hold large amount of heat and for this reason they are used mainly in commercial buildings.

Do it yourself hydraunic floor heating on existing concrete floor.

In floor heating works well heating spaces of all size and use. Large warehouses to tiny bathrooms lavish homes to well used workshops. Electric radiant floors do a great job at heating any kind of home but they re extremely expensive. Radiant heating works well with ceramic tile and vinyl but not with wood floors.

The thermofin u heat transfer plates are easier to install if the fins are down against the subfloor and plywood sleepers on the fins. Hydronic or liquid floors these cost less and are therefore used more often in residential construction. Heating up the mass of concrete is not necessarily a good thing when you want the entire surface floor to be warmed. Embedding your radiant heating system into a concrete slab is one of the most cost effective ways to install it and most energy efficient being that concrete is a great thermal mass.

So when installing a floor sensor thermistor never embed the thermistor itself into the concrete. With a floor sensor controlling the radiant zone independent of the room s air temperature the floor maintains whatever baseline temperature you desire and the other heat sources if used can make up the difference. 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. Some look like wire fencing that you roll out over the floor.

This is the best choice for new construction and areas receiving new slabs. I don t particularly like them however because they re not very energy efficient. In a wet installation the heating panels are installed on the floor and a thin layer of concrete or gypsum is spread over the installation sandwiching the cables or tubing between two layers of either flooring or concrete. There are several manufacturers of electric radiant floor heating systems that can be placed directly on top of an existing concrete slab.

With a hydronic system you can attach aluminum plates beneath the floor to spread and store heat. Our do it yourself kits can be installed and utilized in all sorts of spaces with all sorts of materials.