Radiant Floor Heating Concrete Slab Thickness

A radiantec quick kit is an easy to order package that will contain the material necessary to install radiant heat in a concrete slab excluding your insulation.

Radiant floor heating concrete slab thickness. I also wanted to see how tubing depth effects heat output for uncovered concrete slabs. Thick concrete and the simulations were rerun. This is a video showing the process of pouring gyp crete over radiant heat pex pipe on the upper floor of this home this product will be 11 2 thick. A slab on grade is defined as any concrete slab poured over excavated soil.

It is best practice to not install normal concrete less than three inches thick. Oak flooring into 3 8 in. A thicker slab takes longer to warm up than a thinner slab but it also takes the thicker slab more time to cool down. 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.

We wanted a wood floor and spent a lot of time talking to flooring experts. 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. Many people don t know how much tubing to put in and unfortunately radiant heat isn t a one size fits all proposition. The results for upward heat output at a water temperature of 100f are shown in figure 4.

Quite simply concrete floor radiant heat is a system of pex tubes that carry hot water throughout a concrete floor or slab. Check building plans for what is required by code. From a radiant heating perspective it doesn t matter if the slab is actually at grade or is poured several feet below grade as part of a full foundation. 14 years later still in good shape and seems to keep house warm and comfortable.

Thinner pours can be done on top of radiant floor heating systems. The fea model was easily modified to turn the 3 8 in. Radiant heating system design or installation mistakes that must be avoided. This size is adequate for all small to medium size jobs both in residential and commercial projects.

We were told the only way to go was a wood engineered floor glued down. 26 jun 2005 time. The workers in the photograph at page top where our concrete slab. 5 8 barrier pex can be used for larger projects where high btu load is present due to lack of proper insulation larger than normal slab thickness or special project considerations.

Radiant heat can be used in slabs as thin as 1 5 such as in cases where it s placed over existing floors.