hydronic radiant floor heating cost existing concrete slab

Hydronic radiant floor heating cost existing concrete slab install#

The ThermoFin U heat transfer plates are easier to install if the fins are down against the subfloor and plywood sleepers on the fins. Heating up the mass of concrete is not necessarily a good thing when you want the entire surface floor to be warmed.

The energy without the layer of insulation will be drawn into the concrete, and the response time would be longer in heating the floor. Keep in mind that you want the heat energy to be going into the plywood sleepers and the finish floor, which is why we recommend the Rboard®. It will work with 1/2' plywood if necessary. The fasteners will hold best if you can use 3/8' plywood. On top of the Rboard® you would put down a layer of plywood. For a ThermoFin U installation on concrete, you would build a surface to be able to screw the plates into by first putting down a layer of Atlas Rboard®, recommended 1/2', which you should be able to get from your local building supplier.Ī Google search on Atlas Rboard® will bring up their site and the product info. The preferred method is to install the plates with the fins down. Or am I totally missing something really obvious here? I don't want to lay the PEX down and pour concrete over it because that goes into a whole other topic about thermal mass and heat loss.įrom Radiant Engineering, thanks for discussing our ThermoFin U product. I'm hoping someone could chime and provide some feedback to this approach. I've attached a quick and dirty picture to illustrate what I mean (screws are not to scale). Finally, I'll use 1' screws (still figuring out that part) to fasten the fins to the two layers of OSB. This should provide enough height for the fins to fit in. Next, I'd cut the same kind of 1/2' OSB into sections just under 8' in width and place them in between the groves. Next, get ~1/2' OSB boards and cut 1/4' dado grooves 8' OC where the fins will be placed and make a floating subfloor out of it. My current best guess to the ideal way of doing this is to first start with a 6 mil poly sheet as a vapor barrier. I'm also planning to go with an engineered hardwood floor atop. In their brochures and pictures, the fins are shown attached downward but I'm thinking it may be better to face them upward. I was provided a sample of the aluminum fin and its height measured to just under 3/4'. I'm trying to figure out the ideal way to install it with the minimal loss of height. I've looked at several products for heat distribution, like Warmboard, before settling on this: I'm trying to figure out the most ideal way to install hydronic radiant heat in my basement over the existing concrete slab.

Hydronic radiant floor heating cost existing concrete slab