under floor heating and concrete slab

[Charles Bridge]

Hi looking at having a developer build a house, I would like under floor heating and they want to put it in the 100mm cocrete slab. Can any one give me their thought on this, pros and cons etc.

Thanks Charles

[Brianb]

I'm no expert, but this sounds like a giant storage heater. So long as the

100mm slab is well insulated underneath, with say another 100mm of insulating material. As a new build water pipes are possible and probably the best solution, if you want a rapid rise in temperature when the heating comes on then place 50mm of high density insulation over the 100mm slab and the heating pipes on top of this in a screed or something to hold the pipes in place and support a floor. There are a few good websites that detail how different installations are possible.

Brian

[Andrew Gabriel]

Underfloor heating really isn't suitable where you rapid temperature rise with no pre-planning. To get the best out of it, it really needs controls specially designed for the lag/inertia inherent in its use. In a newbuild highly insulated house, the interia is going to tide you over periods like going out to work each day anyway.