I am going to convert from electric to waterborne underfloor heating in an apartment (95 sqm) on the top floor. I would like to embed the piping with concrete about 70mm thick. The question is whether heat will leak through the exterior wall as the entire slab gets heated, and I assume there's nothing to receive and stop the heat in the exterior wall (brick building that has been insulated and has a sheet metal facade today). In today's new construction, there is usually foam plastic against the wall. Will 70mm be sufficient? I have a dream of having polished concrete floors in the apartment. If this wouldn't work due to heat loss, then I'll go with routed foam plastic and piping and then parquet flooring. Is it possible to pour concrete indoors considering drying/cure time? There were many questions, but I would be grateful if anyone has comments or facts on this./Jonas
Spontaneously, 70mm sounds heavy.
Isn't the floor level raised too much?
Isn't clamping the hose to the existing floor and using self-leveling compound the correct method for this?
I would personally like to know more about the best method for this?
Isn't the floor level raised too much?
Isn't clamping the hose to the existing floor and using self-leveling compound the correct method for this?
I would personally like to know more about the best method for this?
Hello again. I was advised by a plumber to use leveling compound, but then I can't have concrete in the "day". Otherwise, I went with 70 mm because you shouldn't have the hose too close to the surface, right? And in any case, I would like to level or cast, but then I wonder if a lot of heat would be lost into the wall since the whole slab gets heated/Jonas
Do not cast against the wall, instead place a piece of styrofoam against the wall. If you can cast 70mm, you should definitely do it, but can the existing floor handle that weight?
Hi, and thank you for the response. If I place styrofoam against the wall, is that enough? Considering that the current slab is also heated and goes into the wall, I can't do anything about that. Otherwise, I want to cast as thin as possible, but as mentioned before, I would like to have smooth concrete on the surface. Otherwise, I'll use self-leveling compound, but that becomes more expensive and then I have to install parquet. How thin can one cast if using 15 or 16mm piping considering the weight? It may not have been clear earlier that there is a concrete floor slab today. Grateful for more feedback on the matter/ Jonas
Whether it holds or not is something I cannot answer. But since it is not a negligible weight (it's about 16 tons of extra concrete), I would bring in a constructor to calculate it. I also believe that 50mm of concrete is sufficient considering the heat distribution.