Vapor barrier with old vinyl flooring, underfloor heating on sparse/particleboard
Hello,
I'm renovating an old 1930s house and am now planning to install hydronic underfloor heating for the entire ground floor.
The house was renovated and expanded in the 1970s, so all rooms have different conditions when it comes to fully following the laying instructions.
It is clear that two of the rooms have vinyl flooring with asbestos (analyzed), so this will remain. On top of this, battens will be laid for the underfloor heating and metal plates.
Other rooms do not have flooring, so battens will be laid directly on the chipboard so that everything aligns in height between the rooms.
All rooms have solid subfloor or chipboard.
My question is now, is there any disadvantage to placing the vapor barrier under the battens instead of above?
Then I could lay age-resistant plastic directly on top of the vinyl flooring and thereby "lock it in" without organic material in between.
For the rooms without vinyl flooring, the vapor barrier would then be directly on the chipboard.
All rooms will be covered with solid self-supporting flooring directly on the battens.
The entire construction will then be:
Crawl space
Subflooring board
Insulation board
Chipboard/solid subfloor
Vinyl flooring (sometimes)
Vapor barrier
Battens
Heat plate/underfloor heating
Underlayment
Solid wood flooring self-supporting
Thanks in advance
I'm renovating an old 1930s house and am now planning to install hydronic underfloor heating for the entire ground floor.
The house was renovated and expanded in the 1970s, so all rooms have different conditions when it comes to fully following the laying instructions.
It is clear that two of the rooms have vinyl flooring with asbestos (analyzed), so this will remain. On top of this, battens will be laid for the underfloor heating and metal plates.
Other rooms do not have flooring, so battens will be laid directly on the chipboard so that everything aligns in height between the rooms.
All rooms have solid subfloor or chipboard.
My question is now, is there any disadvantage to placing the vapor barrier under the battens instead of above?
Then I could lay age-resistant plastic directly on top of the vinyl flooring and thereby "lock it in" without organic material in between.
For the rooms without vinyl flooring, the vapor barrier would then be directly on the chipboard.
All rooms will be covered with solid self-supporting flooring directly on the battens.
The entire construction will then be:
Crawl space
Subflooring board
Insulation board
Chipboard/solid subfloor
Vinyl flooring (sometimes)
Vapor barrier
Battens
Heat plate/underfloor heating
Underlayment
Solid wood flooring self-supporting
Thanks in advance
Hi, thank you for your response. I only intend to add a layer with a vapor barrier. But do you mean that it would become a double vapor barrier since the carpet is dense? But is it really a problem if you put the plastic against the carpet and tape the seams?
I completely understand the issue with trapping moisture between two vapor barriers at two different ends of a construction, for example in a bathroom with plastic in the outer wall and a waterproofing layer on the wall.
Is it from the underlying construction that you want to protect the floor from moisture with the vapor barrier? If so, it should make no difference if the plastic is directly above or below the floor heating loops?
The instructions state that the vapor barrier should be placed as close to the floor as the construction allows.
I completely understand the issue with trapping moisture between two vapor barriers at two different ends of a construction, for example in a bathroom with plastic in the outer wall and a waterproofing layer on the wall.
Is it from the underlying construction that you want to protect the floor from moisture with the vapor barrier? If so, it should make no difference if the plastic is directly above or below the floor heating loops?
The instructions state that the vapor barrier should be placed as close to the floor as the construction allows.