FLOOR COVERINGS

It is important to remember that any material (except tiles) laid over a warmed floor will have an insulating effect. The insulating effect will reduce the output into the occupied space and raise the temperature of the floor structure beneath. This is easily compensated for at the design stage, thus the reason for needing to know the proposed final floor covering. Generally speaking any of the normal accepted floor coverings are suitable for use with underfloor heating, that is carpet and underlay, hardwood, laminates, vinyl and of course tiles.

Another important point that is very rarely considered is that floor heating opens up a new world with regard to floor coverings. All the traditionally "cold" coverings such as hardwood, laminate or tile are of course now warm underfoot. These materials are also a lot easier to keep clean and are less likely to harbour carpet mites and dust. The Begetube system will always be designed with the final floor covering taken into consideration.

It is not recommended that softwood flooring or cork tiles are used over floor heating, If in doubt please get in touch.

Before laying any final floor covering you should ensure that the floor structure is completely dry. Under normal conditions it can take as long as 6-9 months for the moisture to naturally be expelled from a concrete screed. This would obviously jeopardise your build schedule so you can speed this process up by running the floor heating for 2 weeks at a low temperature (25-30°C) after the screed has cured. This will help remove the remaining moisture from the screed.
Once you are happy that the screed is dried, you can then lay your final floor covering. Ensure the floor heating has been turned back off for at least two days before commencing this work. This will stop floor adhesive "going off" too quickly. Once the final floor covering has been laid, leave for another two days before warming the floor, again at the low temperature. The temperature can then be slowly increased up to the maximum for the type of floor construction over the course of a week.