How to to use Under Floor Heating (Floor Constructions)

When the decision is made to use floor heating, the first consideration should be the floor construction.

The three common types of floor construction are:

• Solid ground bearing slab floor
• Screeded floor
• Suspended timber joist floor

	Solid slab floors would normally be used in commercial buildings with high floor loads, such as warehouses and garages, but can also be used in domestic situations.  The build up of this type of floor provides a large amount of thermal mass; subsequently the floor structure will be slower to respond to different heat requirements.  This is not a problem as long as a sensible control system is applied to the project.  Begetube systems will always have an appropriate control set available for all projects.
	Screeded floors are commonly used in domestic applications; other buildings that would benefit are schools, hospitals, offices and nursing homes.  The response time with this floor structure is more suited to buildings that are permanently occupied and require a day/night set back system.
	Timber joist floors, either ground or intermediate, can be addressed in different ways.  A timber floor has no thermal mass and some adapting is required to the structure to enable floor heating to be installed and operate successfully.  The best results are obtained by fixing the pipes between battens and infilling with a sand cement mix, the floor panels are then fixed to the battens.  This method can be used either on top of the joists, or by fitting battens between the joists it can be lowered so that the floor panels are still fitted onto the joists with no increase in floor structure height.  Another method is to use profiled metal plates as a means of spreading the heat energy under the floor panels, this method does not impose a weight penalty but the energy output is lower than the batten and screed method.