Hello from a newbie with a project

[Andy Donnelly]

Evening All,

Currently in the process of building an extension. At about 90m² it's a decent sized project and one that has causes me many sleepless nights - I always seem to do every job three times in my head before tackling the actual job itself.

I'm doing all the plumbing and electrics myself - all above board so BC sign it off.

Plumbing has been relatively straight forward so far but insulation is about to go down on the floor slab so I'm getting to the stage where I will need to install the underfloor heating pipework which is less straight forward as it's not something I've done before hence why I'm here to research previous posts. I'll also be re-plumbing the existing house and am considering re-pluming the existing heating too, possibly with manifold which I'm new to so again, researching that.

Off to read through several months of previous posts to see if I can pick up some useful info before I ask any questions that may have been covered previously.

Regards

Andy

 

[townfanjon]

Er , good luck my friend, you may need it .

 

[Harvest Fields]

Er , good luck my friend, you may need it .

As above

 

[Riley]

Ditto

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Hello and welcome

 

[Brambles]

A few pointers. To be effective, wet underfloor heating systems need to be properly designed in terms of insulation, flow, zoning and take due account of what the final floor covering is intended to be.

Underfloor systems are not as forgiving as a traditional wet radiator system - you have far less flexibility to “tweek” a poorly designed system to make it effective.

If combining an underfloor system with a traditional radiator system, the manifold (s) upstairs and down should (ideally) be as close to the heat source as possible. The pipework must be installed in a regular, even and consistent pattern and at an even depth. All joints must be free of any lateral stress. The pipe grid must not move when the first screed is poured ( generally I use two layers - the upper one being a thin self levelling epoxy based mix.

If you want a system where you walk across the room and feel an even consistent temperature, then you must do your homework properly. In my experience, most first time DIY systems end up delivering hot and cold patches and unbalanced zones that deliver inconsistent temperatures. Remember that flooring, such as engineered hardwood and wool carpet are fine with underfloor heating, but only if there is an even and consistent temperature rise.

The attached photo is of an 86m2 extension, taken just before testing. To give you an idea of the complexity of the system, it took an experienced technician two days to design and specify before we got to site.

They are interesting and straightforward projects, but once the screed is poured, that is the system that you have got!

 

[Dave Marques]

As Brambles said, a lot to consider. Contact the major UFH manufacturers, I'm pretty sure they all offer a free design service, give them the info, sit back and relax, they'll sort it for you!

 

[rpm]

Talk to one of our sponsors, never used them myself but seem like nice guys from what I`ve read.