Flooring on concrete slab base
williamslake
| Posted in Energy, Heating & Insulation on
We have a family room floor that has a concrete slab base. Currently, we have underlay and carpet over it and it feels warm during the winter. The carpet is very old and wornout and needs replacing.
I am trying to find an innovative solution to achieve the following:
- Obtain as much R-factor as possible with a replacement floor covering which is not to be carpet because we would like our dogs to come in and out without creating a mess that can’t be readily cleaned.
- Don’t want to nail anything to the concrete base.
- Want to minimize the total thickness to 1 inch max.
- Want a floor covering like commercial tile for the high traffic from our dogs going in and out.
Has anyone dealt with something like this before?
Thanks
Winston
Replies
Greetings will,
As a first time poster Welcome to Breaktime.
This post, in response to your question, will bump the thread through the 'recent discussion' listing again.
Perhaps it will catch someone's attention that can help you with advice.
Cheers
half of good living is staying out of bad situations
bump
Beware. RFID is coming.
This won't give you the R-factor but it will give you a warm floor:
Use a NuHeat or similar heating mat on the slab with porcelain tile above. The dogs will love the warmth, and the tile will last a long long time. I'm assuming that it's an old slab with no crack problems. If you're concerned about slab cracks causing cracks in the tile, you can also add a decoupling mat such as Ditra or Noble, but you're getting close to your 1 inch limit.
Billy
Any type of tile is going to need a very stable base. You could put down 3/8" rigid foam (extruded polystyrene? XPS), and put a 3/8" thick cementitious substrate on top of that, like Durock, glued to the XPS, which would be glued at the joints an to the slab. These two combined will give you 3/4" of thickness and an increase in R-value of just over 2. Not great but better. With a 1/4" thick floor tile, you're right at the 1" thickness. Mix the the thinset and the grout with a latex modifier and not water.
An alternate would be thicker foam and a plastic laminate floating floor, like Pergo (very dog nail resistent). In this instance you could have 3/4 of XPS and increase the R-value of the floor by almost 4.
Edited 6/15/2006 1:34 pm by Tim
Tim, do you think the rigid would hold up with the finish floor right on it like that? I always get nervous when the foam is so close to the top.. that's the only thing holding me back from Roth Panels for overslab retrofits, in fact.But I may just be a fraidy cat.. have you done this detail before? Or do you know someone who has? I'd love to have some fears put to bed, sure would open up some possibilities I have been shying away from otherwise..-------------------------------------
-=Northeast Radiant Technology=-
Radiant Design, Consultation, Parts Supply
http://www.NRTradiant.com
I have installed the first recommendation, that is rigid under Durock with modified thinset and tile, the only difference was that I put down 1/4" of thinset to encase a heat mat before setting the tile. It is rock solid. Never subjected it to anything but foot traffic, though. Used regular dow pink rigid foam, PL200 as an adhesive on both sides of the foam. I haven't installed the second, but as the plastic laminate flooring is a little flexible, there will be no cracking. In a residence, no problem, though I would be leary of using either floor in a commercial application.
cool, thanks for the info Tim!-------------------------------------
-=Northeast Radiant Technology=-
Radiant Design, Consultation, Parts Supply
http://www.NRTradiant.com
Do you have a preference as to brand of heat mat? Your thoughts on thermostats..buried or in the air.
Thanks in advance
I have two different versions installed in my home and both have different operating characterists that lend them to different applications.
The air temperature controllers are great for bathroom tile floors, especially if you have night setback on your heating system. When you get up in the middle of a cold January night and the bathroom tile floor is nice and toasty, you'll appreciate it greatly! The one I have is made by Infloor, and also has a floor temp sensor to limit the high temp of the floor, set internally, and air temp turn the heat on and off. The floor temperature only sensing thermostats that I have are programmable, so they lend themselves better for areas that get regular or scheduled use and can be programmed to operate when expected. The air temp t-stat I have is not programmable.
I have installed the clip down wire system and the NuHeat fibrous mat system. The spool of wire and clips was much less expensive but installation was more involved. The fiber mat, cost more, but much easier to install. I prefer the NuHeat mat over any other.
Thanks for your reply. It helps having someone thats been there,done that. Got to do that for my in laws that will be moving in with us. Would hate for MIL to whack the thermostat with her cane cuzz her feet are cold.
Don't go through the trouble of laying down rigid foam plus a tile backer. Find a supplier for Wedi board. It is a foam based tile backer and it is recommended for floors. Don't use Custom's EasyBoard -- it is foam based but not recommended for floors.
You get the insulation and tile backer all in one.
Billy