I am renovating a commercial office for a friend and am thinking of having a radiant heating system(first for me). Is there a concern for how fast this heat works if the floor has 2 inches of subfloor? This is a very old building that had full 1″ planking and we added 3/4″ to most of it. In some spots, even added more to be able to level the place.
We may have carpet in one area for the reception, and maybe some porcelain tile in the rest of the office. Total SF is 1000. I am just not sure it this type of system is going to heat this office quickly or if we should just install a Mitsubishi hot air system and call it a day?? I have priced the material but am not sure how much work it is to install this pipe? Plus, I would love to be able to extend a loop or two in the basement walls in order to be able to have some temperature where we store office material and have a small work shop.
Any pros have any advise that i should research in order to spend wisely?? I just dont want to go with baseboard heaters that get banged up, not to mention the loss of wall space everywhere!
Replies
Radiant hot water is good for out of sight heating
especially where the rooms are wide with high
ceilings.
Most people lay 4 inch thick concrete with the
pex pipe held in place tied to the reinforcing
mesh.
There is another way where the pipe is laid in the
top of sheets of polystyrene.
The concrete method is slow to warm and very
slow to cool, if you have a building with large
windows facing south, the sun can quickly make it
impossible to stay in the room as it is so hot.
The light weight system, where the pex is laid in
the top of polystyrene sheet with t&;g OSB laid
directly on top is quicker to warm and cool.
As both radiation and conduction both travel
through 360 degrees half your heat input goes
downwards, you need at least 4 inches of
polystyrene insulation below the pipes to keep the
heat in the rooms.
I find that the best way to deal with the slow heat
up, is to have the heating on 24/365. The level of
heat is very low, it is silent in operation and after
a short while you completely forget it there.
One advantage, is that the floor area is usually
divided into heating areas, this means you can
have more heat in front of large windows and low
or no heat further away.
The concrete based system works well with clay
or porcelain tiles.
Both systems are not so good with thick underlay
and thick carpet if the users are going to turn the
heating off - makes heating up even slower, but
its good once warm.
UFH is good for basements, make sure you
have a thermostat and motorized valve in every
area to control the heat, if the basement is damp
you can add a humidistat to the control, this will
raise the temperature and lower the humidity
when required.
I find it best to raise the door frames as a well
installed, insulated system is raising the floor 5 or
more inches.
A radiant system is easier to live with and is cheaper
to run than warm air.
I'm guessing you posted that from your pad??
Perry