A while back there was a thread of pictures about a bathroom being built. It had radiant floor heating. The method was the tubing stapled to the subfloor, plywood sleepers placed between the tubes, and concrete poured over the tubing between the sleepers.
I am doing the same in our new house, and am unsure the mix to use for the concrete. We are not using gypcrete as I don’t trust it in the thinnner and narrow application.
Any opinions on this mix, and possible a link to the old discussion. I tried every search method I could think of and couldn’t find the old thread.
Thanks guys.
Stef
Replies
Gypcrete is used a lot in 3/4" applications in apartment buildings, for example, according to the installers I've used. With sleepers, I wouldn't worry a bit about the thinness of gyp. Perhaps there are other legitimate issues with it, but I wouldn't count thinness among them.
Cloud,
Was it your house in the long photo series? RFH and tile?
If so, what was the link?
Thanks
Stef
Long photo series? Not sure what you mean. So probably no, in that I don't recall any collection of photos about my rfh and tile, particularly be/c my camera's flash was malfunctioning then and few pix of that ever turned out.
Less than a year ago someone documented a new Bath with all custom work, very very nice. Tubes in floor, shower, tub surround. Hunted an hunted in archives to no avail. Maybe some one will see this and help.
BTW, I am hunting for a Gypcrete guy now-don't seem to be any in our area. Gonna google to see what I can find.
Stef
This was it: http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages?msg=36489.1
The advantages to Gypcrete are weight, easy hose installation, and self-leveling.
Regular concrete is actually more conductive, and much cheaper.
This is a proven RFH concrete recipe from several books I have read.
Sometimes called the "Youker Mix", though I cannot remember why:
Mix design for 1 Cubic Yard of 3000 psi thin slab concrete:
517 lbs Type 1 Portland cement, 1639 lbs Concrete sand, 1485 lbs #1A (1/4" max) crushed stone, 4.14 onces Air entrainment agent, 15.5 ounces Hycol (water reducing agent), 1.5 lbs fiber mesh, 51.7 ounces Superplasticizer (WRDA-19), 20 gallons of dihydrogenmonoxide (H20)
A concrete supplier should be able to custom mix this for you.
Design the tubing loops carefully. More complicated than one might imagine.
thats a pretty good mix. 5 sack. about a 4500 psi. you can make it easiler to place by cutting the cement 50 lbs and replace with flyash. it make it more creamy and slow down the hydradation.
Thanks, guys.
It would indeed be easier to have it hosed in than mixing all that concrete inthe snow and cold.
I'll give it some more thought.
Stef