intrested in installing radiant heat w/ solid oak flooring. Has anyone tried the subflooring w/grooves for the tubing. I have existing uninsulated slab on grade & had planned to build up the floor w/ 2x sleepers w/ 1/2″ ridgid insulation in between,then lay the pex tubing, cover the area w/ clean sand for mass & lay 3/4″ T&G ply. finally install 3/4″x2 1/4″ quarter sawn white oak.
Any input would help.
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Look for the Wirsbo product that is in composite wood panels, with aluminum-lined tube tracks. It is the high-end product used in all the really big ticket homes here.
If your slab is level, consider gluing down CDX in 2x8 bricklaid strips. Bostik makes a great glue for the job, a moisture-curing urethane. Then screw on the Wirsbo panels, do the tubing, and subfloor.
The beauty is that you can see right where your tubing is when you are flooring atop it, so you won't get any nail punctures.
thanks for the info, you mentioned 2x8 ply rips,any reason no to go w/ full sheets?
You want some flexibility in the ply that you will glue down, and ripping the sheets in half makes them a little more spaghetti-like.
If your slab is dead flat, and if your CDX ply is dead flat, you wouldn't need to do any of this, but my experience has been otherwise.
I do another thing, too, to make the sheets really pliable. With the circular sawblade depth set at 3/8", I zip four or five halfthru cuts across each 2x8 sheet of CDX, on the D underside, before setting it into the combed glue bed.
It is a good idea to have some concrete blocks, or pails of water, or something with weight, to spot around if you have any panels that need help laying down flat.
Oh nooooooo... :-P
I'd consider the system from Roth. Insulated on one side, Aluminum on the other for great heat transfer, probably perfect for concrete slabs. The schedule you're describing will probably result in very little thermal response and large losses to the underlying slab.
I wouldn't add sand to any system unless I needed a cheap insulator. The stuff is no good as far as adding mass is concerned. Floating system like stadler-viege, roth, wirsbo, etc. don't need additional mass anyway. If adding mass is your thing, put down a thermal break, put down the tubing, then pour a gypcrete or similar layer.