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Underfloor Heating Suspended Floor Construction
The performance of underfloor heating depends to a large extent on having good insulation under the pipe work and at the floor edges to prevent heat loss into the walls and ground.
Underfloor heating traditionally relies on the thermal mass of the concrete floor or screed, which gradually heats up dissipating the heat into the room. This effect can be obtained on a suspended floor by means of laying the pipes in a dry screed (pug) or aluminium diffusion plates between timber joists over which the flooring is laid.
The most common types of fixings used are listed below:
Pipe In Plate
In a timber suspended floo insulation should be fitted below the metal diffuser plates eliminating any air gaps and ensuring that the heat is transfered up through the floor. The pipe is fitted into preformed groves within the plates which in turn transfers the heat evenly throught the floor.
Pex AluPex multi-layer pipe should be used in conjunction with the plated system due to its reduced coefficient of expansion. This results in less movement within the plate during warm up and cooling giving less chance of expansion and contraction noise.
Advantages over pug system
- The plate has a lower thermal mass than a pug system, therefore speeding up response time and making control easier.
- Quicker installation time and less materials / labour required by the builder.
- Minimal additional load on joists, (pug requires an Increased dead load of approximately 35Kgm2).
- No additional costs of pug / screed, battening and labour.
- No drying time required, (the pug has to completely dry before timber floors are laid).
PIPE IN PUG
In timber suspended and batten floor construction the pipe is laid on an insulation layer between joists or battens and covered with a dry sand and cement mix. Rails can be used to fix pipes between joists and battens. Variable pipe spacing can be achieved with this type of construction and good heat outputs achieved. However consideration should be given to the additional weight in suspended floors.
Advantages over plated system
- Utilises the thermal mass of the screed.
- Can give a higher heat output.
- Cheaper for the underfloor heating materials.
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