GBA Logo horizontal Facebook LinkedIn Email Pinterest Twitter Instagram YouTube Icon Navigation Search Icon Main Search Icon Video Play Icon Plus Icon Minus Icon Picture icon Hamburger Icon Close Icon Sorted

Community and Q&A

Hydronic Radiant Floor Heating Under Thick Slab

Ryan Wynne| Posted inEnergy Efficiency and Durabilityon

Hi All,
I have a timber framed house, the sub-floor of which was built with thick 2-in pine tongue and groove boards. This subfloor is also functioning as the main floor of the house in living room area, there is nothing on top of them. These boards have tons of character and I would like to keep them as the main floor.

I am renovating the down stairs and will be converting my hydronic base board heat to radiant floor in the kitchen and bathroom where I can run the pipes over the existing subfloor (plywood in these areas not the tongue and groove pine).

Ideally, I would like to have radiant floor heat in the entire down stairs but am concerned about the efficiency of running the tubes under the thick subfloor in the living room area. The house is built on piers and I can access the crawl space under the house to install tubing and insulate.

I am hoping to get some insight on running hydronic radiant floor heating under these thick sub floor boards or keep this area as hydronic baseboard heat. Thanks for the input!

GBA Prime

Join the leading community of building science experts

Become a GBA Prime member and get instant access to the latest developments in green building, research, and reports from the field.

Replies

  1. Chris Armstrong||#1

    Staple up hydronic is commonly done under a variety of finished floor materials, including solid hardwood. Standard sheet subfloor (osb or plywood) plus 3/4" thick solid hardwood flooring is going to be 1.5" or more in thickness.

Log in or create an account to post an answer.

Community

Recent Questions and Replies

  • |
  • |
  • |
  • |