UFH Planning

GMEG

I'm living in Cork and I'm looking to put UFH heating around my home but I'm finding it very hard to get the information I need.

1.
There seems to be little / no reviews on UFH companies in Ireland and I want to make sure I choose a very good one to get it done perfectly right. Can anyone please tell me the names of companies that they recommend and also the ones to avoid?

2.
I'm also looking for reviews on the types of UFH I should be looking at for my 3/4 bed semi; for example one irish website mentions that they provide PRINETO and OPTIHEAT UFH systems - the descriptions sound great - but real life feedback would be a lot more helpful than marketing hype.

3.
I've a concrete base and I want to put in solid hardwood over the UFH so I'm trying to figure out the best way to do this - would plywood between the concrete/UFH and solid hardwood be a good idea? Note that I want to avoid glue as I've kids and would like to have no formaldehyde toxins especially with the heating below. I know that plywood also has these toxins but I'll be looking for a toxin free plywood - hopefully I'll be able to find one in Ireland - if anyone knows of a place where I can get it, please let me know.

galwaytt

GMEG wrote: »

I'm living in Cork and I'm looking to put UFH heating around my home but I'm finding it very hard to get the information I need.

1.
There seems to be little / no reviews on UFH companies in Ireland and I want to make sure I choose a very good one to get it done perfectly right. Can anyone please tell me the names of companies that they recommend and also the ones to avoid?

2.
I'm also looking for reviews on the types of UFH I should be looking at for my 3/4 bed semi; for example one irish website mentions that they provide PRINETO and OPTIHEAT UFH systems - the descriptions sound great - but real life feedback would be a lot more helpful than marketing hype.

3.
I've a concrete base and I want to put in solid hardwood over the UFH so I'm trying to figure out the best way to do this - would plywood between the concrete/UFH and solid hardwood be a good idea? Note that I want to avoid glue as I've kids and would like to have no formaldehyde toxins especially with the heating below. I know that plywood also has these toxins but I'll be looking for a toxin free plywood - hopefully I'll be able to find one in Ireland - if anyone knows of a place where I can get it, please let me know.

I'm not aware of any manufacturer using formaldehyde in products these days, so I think if you use a quality product it's a non-issue. Even structural adhesive as we use in large quantities has no formaldehyde content.

All timber has a natural formaldehyde content, just like there's always natural background radiation, so not gluing your boards makes no effective difference.

I have a beech semi-solid floor over a conc screed UFH on my FF - only underlay underneath, no ply. Adding ply has no benefit imho, and might make heating harder to regulate.

GMEG

galwaytt wrote: »

I'm not aware of any manufacturer using formaldehyde in products these days, so I think if you use a quality product it's a non-issue. Even structural adhesive as we use in large quantities has no formaldehyde content.

All timber has a natural formaldehyde content, just like there's always natural background radiation, so not gluing your boards makes no effective difference.

I have a beech semi-solid floor over a conc screed UFH on my FF - only underlay underneath, no ply. Adding ply has no benefit imho, and might make heating harder to regulate.

Thanks for the info, I looked up screed UFH and it looks like a very good option. Is there a company you can recommend to install it? and anything I should look out for?

Is this how you did your installation: Underlay first, then UFH screed, then glue down semi-solid WF?

Did you need to acclimatise your WF before installing it? And have you had any issues with gaps or cracks in the wood?

THE DON FANUCCI

galwaytt wrote: »

I'm not aware of any manufacturer using formaldehyde in products these days, so I think if you use a quality product it's a non-issue. Even structural adhesive as we use in large quantities has no formaldehyde content.

All timber has a natural formaldehyde content, just like there's always natural background radiation, so not gluing your boards makes no effective difference.

I have a beech semi-solid floor over a conc screed UFH on my FF - only underlay underneath, no ply. Adding ply has no benefit imho, and might make heating harder to regulate.

if I pour a 3 inch screed over the underfloor heating pipes on my first floor level that will be fine. but at ground floor level if I pour 4 inches of concrete, will the underfloor heating be able to radiate through ok ??

BarneyMc

THE DON FANUCCI wrote: »

if I pour a 3 inch screed over the underfloor heating pipes on my first floor level that will be fine. but at ground floor level if I pour 4 inches of concrete, will the underfloor heating be able to radiate through ok ??

Yes it certainly will but will take longer to reach your room. It will have a very slow reaction time so it depends on what you want from your system.

Some people (me included) like to have quicker reaction times on the FF so go with 50mm liquid screed.