Property Development News

Underfloor heating systems gently warm your floor tiles and the room air creating natural heat with little variation of temperature in comparison to conventional central heating systems. Underfloor heating is efficient and healthy because the air temperature can be set at much lower levels which also contributes for saving energy.

Underfloor heating systems are installed seamlessly allowing more flexibility for the room’s layout. The 2 most popular forms of underfloor heating are:

• Underfloor heating cables and
• Underfloor heating mats

Heating mats are much simpler to install comprising of a self adhesive mesh with the heating cables attached. However heating cables are more flexible as allow you to install in irregular shaped rooms, and it is also possible to control the heat in different areas of the room by changing the heating cable density.

Installation

You’ll need to cut a groove on the floor to house the temperature sensor. This sensor needs to be positioned about 500mm from the walls. You should prepare the floor normally and must be smooth, free of sharp bits to avoid damaging the underfloor heating mat or underfloor heating cables.

Lay the heating mat on the floor (check if there’s no nasty surprises before you actually fix it). Roll out a test strip of the mat over at each end, when cutting through the mesh be carefull not to cut through the heating cables (red or orange). Start over at the other end turning the mat 180 degrees and lay it back alongside the previous one, the minimum distance between cable loops should be about 50mm.

When you’re happy with the mat layout you can fix it to the floor using the self adhesive pads. If there are which can’t be reached, it’s ok to cut the cable from the mesh and stick it to the floor, keeping the loops in pattern.

To prevent lifting use a hot glue gun to glue any edging pieces without adhesive.

Contact a qualified electrician to test the resistance, to connect the underfloor heating system to the mains supply and install the thermostat. Finally ask him to test the resistance and continuity.

With the current turned on use covering tile adhesive, you should pay special attention to the cables, you don’t want to damage them as you lay down the tiles.

To complete the job you should protect the underfloor heating installation with an RCD for safety reasons. Allow the adhesive to dry before you heat up the system.

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