Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Mar 27, 2021 7:02 am Hi everyone - Ive spent countless hours obsessing over hydronic heating - and I’m getting nowhere. So many websites, so many people pushing products it’s hard to know what is actually true. I’m hoping people here can help me out. My situation: building a two story house in canberra, waffle pod slab, bottom floor will have hydronic heating (photo attached) - Right now we will have polished concrete in the living, dining, kitchen, entry, hallway, laundry and powder - carpet to the master and lounge - tiles to ensuite. Reasoning for hydronic heating - my wife gets cold and also wants polished concrete. Other heating - split systems in the main living, lounge and master (aircon/heating guy didn’t want to do central heating due to the size of the house (280m2), void in the entryway and flat roof (no roof cavity). Questions: - is there any point running hydronic heating to the carpeted areas? Will it still heat the room or will we not notice? - slab insulation - do we need additional insulation underneath the waffle pods? Do we need edge insulation? Do we need both? Basically just trying to ensure we don’t spend 6k in insulation that never pays for itself. Any other help/guidance you could provide surrounding this would be very much appreciated. Also we are recessing the slab 20mm in the carpeted areas and another 35mm in the bathroom so we can try and have a flushed finish with adjoining areas. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: New build - hydronic in slab heating questions! 2Mar 27, 2021 6:40 pm For the cost of the house, why are you penny pinching on slab insulation? I would have thought that it would be a given seeing as you’re putting in an expensive heating option. Re: New build - hydronic in slab heating questions! 3Mar 27, 2021 6:52 pm Haha, money is money. Mainly as I’m not sure how effective it is. I’ve got the builder saying the last job didn’t use it; so I’m not sure if the juice is worth the squeeze. I’m thinking because it’s a waffle pod slab that it has some form of insulation already, so maybe I don’t need anything else? But then again maybe I should get edge insulation? Really I’m just looking for comments from people who have done it before, or people who aren’t pushing their own product to give me some guidance as to what is actually necessary Vs what is actually cost ineffective. Perhaps someone who has hydronic heating and they can comment whether they have installed slab edge insulation after the build - and whether that made a difference in electricity bills etc. Re: New build - hydronic in slab heating questions! 4Jan 11, 2023 12:21 am I'm in a similar boat, keen to get answers from someone? anyone? Re: New build - hydronic in slab heating questions! 5Jan 11, 2023 1:03 am Edge insulation is absolutely necessary for hydronic in slab heating, otherwise you will be losing a lot of energy through uninsulated edges. Ideally, you would need to insulate under the footings too. BTW, I think in slab heating won't be good enough to warm up your polished concrete (so you could walk barefooted), to warm up you would rather need in screed heating, which heats to higher temperatures. The floor will still still be relatively cold when felt by the feet. I would strongly suggest to use vynil or engineered timber instead. Carpet will be insulating... Edge insulation shouldn't be that expensive, it is literally just about cutting and glueing EPS to the slab edge. Re: New build - hydronic in slab heating questions! 6Jan 11, 2023 1:20 am Hey alex, Keen to understand your comment about inslab vs inscreed. I understand there are differences, but haven't seen anyone suggest that it would impact the actual heat output? Our builder wants to charge 10K for insulation, i'm hoping edge will suffice as we are in Victoria, and the soil won't get frosty. Edge seems like a good middle ground. Halt the house will be concrete, and half will be timber floors. Look forward to your insight. Re: New build - hydronic in slab heating questions! 7Jan 11, 2023 1:29 am I guess in screed will be more expensive due to additional screeding requirement and underlay, but much faster to react and should be much better on energy usage, also it might not require edge insulation: See here https://hydrothermhydronic.com.au/in-sc ... ic-heating But from what I see, with in-screed you won't be able to use polished concrete flooring. In your case, instead of paying $10k to the builder, you could simply consider doing edge insulation post handover. Re: New build - hydronic in slab heating questions! 8Jan 11, 2023 7:16 am Thanks Alex, Definitely looking at edge only. My research tells me in screed is used a lot when the polished concrete finish you want is expensive, i.e. the cement and aggregate, so it's heavily used for polished concrete floors. I've reached out to a few people about doi g edge post build, but will see if we can do it before slab pour. Thanks! Does anyone have a suggestion for a good hydronic in slab heating speacialist who may be able to help me with an existing system and wether or not it may need a seperator… 0 11017 We're about to start a very similar renovation project to you; removing terracotta tiles, installing an underfloor heating system with a new polished concrete finish on… 1 11615 Hi Suku18 In NSW the statutory required insurances are: 1. HBCF ( Home Building Compensation Fund) - This is if the builder dies or goes broke. But this only covers 20%… 1 16339 |