Browse Forums Eco Living 1 May 26, 2011 10:20 pm Hi, we are having tiles for most of our north facing areas but I don't want the bedrooms to be tiled, I'd prefer carpet but realise this is about the worst choice in terms of utilising my slab for the solar passivity I had designed it for so I was considering the option of a floating wooden floor. I'm sure I read on here a while ago that you could lay a floating floor over the slab without it affecting the heat transfer between the thermal mass and the inside surrounds so long as it was X mm above the slab but I cannot find that now. Can anyone confirm or deny this for me? TIA Re: Laying wooden floor over slab - ok thermally? 2May 26, 2011 11:01 pm If the room gets no direct sunlight I don't think there is a benefit either way, as the concrete will probably maintain a constant 15c. Unless it is a waffle slab, as they are insulated from the earths conductive(?) heat and will be more inclined to fluctuate with the daily average temp...IMHO only Aside - any covering that blocks the direct sunlight will act as an insulator to impede 'Gain' and reduce output ... rubber tile adhesive is an ideal insulator so not good for heat transfer into the slab. FWIW I prefer just concrete Where you are coming from is where you are going to... Re: Laying wooden floor over slab - ok thermally? 3May 26, 2011 11:11 pm Two of the rooms get direct sunlight and are north facing. Hmmm hadn't thought of the tile adhesive being an insulator. Polished concrete will require a lot of water and as we are not on mains and would have to use our precious dam resources we decided against against that, might have to revisit that idea though in light of the adhesive insulating issue. Re: Laying wooden floor over slab - ok thermally? 4May 26, 2011 11:39 pm Polished concrete uses NO water.. cept the operator But does use 3phase power.. though they are at most deli's in the form of gesets Where you are coming from is where you are going to... Re: Laying wooden floor over slab - ok thermally? 5May 27, 2011 6:26 pm I have jarrah floating floors over my concrete slab... all my main rooms and living areas are north facing and the timber offers no thermal benefit, they look nice tho I am with Onc, concrete floors are my floor of choice. alas i am whipped, my wife isnt a fan, so we have timber. my foot will be firmly down in my next house, and we will have polished concrete floors and Onc will be polishing my waffle pod slab. Re: Laying wooden floor over slab - ok thermally? 6May 27, 2011 6:41 pm That's interesting Onc, our builder was the one who told us that polishing the slab would require water and good power *shrug* we don't have the good power anyway at this stage and DH has decided he's gone off the idea of a polished slab anyway. I'm not after a thermal benefit as such just wanting to reduce the impact on warming the slab with the floor coverings. Make sense? Looks like I have to find a tile glue that is less insulating than most probably doesn't exist, maybe I can lay them straight into the wet slab??? I guess we'll just have to hope the rest of the solar passive design features do the job, I love the feel of carpet underfoot and there's no way I'll be putting my feet onto a cold floor in mid-winter where we are building Re: Laying wooden floor over slab - ok thermally? 7May 27, 2011 6:54 pm We had a section of north facing slab that we didnt have floor boards over, kitchen and dining area. my wife recently had it tiled.... sure it looks nice, but it is so cold to walk on now i have to wear my ugg boots ... Re: Laying wooden floor over slab - ok thermally? 8May 28, 2011 12:25 am To each their own We have a mix of slate, polished concrete and a few bedrooms are carpeted In the morning the 'hard' floors feel cold, by 8.30 the sun has begun its cycle and they are no longer cold There are a LOT of trees around the cottage and so solar gain is minimal but definitely felt I don't like carpet because it is never clean after the day installed and being a pet lover easy clean is a priority for us... when the furries come to visit, 2 mins will recover all ills. Where you are coming from is where you are going to... Re: Laying wooden floor over slab - ok thermally? 9May 28, 2011 12:39 am Fully inderstand the pet/carpet comments, we have six furbabies and one toddler (yes we are mad LOL) but with winter temps often in the minuses I just don't see myself being happy getting out of a warm cosy bed and hitting a cold floor. Keeping the four-legs out of the carpeted bedrooms will be the aim (will see how well that works out as the toddler gets older ) We are lucky that with 100 acres we've been able to site the house more or less where we want, there are no trees to shade any of the slab and we can orient to true north, though have gone a few degrees off to maximise the view. Of course when we win lotto prior to having to lay these fixings I can change my mind and go for a coloured screed with a lovely design and plenty of luxurious persian rugs to cover in winter Re: Laying wooden floor over slab - ok thermally? 10May 28, 2011 12:53 am FWIW you could be advised to add some East as you want as much solar gain as poss in the morning and less in the arvo'' But I have no idea about the design you have chosen... aside - I can't believe people are still polishing concrete using water, what a waste and a mess. Where you are coming from is where you are going to... Re: Laying wooden floor over slab - ok thermally? 11May 28, 2011 1:04 am Onc design can be seen as part of the build tread link in my sig. It's my own design and run past an architect with quals in enviro science. I think we are oriented about 10 degrees east of true north with long axis running east-west. Absolutely no western windows and all windows double glazed - the one thing we are not compromising on and are paying dearly for. As for the water polishing, maybe that's what you get in the bush for these fang-dangled big city ideas I certainly agree on the wasteage and mess ETA would be interested in your thoughts on the carpet issue for the master if you look at the design. I'm having a 'conversation' with DH about making the one of the walls an internal brick to help with the solar gain to the slab issue if we go carpet. Hey There. No problems re jumping in. My original question was "should I have waterproofed" the concrete slab before putting batons down. We have been told we should… 7 3375 Old Home Restoration / Renovation To reduce noise transfer without compromising the aesthetic of your exposed I beams, consider filling the 100mm gap between the I beams and the floor above with dense,… 6 7095 I'm about to put down some Merbau. Is it necessary to oil underneath the boards before laying? 0 760 |