Cement Floor Never Warm
The concrete slab is often placed on a layer of sand for drainage or to act as a cushion.
Cement floor never warm. The picture above shows a concrete floor we re about to pour with radiant heating tubes installed. Insulation may also be dislodged by the natural movement of your home settling. It radiates heat through the underlayment up to the top flooring layer and through the rest of the room helping your favorite spaces feel toasty even during cold. This system provides a guaranteed warm floor regardless of what subfloor wood or concrete slab or floor you have being installed over it.
How do they work. Houses built on a slab lack crawlspaces and there is no space under the floor. One of the most recommended systems. A concrete floor can be a good choice if you have an existing slab foundation and a home style that is a good stylistic fit for the polished gleam of honed concrete.
Insects or critters occasionally get into a crawl space and wreak havoc with the insulation. Diy concrete floor things to know. The concrete was 4 thick and the insulation under the slab was 2 thick. You can still see the seams of the subfloor notice the vertical line on the right hand side of the photo above.
When the floor is above an unheated crawl space install insulation between the floor joists. Many people appreciate the low cost of concrete floor especially when considering the long life this floor will enjoy you may never need another floor covering. Cold concrete floors are a rather common problem and there are several approaches to warming them up. The underlay made from heavy duty polyethylene or styrofoam insulation creates an air gap under the plywood surface and above the concrete so the wood never touches the concrete.
Radiant below surface heating is the most expensive option but also the most effective. But the whole diy concrete floor is quite thin maybe 1 8 thick max. One thing i learned. For concrete floor radiant heating systems the warm water tubing or electric heating elements can either be embedded within the slab on grade anywhere from the bottom of the slab to within 2 inches of the surface depending on the design and installation technique or fastened to the top of a concrete subfloor and then covered with an overlay.
A few are expensive or not practical for some homes. Ultimately i built up 6 thin layers and then topped it with a thicker layer. A floating sub floor keeps a basement floor warm and comfortable. Insulating the floors rim joists and headers can be an effective way to warm these floors.
The best and easiest way to do this is to install a radiant floor warming mat under whatever new floor you want to have installed.