DIYers Ever put in your own radiant heating system?

[Just Another Jen]

We are going to start next week. Any do's or don'ts?

[In The Great White North]

I helped put one into the school we used to attend. The system used water tubing running all through the floor. You had to be careful when nailing the hardwood down on top of it. (The guys all managed to puncture a tube, which required tearing it back out and replacing it. Fun.)

[FaithManor]

Our house is heated with radiant floor (love it - so efficient, so cheap) and the single biggest issue is the location of the nails/screws when you put the subflooring on top. Literally, you don't want to miss the stud and puncture the tube.

 

The second issue is what are you putting on top of the sub-floor? We have hard wood floors and I love them but we had to get wood flooring that is certified for radiant heat and heat approved glue. Regular flooring glues will loosen from the heat and your wood floor will pop up.

 

If you are doing carpet, you need to be careful about what brand of carpet tape you use for the seams. The glue on the tape can be loosened from the heat and your tape may come up. You probably need to use a specialty carpet glue.

 

Basically, all of your supplies need to be certified and guaranteed to work with radiant floor systems so that if something goes wrong, you can fall back on the manufacturer.

 

Faith

[kathkath]

I lived in an apartment with rh and LOVED it. I would totally do that in a house if I lived up north. Just don't put any bottles of liquid on the floor. I had some bath and body works and bottles of nail polish on the floor of my linen closet and you can guess what happened.

[Just Another Jen]

thanks everyone! It's getting chilly in IL and I'm looking forward to heat in any form!