Tips on electric UFH installation

[davemul]

Hi all. This is my scenario / plan:

We've been in our new house for a year and now want to replace the 'orrible b&q tiles in the kitchen and conservatory. (kitchen leads out to conserv)

I'm thinking that the best plan is to have 2 'zones' (kits) one for the conservatory and one for the kitchen, rather than all on one.

My questions are... I obviously have to lift up / remove all the old tiles. Im not sure on what the base underneath is, but im guessing concrete (I hope) So I will lay thermo boards. What is the best thickness board to use?

Once I have my kits (uHeat is looking like my first choice if they still do forum member deals?) and they have been laid... I am concerned about what to do next?

Do I need to lay a SLC ? or can the tiler lay tiles direct on to the heating mats?

Is SLC easy to put down? i'm concerned about not being level for the tiler... self levelling as it may be.. is this actually true? are there any tips for putting this stuff down?

thanks all

Dave

 

[Rolandk]

Hi,
here's my input as a DIY'er whose been picking brains on here for a similar job. I'd say, assuming substrate is concrete 6mm bords would be minimum. Advisable to use SLC which is easy to lay but make sure it's a flexible one OK for UFH. Some tilers don't use SLC but tile over the cable. Advantage of SLC is it protects the cable during tiling and gives a more even spread of heat. If you plan to do this stage yourself check it's OK with the tiler you want to finish the job as understandably they might be reluctant to do the work and guarantee it if they didn't do the boarding etc themselves.

Hope that helps until an expert comes along.

Cheers,
Roland

 

[Uheat - Keith]

Thickness on boards, what ever your site can take and always better to use them if you can, but if using a 6mm insulation board the overall extra thickness needed is 8mm: 6mm board with 2mm powder flexible tile adhesive under to fix.
Agree with all of answers from Rolandk above. Any good DIY'er, tradesperson to lay, Electrican to sort that side of things.
Mats - Cables are installed in a powder flexible self-levelling compound / powder flexible tile adhesive to cover the underfloor heating & fix the floor finish. ( 6-8mm in total not in addition to the 3.9mm cable thickness )
The underside of the tile must Never touch the top of the heating element.

 

[davemul]

Thank you gents. Much appreciated