(800) 853-2651
SHOP NOW

radiant heat in shop floor

A

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member
I have a30x40 workshop with an oil forced air furnace and aheat exchanger for my outdoor furnace to heat my shop now. My question is,How can I put radiant heat in my concrete floor that i have now? Can I put down the tubing and cover with 2-3" of new concrete? Will the new concrete stay in place?Will it Crack?Do I have to prep the old floor to make the concrete bond,Do I need to reinforce the new concrete?I pretty weel know how to put in a new floor with this system,but not sure how to add it my floor.
Thanks
Ron
 
I think your floor would crack and you'd want more than a 3" covering which would would be pretty pricey. Dave
 
(quoted from post at 08:58:55 12/15/09) I have a30x40 workshop with an oil forced air furnace and aheat exchanger for my outdoor furnace to heat my shop now. My question is,How can I put radiant heat in my concrete floor that i have now? Can I put down the tubing and cover with 2-3" of new concrete? Will the new concrete stay in place?Will it Crack?Do I have to prep the old floor to make the concrete bond,Do I need to reinforce the new concrete?I pretty weel know how to put in a new floor with this system,but not sure how to add it my floor.
Thanks
Ron
Click to expand...

Pretty common here for houses. Not sure how it'd hold up in a shop traffic, but should be OK. Everything is laid out/tested then about 2"x2" reinforceing mesh/wire on top and cement about the consistency of a milkshake is flooded in. it levels itself out and when dry, can be finished w/ tile, painted, or whatever.

Dave
 
I've heard of a layer of fine sand, then concrete over that again. Allows for expansion/contraction/ cracks shifting between the 2 slabs.

Don't know much about it tho.

--->Paul
 
Unless you rip out the old floor and redo it, it would not have any insulation underneath. Might be a major factor in operation cost, depending where you live. In our house basement, I took a picture of the installation before laying concrete- used 6 inch cattle panel to attach the tubing to, so can estimate and measure where lines are in case I need to drill into the floor. Partitions went up with no problems.
 
our carwashes have floor heat just to keep the ice off ,but to do it right you need to start from scratch and have a good constant supply of hot 50-50 antifreeze at all times
 
I just finished doing that last month. Too old to do it myself anymore so hired it done. Swept the floor real good filled in a real low spot, floor drain or something. Don't need a floor drain park a car covered with snow in there next morning car and floor are both dry. Next step, he put down something like bubble wrap over the old floor. Then 6X6 wire mesh Then the pex tube was plastic zip tied to the wire mesh in a spiral loop. They poured 4" of concrete over all this making sure the mesh 6X6 was pulled up into the concrete. They finished it just as smooth as I wanted it. I installed a 28 gallon electric water heater, circulating pump,expansion tank,pressure temp gauge and thermostat. The building is just a little bigger than a 2 car garage and well insulated. I haven't got the first electric bill yet. We pay very little per KW usually less than $30 per month in town here. The garage was built in 1932 concrete was almost as old.
 
As stated earlier, unless you insulate the new floor from the old, you're not going to get very good results. Now you could lay down an inch of high density foam insulation, but you would need to pour at least four inches on top of that to get any strength; make it five to be on the safe side and you're up to six inches with the insulation. If you can afford to lose half a foot of headroom, then I guess that would work.

Another way to do it would be to saw around the perimeter of your floor, leaving a foot of concrete next to the wall. Break up the floor inside the perimeter and tear it out. Then insulate the resulting hole and pour a new floor inside it. You'll want to insulate the sides of the hole as well as the bottom so heat doesn't escape out the walls.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

C
Steel Wheels & Concrete Floors
Replies
17
Views
1K
Fixingfarmer
Fixingfarmer
tomstractorsandtoys
Shop heat
2
Replies
34
Views
3K
KL in Wi
K
H
in floor heat?? without floor insulation
Replies
15
Views
896
showcrop
showcrop
T
Floor radiant heating
2
Replies
32
Views
3K
ss55
S
Ultradog MN
Thinking about a sky hook in my shop
Replies
19
Views
1K
mechanicfred
M
Tractor Parts Tractor Manuals

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Copyright © 1997-2024 Yesterday's Tractor Co.

All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.

Yesterday's Tractors - Antique Tractor Headquarters
Website Accessibility Policy

Back
Top