1st Job: Thermal Floor Insulating Primer v Insulation Boards

[DannyVandal]

Hello good people of the board,

I'm looking for some advice on my first tiling job ever. I have a kitchen (concrete floor) and an attached extension (wooden floor) to tile. I need underfloor heating at least in the kitchen to take the edge off the cold in the winter, it won't be used as the primary heating source. I understand that using UFH without insulation is a real waste of heat and money and was resigned to springing for 6mm insulation boards. This would mean I have to buy them for the whole of the extension as well just to keep the height consistent, adding about another £150-200 to the cost of the job. I then saw this stuff called thermal floor insulating primer which would basically add nothing to the overall height of the job allowing me to insulate the kitchen and keep the floor level throughout. What is the professional opinion on the TFIP as opposed to the boards? Will it provide a decent level of insulation? I presume that it won't be as good as the boards purely because of the physical thickness of them but if it's say 50-70% as good then I think I'll go for it. Any help would be much appreciated.

[pjrich]

Hi,

We tested some thermal primer, the result was that it does add some insulation properties but no where near as much as using an insulation board. I would estimate about 20% efficient as 6mm insulation.

We offer 6mm EkoBOARDs, which are suitable for use on concrete, for £4.00+ VAT per sheet as a maximum price. If you have some dimension of the area you wich to insulate / heat we will prepare a quotation for you.

Warm Regards,

[faithhealer]

hi danny say hello on the new members forum, in the meantime what sort of wooden floor do you propose tiling on?
http://www.tilersforums.co.uk/new-members-say-hi-here/

[grumpygrouter]

Hello good people of the board,

I'm looking for some advice on my first tiling job ever. I have a kitchen (concrete floor) and an attached extension (wooden floor) to tile. I need underfloor heating at least in the kitchen to take the edge off the cold in the winter, it won't be used as the primary heating source. I understand that using UFH without insulation is a real waste of heat and money and was resigned to springing for 6mm insulation boards. This would mean I have to buy them for the whole of the extension as well just to keep the height consistent, adding about another £150-200 to the cost of the job. I then saw this stuff called thermal floor insulating primer which would basically add nothing to the overall height of the job allowing me to insulate the kitchen and keep the floor level throughout. What is the professional opinion on the TFIP as opposed to the boards? Will it provide a decent level of insulation? I presume that it won't be as good as the boards purely because of the physical thickness of them but if it's say 50-70% as good then I think I'll go for it. Any help would be much appreciated.

You will recoup this cost in a matter of months with the thermal efficiency gains. it is also very nice stuff to tile onto!

[DannyVandal]

OK, it sounds like I need to use boards, it's a shame because the extension with the wooden floor (just chipboard I think, it's built on top of a wooden frame) has a fairly low ceiling and ideally I'd have just lost the height of the tiles and a bit of adhesive. I take it there's no decent way of making one floor look good with two levels of tiling? Thanks for all the advice so far!