Make life easy, search the forum.

Discuss Help needed underfloor heating on concrete sub floor laying stone flags in the The Welcome Forum area at TilersForums. USA and UK Tiling Forum

S

Sars

Please checkout the following advertisement.
Hi,

I have a stone cottage and am having sandstone flooring on the ground floor with underfloor heating due to the stone being so cold underfoot. I have ordered 23mm thickness calibrated sandstone and would like UFH. The subfloor is concrete and is mostly level.

I have read up and would like to fit the UFH myself but then get my stone masons to lay the stone on top. They have said they will be using a cement type mortar to lay the stone the same as outside but I have read that due to UFH we should be using the heat proof stuff.

I know the UFH is costly so I am trying to keep costs down where possible.

My questions are:

Is the insulation board necessary ?

If we use the special heat proof self level on top of the UFH matts can we then lay the stone using concrete mortar. The difference in price is phenomenal. To reiterate we are not using stone tiles we are using 23mm calibrated sandstone so obviously thicker.

We are just looking to basically take the chill out of the stone, not using the UFH as a primary source of heat as we have wood burner and radiator in the room. Plus the living room is only 22m2 of stone being put down anyway.

Any help please as don't want to get into something before we realise its too much work and cost.
 
OP
F

Flintstone

Insulation is a must, or you will be paying to heat the concrete floor! I would advise that they are stuck down with tile https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ as it’s much stronger and more flexible than sand and cement. Most decent levelling compounds are suitable over underfloor heating
 
OP
S

Sars

Thank you very much for your reply.

Ok so Im sold on the boards makes efficient sense.

So are you saying that we need heat proof tile https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ the fibre or latex type to lay the stone on top of the self level compound which will of course be the suitable product for UFH?

Then would you be able to grout with normal cement?
 
OP
F

Flintstone

Any s1 rated https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ will be fine to stick the tiles down. All the main manufacturers make this, its standard flexible https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ available in slow set or rapid set.
 
OP
D

Dumbo

To be honest as @Localtiler says flexible https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ , flexible grout and flexible levelling compound . Also I've seen stone masons laying floors and I would be using a tiler .
 
OP
O

One Day

Sand and cement on a heated floor will very likely fail unless they modify the mix with a polymer. They'll also likely spot-fix with blobs, if they're inclined to suggest s&c on a heated floor!
It's calibrated stone so a flexible s1 tile https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ would be better.
Ditto stone masons and laying floors.
Stone masons are not tilers, and tilers are not stone masons.
 
OP
S

Sars

Thanks so much.

So basically the cost of fitting the ufh is actually turning out to be a lot more than what we anticipated with everything on top such as the https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/, self level and insulation boards!
 
OP
D

Dumbo

Just to clear something up . Self levelling doesn't self level so I would get someone that knows what they are doing with it .
 
OP
S

Sars

Impish thanks for your input.

The stone masons we use have been doing stone work on our property re pointing with lime etc. Their workmanship is fantastic and they have done a lot of heritage and national trust work. When we told them we were getting a sandstone floor they offered to do it. When I mentioned we would like UFH they didn't seem to think it was necessary as we have GCH and a wood burner.

They have never worked on UFH and so this is what brings me here. It made sense to use them as we are carrying on the stone flooring to the hearth and to top other stone work that they have already worked on with lime mortar.

I will ask them if they can use a polymer to the mix and if not then I will go for a tiler who is more accustomed to the materials required for UFH.

I concur with the stonemason not a tiler, tiler not a stonemason!

I've got a 46m2 space to lay but only 21m2 of UFH just working the costs out.
 
OP
S

Sars

So why is this stuff called self level?

I've heard this stuff can be awkward to use. I think I will need a pro for that part for sure. Might get a quote for the whole job at this rate
 
OP
F

Flintstone

The stone masons aren’t going to be able to fit the insulation, or the heat mat, or do the levelling, or be used to sticking there stones down with a solid thin bed of tile https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/. Get a tiler in who can do all of these things for you. I know you probably have a good relationship with the stone masons. I’m sure they will understand
 
OP
S

Sars

Well I was going to attempt to doing it myself but the more I look into it the more complex it's getting.
Thanks
 
OP
F

Flintstone

There’s a thread on here by a chap called mp3wizaed called something like ‘how to tile a floor’. Check out his endeavours :eek:
 
OP
D

Dumbo

So why is this stuff called self level?

I've heard this stuff can be awkward to use. I think I will need a pro for that part for sure. Might get a quote for the whole job at this rate
To my mind there should be some sort of trade description issue
 

Reply to Help needed underfloor heating on concrete sub floor laying stone flags in the The Welcome Forum area at TilersForums.com

Or checkout our tile training advice or the Tile Standards

This website is hosted and managed by www.untoldmedia.co.uk. Creating content since 2001.

New Tiling Questions

UK Tiling Forum Stats

Threads
66,601
Messages
866,708
Members
9,513
Latest member
05jtaylor
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website. For the best site experience please disable your AdBlocker.

I've Disabled AdBlock