Retrofitting in-floor radiant

rumn8r

I am considering in-floor radiant for my basement rec./family room rather than adding a separate air handler for hydro heat in this zone. Floor is concrete covered by carpet but carpet is due for a change and we have considered tile. Is cutting channels in an existing concrete floor feasible or too expensive/messy for an existing house? If we go with in-floor radiant for this zone, is carpet an option or do we have to go with a hard surface for heat transfer?

Uni R_2

Insulation

Is there any insulation between your basement floor and that 6,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000kg heat sink it sits in? ;-)

Tony_23

Alternatives

You could insulate on top of the concrete and then use Quiktrak, Raupanel, or Thermalboard. Then finish floor. All add height.

Assuming there are pipes in the ceiling feeding 1st floor plbg, ceiling radiant might not be a good idea. Walls would still be an option.

I don't think I'd be too interested in grooving concrete.

L'town radiant

wouldn't cut the concrete!

Yep, I agree, This would be a good Quick Trak job. Could also put down some 2x2 sleeper boards, lay pipe in-between, then do a gypcrete pour over that. I would go with the quik trak system. Whatever you do you must have sufficient insulation under the tubing. Any method will add height to the floor, and then change baseboard, door frame, etc. loactions. If you go with carpet, try to get a low r-value carpet pad.

Unknown

Radiators can be a good alternative as well. I'm curious about your ceiling statement though.. do you mean you don't want to make cold potable hot? That's an interesting idea. I guess it would depend on where those pipes are and what kind of insulation you could get between the cold potable and the radiant ceiling.