Discussion
Hi guys,
I am new to this forum but have been reading this religiously since I decided to get Water based UFH installed.
I am getting this done in the whole ground floor, excluding the kitchen ( because I will be doing the Kitchen renovation next year).
Mine is a concrete subfloor and we are getting a retrofit done, which is the basically the low profile - Pro warm or the Overlay lite - polypipe. ( I haven't decided which one yet).
Do these retrofit system really work ? I have been reading online reads about these systems, but does anyone have a winter experience on retrofits ?
My house was built in 1950s
any views appreciated Thanks
I am new to this forum but have been reading this religiously since I decided to get Water based UFH installed.
I am getting this done in the whole ground floor, excluding the kitchen ( because I will be doing the Kitchen renovation next year).
Mine is a concrete subfloor and we are getting a retrofit done, which is the basically the low profile - Pro warm or the Overlay lite - polypipe. ( I haven't decided which one yet).
Do these retrofit system really work ? I have been reading online reads about these systems, but does anyone have a winter experience on retrofits ?
My house was built in 1950s
any views appreciated Thanks
Edited by retyfraser on Monday 18th June 22:42
If you have the chance, underfloor heating is superior to anything else.
The smaller the thermal mass you are heating, the quicker the response times (both up and down).
Presumably you will be using a gas boiler. You must have a tempering valve fitted, to restrict the maximum temperature of the water going into the floor to 45c.
We have a retrofit' UFH in our 30sqm kitchen/snug. We have the system supplied by 'The Underfloor heating store' which consists of large blue polystyrene (extruded, not expanded) sheets with the grooves cut in them, 25mm thick. The principle being these get stuck to the subfloor (via tile adhesive) then the pipes are run in the grooves, then self leveling screed goes over the top.
Total height build up of around 50mm from subfloor to finished floor level - NOT included tiled/carpet. They are insulated so no height escapes down, and helps keep the room warm.
When we had it done, we knew we would get it in our bathrooms as well, so we over sized the manifold & pipe, so when we got the bathrooms done it was just a matter of 'plugging' the pipes in.
Go for a low profile manifold if you can. Much more discrete & tidier then the bog standard ones offered. I am OCD about this sort of thing though.
The good:
Yes, they work very well. The room takes maybe an hour longer to warm up then our equal sized lounge which has one large & one small double radiators in it. The kitchen/snug takes around 90mins to go from 13 degrees to 20 degrees. The lounge takes maybe 30mins. Once up to temp, it stays at that constant temp with minor top ups from the boiler.
At the end of the day, the kitchen takes a few hours longer to cool down then the rest of the house. If we are away for a few days in the depth of winter, the kitchen still stays a couple of degrees warmer then the rest of the downstairs, despite having more exposed walls/windows. The insulation works doubly well as general room insulation.
It is a lovely heat, standing on warm tiles first thing in the morning & having a warm carpet in the snug when sitting on it in the depth of winter is very nice. You also don't get any awkward cool corners to a room, or drafts when stood by windows.
The bad:
50mm floor build up gives us a ramp between hall & kitchen. I haven't noticed it for years, but people new to the house trip over it on first use, unless we warn them. When we get the hallway re-done we will get it blended in better though but it is no biggie.
Due to the low profile nature, you do feel warm
warm:cool where the pipes are for the first hour or two of warm up. This dissipates off, but first thing in the morning you can find yourself with warm toes & a cold heel. Nature of low profile I guess.
The installation was tricky, due to the size of the panels the builder propped them up alongside the house to 'prime' them. This leaning up gave them a slight bow when laid. This ment they 'popped' up off the tile adhesive and didnt stick properly. This would have caused issues when the self leveling compound was laid, with voids underneath. I spotted it and the builder had to redo it all.
You can't do more then 15sqm ish on a single loop. We have two loops of pipe to cover the room. This is with 16mm pipe. if you drop it down to 10/12mm you end up with more loops to ensure temperature is not too big a drop from start to end.
Be careful where/what wall you mount the pump etc, we put it in the airing cupboard near our bedroom & i can hear it wake up in the morning. Though I a very sensitive to mechanical sounds at night
Overall...
Overall, for the £2000 ish it cost it was entirely worthwhile. We love it, everyone who visits loves it and having to bodge in radiators would have massively limited our layout. It is a lovely form of heat compared to radiators & i feel much more 'effective' at keeping you feeling comfortable.
Highly highly recommended & Happy to answer any further questions.
Total height build up of around 50mm from subfloor to finished floor level - NOT included tiled/carpet. They are insulated so no height escapes down, and helps keep the room warm.
When we had it done, we knew we would get it in our bathrooms as well, so we over sized the manifold & pipe, so when we got the bathrooms done it was just a matter of 'plugging' the pipes in.
Go for a low profile manifold if you can. Much more discrete & tidier then the bog standard ones offered. I am OCD about this sort of thing though.
The good:
Yes, they work very well. The room takes maybe an hour longer to warm up then our equal sized lounge which has one large & one small double radiators in it. The kitchen/snug takes around 90mins to go from 13 degrees to 20 degrees. The lounge takes maybe 30mins. Once up to temp, it stays at that constant temp with minor top ups from the boiler.
At the end of the day, the kitchen takes a few hours longer to cool down then the rest of the house. If we are away for a few days in the depth of winter, the kitchen still stays a couple of degrees warmer then the rest of the downstairs, despite having more exposed walls/windows. The insulation works doubly well as general room insulation.
It is a lovely heat, standing on warm tiles first thing in the morning & having a warm carpet in the snug when sitting on it in the depth of winter is very nice. You also don't get any awkward cool corners to a room, or drafts when stood by windows.
The bad:
50mm floor build up gives us a ramp between hall & kitchen. I haven't noticed it for years, but people new to the house trip over it on first use, unless we warn them. When we get the hallway re-done we will get it blended in better though but it is no biggie.
Due to the low profile nature, you do feel warm
warm:cool where the pipes are for the first hour or two of warm up. This dissipates off, but first thing in the morning you can find yourself with warm toes & a cold heel. Nature of low profile I guess.The installation was tricky, due to the size of the panels the builder propped them up alongside the house to 'prime' them. This leaning up gave them a slight bow when laid. This ment they 'popped' up off the tile adhesive and didnt stick properly. This would have caused issues when the self leveling compound was laid, with voids underneath. I spotted it and the builder had to redo it all.
You can't do more then 15sqm ish on a single loop. We have two loops of pipe to cover the room. This is with 16mm pipe. if you drop it down to 10/12mm you end up with more loops to ensure temperature is not too big a drop from start to end.
Be careful where/what wall you mount the pump etc, we put it in the airing cupboard near our bedroom & i can hear it wake up in the morning. Though I a very sensitive to mechanical sounds at night
Overall...
Overall, for the £2000 ish it cost it was entirely worthwhile. We love it, everyone who visits loves it and having to bodge in radiators would have massively limited our layout. It is a lovely form of heat compared to radiators & i feel much more 'effective' at keeping you feeling comfortable.
Highly highly recommended & Happy to answer any further questions.
caziques said:
If you have the chance, underfloor heating is superior to anything else.
The smaller the thermal mass you are heating, the quicker the response times (both up and down).
Presumably you will be using a gas boiler. You must have a tempering valve fitted, to restrict the maximum temperature of the water going into the floor to 45c.
Technically yes, though we run ours at 55 degrees due to our bathrooms UFH being below chipboard floor and needing a bit more of a kick to get the heat through. Never given us any issues, though the kitchen floor can get a bit too warm if a very very cold night/we have been away and its the first warm up.The smaller the thermal mass you are heating, the quicker the response times (both up and down).
Presumably you will be using a gas boiler. You must have a tempering valve fitted, to restrict the maximum temperature of the water going into the floor to 45c.
Generally, you don't want the floor temperature (use a IR thermometer) going above high 20s, it gets uncomfortable under foot then.
We’ve had ours in since Sept 2017
It’s really nice - we leave our on in Winter set at 25 degrees. We’ve had it much hotter a few times to the point the feet get tingly
Nowhere is cold it’s all the same which is nice.
If ours has been off totally then it will take 90-120mins to go from off to floor getting warm to then warming the air. So in those occasions when it’s been freezing I put the log burner on and in minutes the entire room is toasty and throttle that back as he UFH comes in and does it’s job
It’s really nice - we leave our on in Winter set at 25 degrees. We’ve had it much hotter a few times to the point the feet get tingly
Nowhere is cold it’s all the same which is nice.
If ours has been off totally then it will take 90-120mins to go from off to floor getting warm to then warming the air. So in those occasions when it’s been freezing I put the log burner on and in minutes the entire room is toasty and throttle that back as he UFH comes in and does it’s job
retyfraser said:
...Mine is a concrete subfloor and we are getting a retrofit done, which is the basically the low profile - Pro warm or the Overlay lite - polypipe. ( I haven't decided which one yet).
Do these retrofit system really work ? I have been reading online reads about these systems, but does anyone have a winter experience on retrofits ?
In a word - yes!Do these retrofit system really work ? I have been reading online reads about these systems, but does anyone have a winter experience on retrofits ?
Our house is a Victorian semi which we re-furbished about 10 years ago. The kitchen is 50 sq m and with the poly-pipe overlay system we've never been cold - even with a vaulted ceiling and 4m bi-folds.
There is a new company which cuts grooves into the slab and makes it much easier to integrate into an existing home - have a search on here.
Ranger 6 said:
There is a new company which cuts grooves into the slab and makes it much easier to integrate into an existing home - have a search on here.
That would be the system I used in my house build thread. Company website (no affiliation): http://www.jk-gb.com/index.phpI was very pleased with the install. The whole downstairs was done in two days. No need to screed over the top as you can tile straight over it. We had latex put over where we needed the floor to be completely level (Karndean), but that dries much quicker.
Some pictures of our install. Note that this was installed in different floor types from screed (very quick) to concrete (slower). The cutting is very nearly dust free.
Manifold is in the shoe cupboard
Edited by Ollerton57 on Tuesday 19th June 09:37
Andehh said:
Very nice! I presume you have insulation under that slab?
What cost if you don't mind me asking? Per sqm?
I have insulation in the extension for definite, not too sure about the rest of the downstairs - it's an 80's house but I have no idea if it was standard back then? I haven't used the system in anger yet due to the weather, but am happy to report back. What cost if you don't mind me asking? Per sqm?
One thing to note is that it is used quite extensively on the continent so hopefully fairly robust.
Re: cost. It's difficult for me to be exact as it was included as part of a lot of plumbing work (multiple bathrooms, kitchen, water softener etc.). but think it was approx £4k. Underfloor heating was installed in all areas of the downstairs excluding the garage.
Andehh said:
We have a retrofit' UFH in our 30sqm kitchen/snug. We have the system supplied by 'The Underfloor heating store' which consists of large blue polystyrene (extruded, not expanded) sheets with the grooves cut in them, 25mm thick. The principle being these get stuck to the subfloor (via tile adhesive) then the pipes are run in the grooves, then self leveling screed goes over the top.
Total height build up of around 50mm from subfloor to finished floor level - NOT included tiled/carpet. They are insulated so no height escapes down, and helps keep the room warm.
When we had it done, we knew we would get it in our bathrooms as well, so we over sized the manifold & pipe, so when we got the bathrooms done it was just a matter of 'plugging' the pipes in.
Go for a low profile manifold if you can. Much more discrete & tidier then the bog standard ones offered. I am OCD about this sort of thing though.
The good:
Yes, they work very well. The room takes maybe an hour longer to warm up then our equal sized lounge which has one large & one small double radiators in it. The kitchen/snug takes around 90mins to go from 13 degrees to 20 degrees. The lounge takes maybe 30mins. Once up to temp, it stays at that constant temp with minor top ups from the boiler.
At the end of the day, the kitchen takes a few hours longer to cool down then the rest of the house. If we are away for a few days in the depth of winter, the kitchen still stays a couple of degrees warmer then the rest of the downstairs, despite having more exposed walls/windows. The insulation works doubly well as general room insulation.
It is a lovely heat, standing on warm tiles first thing in the morning & having a warm carpet in the snug when sitting on it in the depth of winter is very nice. You also don't get any awkward cool corners to a room, or drafts when stood by windows.
The bad:
50mm floor build up gives us a ramp between hall & kitchen. I haven't noticed it for years, but people new to the house trip over it on first use, unless we warn them. When we get the hallway re-done we will get it blended in better though but it is no biggie.
Due to the low profile nature, you do feel warmwarm:cool where the pipes are for the first hour or two of warm up. This dissipates off, but first thing in the morning you can find yourself with warm toes & a cold heel. Nature of low profile I guess.
The installation was tricky, due to the size of the panels the builder propped them up alongside the house to 'prime' them. This leaning up gave them a slight bow when laid. This ment they 'popped' up off the tile adhesive and didnt stick properly. This would have caused issues when the self leveling compound was laid, with voids underneath. I spotted it and the builder had to redo it all.
You can't do more then 15sqm ish on a single loop. We have two loops of pipe to cover the room. This is with 16mm pipe. if you drop it down to 10/12mm you end up with more loops to ensure temperature is not too big a drop from start to end.
Be careful where/what wall you mount the pump etc, we put it in the airing cupboard near our bedroom & i can hear it wake up in the morning. Though I a very sensitive to mechanical sounds at night
Overall...
Overall, for the £2000 ish it cost it was entirely worthwhile. We love it, everyone who visits loves it and having to bodge in radiators would have massively limited our layout. It is a lovely form of heat compared to radiators & i feel much more 'effective' at keeping you feeling comfortable.
Highly highly recommended & Happy to answer any further questions.
Hi - Wow, that's very very very detailed and thanks a tonne for this. My system which I plan to install sort of similar, it's going to be the prowarm low profile 18mm boards. As I said, I aheva concrete sub-floor, so to my understanding its going to be in this order : Total height build up of around 50mm from subfloor to finished floor level - NOT included tiled/carpet. They are insulated so no height escapes down, and helps keep the room warm.
When we had it done, we knew we would get it in our bathrooms as well, so we over sized the manifold & pipe, so when we got the bathrooms done it was just a matter of 'plugging' the pipes in.
Go for a low profile manifold if you can. Much more discrete & tidier then the bog standard ones offered. I am OCD about this sort of thing though.
The good:
Yes, they work very well. The room takes maybe an hour longer to warm up then our equal sized lounge which has one large & one small double radiators in it. The kitchen/snug takes around 90mins to go from 13 degrees to 20 degrees. The lounge takes maybe 30mins. Once up to temp, it stays at that constant temp with minor top ups from the boiler.
At the end of the day, the kitchen takes a few hours longer to cool down then the rest of the house. If we are away for a few days in the depth of winter, the kitchen still stays a couple of degrees warmer then the rest of the downstairs, despite having more exposed walls/windows. The insulation works doubly well as general room insulation.
It is a lovely heat, standing on warm tiles first thing in the morning & having a warm carpet in the snug when sitting on it in the depth of winter is very nice. You also don't get any awkward cool corners to a room, or drafts when stood by windows.
The bad:
50mm floor build up gives us a ramp between hall & kitchen. I haven't noticed it for years, but people new to the house trip over it on first use, unless we warn them. When we get the hallway re-done we will get it blended in better though but it is no biggie.
Due to the low profile nature, you do feel warm
warm:cool where the pipes are for the first hour or two of warm up. This dissipates off, but first thing in the morning you can find yourself with warm toes & a cold heel. Nature of low profile I guess.The installation was tricky, due to the size of the panels the builder propped them up alongside the house to 'prime' them. This leaning up gave them a slight bow when laid. This ment they 'popped' up off the tile adhesive and didnt stick properly. This would have caused issues when the self leveling compound was laid, with voids underneath. I spotted it and the builder had to redo it all.
You can't do more then 15sqm ish on a single loop. We have two loops of pipe to cover the room. This is with 16mm pipe. if you drop it down to 10/12mm you end up with more loops to ensure temperature is not too big a drop from start to end.
Be careful where/what wall you mount the pump etc, we put it in the airing cupboard near our bedroom & i can hear it wake up in the morning. Though I a very sensitive to mechanical sounds at night
Overall...
Overall, for the £2000 ish it cost it was entirely worthwhile. We love it, everyone who visits loves it and having to bodge in radiators would have massively limited our layout. It is a lovely form of heat compared to radiators & i feel much more 'effective' at keeping you feeling comfortable.
Highly highly recommended & Happy to answer any further questions.
1 - Damp proof membrane.
2 - 18mm low profile boards.
3 - Engineered wood
Is that order actually, correct? Also you say this They are insulated so no height escapes down, and helps keep the room warm. . Apart from the above, I dont think there is anything else I have, is that correct? How did you provide insulation?
Regarding this point Due to the low profile nature, you do feel warm
warm:cool where the pipes are for the first hour or two of warm up. This dissipates off, but first thing in the morning you can find yourself with warm toes & a cold heel. Nature of low profile I guess.. Doesnt this boil down to the fact of how you set up the thermostat ? If you had set the heating to come up at 5.00 in the morning @20 deg, say an hour before you wake up, wouldnt that solve the problem ? or is there more to it ?also what is a low profile manifold ? I could'nt find it
My questions may sound a bit silly, but its better I clarify the question now
and thanks for your help mate. These are the boards we used:
http://www.theunderfloorheatingstore.com/insulatio...
You need to prime them on both sides (this is where the builder lent them up against a wall, causing them to bow slightly, then didn't weigh them down on installation....)
They are laid on a base of tile adhesive, same way you would lay big tiles.
We didnt use a Damp proof membrane as new-ish build house (10 years) so there would already been one below the sub floor.
Engineered wood would be ideal for this surface, just make sure you buy plenty of self leveling compound & get it properly flat. We ran out half way through (I speced it & didnt take into account how much the grooves soaked up (school boy error)) then the chap who came back to finish it off did a half arsed job of raking it all flat. Luckily carpet hides it.
Yes, they are insulated so yes you do minimise the heat going down into the subfloor. I couldnt tell you how much so, but it is far better then nothing.
Yes, if you set the heating to come on early then the hot: cool :hot :cool :hot will be massively reduced. After a couple of hours it evens itself out for us - I am just stingy so leave the heating 'turn on' time as late as possible in the winter mornings. Family can wear jumpers + slippers as far as im concerned
. On an engineered wood floor this situation will be much improved for you, as wood doesn't conduct heat as well as tiles do so will allow for more even distribution of heat. My parents have Engineered wood throughout their UFH downstairs (which i did with them) and it works well there.
As for the UFH Manifold, I wish i had gone for a more compact one, as it sits in our airing cupboard & I like these things to be very neat & tidy (I am OCD with mechanical stuff...)
Like this: - this is 100% purely unnecessary though. I just like these things to be aesthetically pleasing.
http://pphlbelfast.com/tag/compact-underfloor-heat...
http://www.invisibleheat.co.uk/Underfloor%20Heatin...
edit: As for pipe spacing, go with the smallest possible to give you quickest warm up times - then run multiple 'loops' if required. I wouldnt go above 200mm at all.
http://www.theunderfloorheatingstore.com/insulatio...
You need to prime them on both sides (this is where the builder lent them up against a wall, causing them to bow slightly, then didn't weigh them down on installation....)
They are laid on a base of tile adhesive, same way you would lay big tiles.
We didnt use a Damp proof membrane as new-ish build house (10 years) so there would already been one below the sub floor.
Engineered wood would be ideal for this surface, just make sure you buy plenty of self leveling compound & get it properly flat. We ran out half way through (I speced it & didnt take into account how much the grooves soaked up (school boy error)) then the chap who came back to finish it off did a half arsed job of raking it all flat. Luckily carpet hides it.
Yes, they are insulated so yes you do minimise the heat going down into the subfloor. I couldnt tell you how much so, but it is far better then nothing.
Yes, if you set the heating to come on early then the hot: cool :hot :cool :hot will be massively reduced. After a couple of hours it evens itself out for us - I am just stingy so leave the heating 'turn on' time as late as possible in the winter mornings. Family can wear jumpers + slippers as far as im concerned
. On an engineered wood floor this situation will be much improved for you, as wood doesn't conduct heat as well as tiles do so will allow for more even distribution of heat. My parents have Engineered wood throughout their UFH downstairs (which i did with them) and it works well there.As for the UFH Manifold, I wish i had gone for a more compact one, as it sits in our airing cupboard & I like these things to be very neat & tidy (I am OCD with mechanical stuff...)
Like this: - this is 100% purely unnecessary though. I just like these things to be aesthetically pleasing.
http://pphlbelfast.com/tag/compact-underfloor-heat...
http://www.invisibleheat.co.uk/Underfloor%20Heatin...
edit: As for pipe spacing, go with the smallest possible to give you quickest warm up times - then run multiple 'loops' if required. I wouldnt go above 200mm at all.
Edited by Andehh on Wednesday 20th June 07:50
Andehh said:
These are the boards we used:
http://www.theunderfloorheatingstore.com/insulatio...
You need to prime them on both sides (this is where the builder lent them up against a wall, causing them to bow slightly, then didn't weigh them down on installation....)
They are laid on a base of tile adhesive, same way you would lay big tiles.
We didnt use a Damp proof membrane as new-ish build house (10 years) so there would already been one below the sub floor.
Engineered wood would be ideal for this surface, just make sure you buy plenty of self leveling compound & get it properly flat. We ran out half way through (I speced it & didnt take into account how much the grooves soaked up (school boy error)) then the chap who came back to finish it off did a half arsed job of raking it all flat. Luckily carpet hides it.
Yes, they are insulated so yes you do minimise the heat going down into the subfloor. I couldnt tell you how much so, but it is far better then nothing.
Yes, if you set the heating to come on early then the hot: cool :hot :cool :hot will be massively reduced. After a couple of hours it evens itself out for us - I am just stingy so leave the heating 'turn on' time as late as possible in the winter mornings. Family can wear jumpers + slippers as far as im concerned. On an engineered wood floor this situation will be much improved for you, as wood doesn't conduct heat as well as tiles do so will allow for more even distribution of heat. My parents have Engineered wood throughout their UFH downstairs (which i did with them) and it works well there.
As for the UFH Manifold, I wish i had gone for a more compact one, as it sits in our airing cupboard & I like these things to be very neat & tidy (I am OCD with mechanical stuff...)
Like this: - this is 100% purely unnecessary though. I just like these things to be aesthetically pleasing.
http://pphlbelfast.com/tag/compact-underfloor-heat...
http://www.invisibleheat.co.uk/Underfloor%20Heatin...
edit: As for pipe spacing, go with the smallest possible to give you quickest warm up times - then run multiple 'loops' if required. I wouldnt go above 200mm at all.
Amazing details, thanks mate. http://www.theunderfloorheatingstore.com/insulatio...
You need to prime them on both sides (this is where the builder lent them up against a wall, causing them to bow slightly, then didn't weigh them down on installation....)
They are laid on a base of tile adhesive, same way you would lay big tiles.
We didnt use a Damp proof membrane as new-ish build house (10 years) so there would already been one below the sub floor.
Engineered wood would be ideal for this surface, just make sure you buy plenty of self leveling compound & get it properly flat. We ran out half way through (I speced it & didnt take into account how much the grooves soaked up (school boy error)) then the chap who came back to finish it off did a half arsed job of raking it all flat. Luckily carpet hides it.
Yes, they are insulated so yes you do minimise the heat going down into the subfloor. I couldnt tell you how much so, but it is far better then nothing.
Yes, if you set the heating to come on early then the hot: cool :hot :cool :hot will be massively reduced. After a couple of hours it evens itself out for us - I am just stingy so leave the heating 'turn on' time as late as possible in the winter mornings. Family can wear jumpers + slippers as far as im concerned
. On an engineered wood floor this situation will be much improved for you, as wood doesn't conduct heat as well as tiles do so will allow for more even distribution of heat. My parents have Engineered wood throughout their UFH downstairs (which i did with them) and it works well there.As for the UFH Manifold, I wish i had gone for a more compact one, as it sits in our airing cupboard & I like these things to be very neat & tidy (I am OCD with mechanical stuff...)
Like this: - this is 100% purely unnecessary though. I just like these things to be aesthetically pleasing.
http://pphlbelfast.com/tag/compact-underfloor-heat...
http://www.invisibleheat.co.uk/Underfloor%20Heatin...
edit: As for pipe spacing, go with the smallest possible to give you quickest warm up times - then run multiple 'loops' if required. I wouldnt go above 200mm at all.
Edited by Andehh on Wednesday 20th June 07:50
The one I'm going for is actually the low profile boards, so no self leveling. There's gonna be a just simple works for me
1-remove the existing flooring
2-the damp proof membrane will already be there (hopefully)
3- the low profile boards got over this and then the flooring go over this. http://www.theunderfloorheatingstore.com/prowarm-1...
However because mine's a refurbhment, I'm not sure whet surprises I'm gonna find under my current laminate flooring.
My total height buildup will be around 3-4 cm
So, hopefully that's OK. However the screed Is expected to be the best system, but mines not a new build, it a 1950s semi d, and digging up the concrete or raising another 5-6cm buildup is too much for me.
The insulation I'm relying on is actually just the damp proof membrane (or is there an underlay that goes too?) and the groovy low profile board above it. So hopefully it works?
And you shouldn't have said unnecessary to the choice of manifold, I now want that :-).
Floating floor like that is a very reasonable method, and will work well. I imagine in a 50s home you wont have much insulation underneath the subfloor, but I wouldn't be too worried about that with the pre-routed insulated panels like you linked to, or what I posted above. Your system will work fine.
The one thing to bare in mind, is that your choice of UFH installation will prevent you from ever going to tiles. You could overlay the insulation prior to laying carpet, but tiles would be ruled out.
This isn't an issue if you are 99% sure you will never change (or if you just laid carpet over the top of the floorboards) but just keep that in mind if you might choose tiles in the next kitchen install in 5-10 years time.
The one thing to bare in mind, is that your choice of UFH installation will prevent you from ever going to tiles. You could overlay the insulation prior to laying carpet, but tiles would be ruled out.
This isn't an issue if you are 99% sure you will never change (or if you just laid carpet over the top of the floorboards) but just keep that in mind if you might choose tiles in the next kitchen install in 5-10 years time.
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