Electric Underfloor heating

[LucyinLondon]

Hi,

I've just bought a new house with electric underfloor in a large kitchen/diner, covered with limestone tiles.

Whilst aesthetically nicely done out, since moving in I've found a catalogue of poor building work - including a garage conversion without any insulation.

And whilst I know underfloor electric is expensive - my first bill that was utterly obscene.

Am starting to suspect that maybe they installed underfloor heating on a concrete base without insulation...And that maybe I'd be best to get radiators put back in and stop using it.

Any idea how I might be able to tell without digging the whole thing up and therefore destroying it? - Is it possible to work out from response times? - or from whether the floor appears to be raised?

Thanks,

Lucy

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Did you or your solicitor ask the vendors if any work requiring Building Regulations approval had been done?

 

[LucyinLondon]

Yes and I was aware some work had been done without sign off. The problem is that I live in a suburb of London that's still v much a seller's market. I was outbid on 6 other properties. And this one had 3 offers on the table when it had been on the market just 3 days....I was anticipating some issues. Now Im trying to assess the extent and sort out what I can.

This one is tough because I can't work out how I can find out what's been done without destroying it.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Try the flooring forum, but my guess is that you can't find out without some destructive investigation, and will probably have to just stop using the UFH.

 

[securespark]

If it's been done without being signed off, chances are they have not laid the correct thicknesses of insulation or layers of material.

The only way to know for sure would be to lift a tile somewhere out of sight (under a washing machine?) and dig down.

 

[SimonH2]

You could probably drill down between a couple of tiles with a small drill and feel for what layers you go through. If the drill is small enough, you can just go through the grout and fill the hole again afterwards.

In theory the heating mat/wire shouldn't go closer than a couple of inches to a wall - but of course, if it wasn't notified/inspected etc then there's no way of telling where the wire goes. It might be possible to trace the wire using one of those small stud & cable finders - once you pick one up, you should be able to follow the wire snaking back and forth.

 

[Iggifer]

an easier way to check might be to remove any plinth that surrounds the units and check if the tiles go all the way to the wall (they often don't) and you might find you can see what subfloor they laid