Triassic Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 I'm about to order the UFH parts to go under a suspended timber first floor in my new build (bedrooms below and kitchen/family room above). Having priced up the aluminium spreader plates they come in a pricy £803 !!! Do really need spreader plates, or could I simply clip the pipe to the underside of the chipboard floor using plastic clips? The house is highly insulated and I have a feeling this element of the UFH might never be used, so would hate to "waste" money on spreader plates ! All thought welcome...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vivienz Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 (edited) I've gone for spreader plates on the basis that if I'm having UFH upstairs, I want it to be as effective as possible. It's a catch 22 situation, I suppose, in that you need to be able to compare one with and one without, but it would be too fiddly (and expensive) to add retrospectively if you want to add them later. The other thing to think about is what centres your joists are at. Mine were put at 400mm - as well as the floor being less bouncy, the spreader plates wouldn't have been wide enough at 600 centres. Edited February 12, 2019 by vivienz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newhome Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 I don’t have spreader plates. The supplier of the kit (Wunda) never specified them and we didn’t know we should have had them so the pipes were laid on foil as per the photo and then wood flooring put on top. The first thing @Nickfromwales said was ‘why don’t you have spreader plates’ but tbh now that the UFH is working ok upstairs and down it seems fine upstairs. I was told that I would feel warm bits of floor and cooler bits as the heat would spread evenly but I haven’t noticed that at all in truth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dudda Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 Oh I did something like @newhome above but I put in a dry biscuit mix (7 sand to 1 cement) This is super cheap, easy to do yourself and acts as a thermal mass and controls the heat better than the aluminium plates and improves the sound insulation. Can't remember the cost exactly now but a guess was something like 10 bags of cement and a ton bag of sand for less than €100 for all of upstairs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottishjohn Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 I did something similar only different with upstairs as it was a retro fit Iifted chip board fitted batons to sides of joists ,then cut PUR to fit the space between joists supported on these batons then laid UFH piping on top of PUR had it so the pipes were tight up to flooring when finished. I like the biscuit mix better but would couldn,t afford rising floor height to do it that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triassic Posted February 12, 2019 Author Share Posted February 12, 2019 (edited) As I've also got to insulate the floor void, so I was wondering if I could simply use this grooved, between the joists, 50mm thick EPS insulation, from Pro-warm. At around £9.50 per board, it would save me spending £4.50 each on spreader plates? Edited February 12, 2019 by Triassic 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottishjohn Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 54 minutes ago, Triassic said: Do really need spreader plates, or could I simply clip the pipe to the underside of the chipboard floor using plastic clips? if you do that it will still work yes but not as good , not sure skimping on floor where you are living all the time is a good idea cheap alternative ? stick tinfoil to underside of floor ? assuming you are sealing this off from below to keep any heat you add trapped in that space and hopefully most goes the way you want it too --up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottishjohn Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 6 minutes ago, Triassic said: As I've also got to insulate the floor void, so I was wondering if I could simply use this grooved, between the joists, 50mm thick EPS insulation, from Pro-warm. At around £9.50 per board, it would save me spending £4.50 each on spreader plates? was just writing what did which is similar--make them touch hard against floor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 1 hour ago, Triassic said: I'm about to order the UFH parts to go under a suspended timber first floor in my new build (bedrooms below and kitchen/family room above). Having priced up the aluminium spreader plates they come in a pricy £803 !!! Do really need spreader plates, or could I simply clip the pipe to the underside of the chipboard floor using plastic clips? The house is highly insulated and I have a feeling this element of the UFH might never be used, so would hate to "waste" money on spreader plates ! All thought welcome...... Who did you get a quote off? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triassic Posted February 12, 2019 Author Share Posted February 12, 2019 I got a quote off http://mgbpress.co.uk/services/underfloor-heating-plates/they were the cheapest I could find. The U-fix plates (fit pipe from below) come in two specifications: Single groove (165 x 1000 x 0.7mm, for 15 or 16mm pipe) - £2.55 per plate Two groove (310 x 1000 x 0.7mm, 200mm c/c, 15 or 16mm pipe) - £4.20 per plate The "J" plates are all 1000mm long and 0.7mm thick, but can be made at pretty much any width you could require. As a guide, a 150 x 1000 x 0.7mm "J" plate would be £1.65 per unit. Prices exclude carriage and VAT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 310mm wide? What are your joist centres at? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassanclan Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 https://www.wundatrade.co.uk/product-category/home/joist/spreader-plates/ Might work out a little cheaper 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick1c Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 We put UFH upstairs in our previous house. I battened out the joists and put 50mm cellotex on it, the pipes were then put in and a mix of aggregate and cement (no sand) put in every alternate joist space. The SE didn't think there was enough strength in the spans for a normal screed over the pir. The ensuite had shorter spans so we went for standard screed. The standard screed worked best, followed by the aggregate, you could tell which were the 'alternate' joists. This was in a very leaky house though, with much lower flow temperatures in a more efficient build I am not sure how noticeable it would be (we had t&g solid wood floors). Not sure how this might work with I-beams or posijoists as battening would be problematical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triassic Posted February 12, 2019 Author Share Posted February 12, 2019 36 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said: 310mm wide? What are your joist centres at? The widest spacing is 500mm and the narrowest 270mm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newhome Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 Don’t you need to worry about the joists if you use the biscuit mix because of the weight? I think @Redoctober had to upgrade his joists (or something). It’s probably in his blog somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 5 minutes ago, newhome said: Don’t you need to worry about the joists if you use the biscuit mix because of the weight? I think @Redoctober had to upgrade his joists (or something). It’s probably in his blog somewhere. Mine was designed at the outset to be using biscuit mix so the joists were sized for the extra dead load on them. So downstairs we had UFH in biscuit mix. Upstairs, just in the bathroom and en-suite we have UFH with spreader plates. I have to say we are disappointed with the heat output from the upstairs. It may just be because the heat has to get through a layer of chipboard flooring, the tanking membrane, tile adhesive then porcelain tiles that it seems less effective compared to downstairs where it only has to get through 20mm engineered wood flooring? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redoctober Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 Yep, we went for a biscuit screed upstairs and have found it to be very beneficial especially as we have stone tiles in the bathrooms. But as mentioned above by @newhome it did come at a cost, which was unforeseen by us at the time - details can be found at - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triassic Posted February 12, 2019 Author Share Posted February 12, 2019 6 hours ago, bassanclan said: https://www.wundatrade.co.uk/product-category/home/joist/spreader-plates/ Might work out a little cheaper Thanks for the recommendation, it saved me £82, money I can spend elsewhere! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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