Good day all,
    Looking for opinoins for the proper underlayment for radiant under laminate. How about tile...anything special there?. Thanks in advance!.    E. Jones

                                  

I need to clarify what you're asking, are you saying you are putting down a radiant heating system in a concrete slab and want to have a laminate floor covering as your finish?

Yes Dave, that is correct.  Thanks

                                       E Jones

OK. Radiant heating is very simple to put in and you don't need a specialised contractor to do it, but you do need to make sure that its done properly and that there is a minimum of 1.75 inches of concrete above the top of you pipe to ensure that framers don't hole your pipe when they shoot down track for the internal walls. Make sure you preasurise your system for 24 hours before you schedual concrete, ie don't schedual a pour until you know you don't have any leaks.

Look for boiler system in the UK from people like Potterton and find a system that's 'pasive' meaning that there's no preasure in the system when its not running and minimal presure when it is.

As to laminate flooring I'd say that I woudn't use it over a heated floor for a number of reasons that are complex in nature but to sum up it's not so great on the flextural side of life that is needed for a heated floor.

Try a solid wood product like Larch, its denser, more compact structure of the fibers with smaller tighter knotts, has 3% more oils than pine, naturaly pest resistant (they don't like it) and has been used for centuries in eastern europe for datcha's ie homes that are left in the midle of the woods without heat or attention for years and years.

Its eco friendly since they use small trees and cost comparable to laminates but a world of difference as regards to quality and copes well with the tensile movements that you will encounter on a heated surface.