i live in british columbia canada, and i've built a 2400 square foot shop and i want to put radiant heat in the slab. i've heard of several different ways of doing this. 1  vapor barrier,2" foam insulation,and then wire mesh with the pex pipe tied to it , then concrete poured over top. 2, vapor barrier, 2" foam, pex pipe attached to the foam, covered in a layer of sand, with concrete over top of this. anyone have any pros and cons to these ideas? thanks

I'm assuming this is your own personal shop on your property? Have you had a heat loss calculation done?

Typically in this application we would have a few inches of blue foam, with a vapour barrier on top of that, some re-bar for structural reinforcement and then on top of that 6" x 6" wire mesh, which we would zap strap to.  Also, it's not a bad idea to put a radiant barrier in place of the vapour barrier. But we rarely see that as it costs the contractors more $$$.

Also, if your shop isn't slab on grade, but sunk into the ground a bit (but even if it isn't) you'll need a thermal break on the outside wall. There is huge heat loss due to the density of the ground on the other side of the slab pulling heat away.