New Heated Garage: need help!

jziegler

I have a 38x48x14 pole barn in Buffalo, NY and am looking to put in a concrete floor my self soon. The floor will not be the full building, probable only 9ft along the 48 wall and 12ft along the back of the 38 wall, big U so the tractor can leak on the stone and not new concrete. If I put in PEX, what size/spaceing? I am planning on using fiberglass instead of the steel grid to support the concrete, or am I stuck using the steel grid because of the pipes? Should there only be one loop or several loops? I do not have a house on the property yet so I will not be putting in a boiler for several years and am only looking to raise the heat to about 40 insteal of 20 in the winter, not 70.

Thanks for the help.

BobCaygeon

I would use 1\2" tubing spaced 12"- 14" apart. One loop is generally 300'ft ( 150'ft supply from manifold and 150'ft return back to manifold.) I'm not sure about the fiberglass, but if it was myself I'd use 2" condensed polystyrene and steel mesh to zip tie the pipe to. Before you pour the concrete pressure test the loop(s) @ 100psi for 24 hours to ensure no leaks, use no less than a 25 Mpa (3625 psi) concrete with 6% Air entrainment @ no more than a 5 inch slump.

jomama45

I personally don't think the heated floor is a good idea for a situation like this. It's no "quick" heat solution by any means, and I would definately heat the entire floor, unless this heated area is walled off. One other problem is that you really should have some kind of insulation vertically down to frost line, which isn't easy with a pole barn.

My shop has heated floor in 60% of the floor. I didn't even turn it on this last winter, due to the cost to operate. From my experience, you can't install one of these systems w/o some very knowldegeable, professional experience and expect good results.

If you still want to go ahead with the tubing now though, you could rent the stapler to fasten the tubing directly to the 25 psi foamboard. As a matter of fact, we rarely pour over radiant tubing that's tied to mesh anymore.

shumakerscott

Check out this information on radiant floor heat, very extensive but not complex.
http://www.radiantdesigninstitute.com/

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