[milano]

I just bought the house with partially finished basement (ceiling tiles on the ceiling, vinyl tiles on the floor and painted exterior concride walls). I want to divide basement in few rooms (office, bathroom, Landry, 1 bedroom and family room) but there is a radiant heating in the floor. My question is how deep are the heating pipes and can I nail into the floor or just use a liquid nail to attach the walls to the floor? Also as I mention before I would like to install full bath in basement if it’s all possible again because of floor heating. I would hire a plumber for that but just like to know so I can plan ahead.

Thanks

 

[Just Bill]

I would not go nailing/screwing into that floor, those pipe are usually not very deep. There are probably scanners that can find exactly where the pipes are located. Finding their location could better define you plan of attack.

 

[Ron6519]

Doubtful you could install a bath without ruining the in slab heat unless it was planned for ahead of time. If you have no stub outs in the floor now, you're probably out of luck.
Ron

 

[milano]

basement

Thanks for replay.

So it's not easy as I thought it would be, anyway if I just nail the studs into ceiling joists and use liquid nails at the floor will that work?

Bill,

I don’t know anything about the scanners, is that something that I can buy in Home Depot or so, or that is some special expensive tool for plumbing?

Thanks

 

[Ron6519]

Thermal scanners can be very expensive. In your case, I would see if you could rent one or call someone in who can map out the hidden pipes. Fluke units run a few thousand and up.
Ron

 

[Scuba_Dave]

You could nail into the top joist & use glue on the bottom
I would also make these a very tight fit on the studs
The thermal sensor would be the ideal way to go - it can be expensive. But might be able to hire someone to come in or rent one

You could build a bathroom above the floor (raised) with a pump to pump water to a drain. The problem is you are not supposed to cover the radiant heat (too much). A bathtub would cover a large floor area. You would possibly need to ventilate the area under the tub.

IE the tub, vanity & toilet would be raised up. That might look kinda goofy, so entire raised floor might be better

 

[milano]

Thanks Scuba Dave,
I have couple of questions for you. Do you know who usually does the scanning? Is it the plumber or someone else? And for the bathroom, if I can't cut the concrete I would raise the entire floor and work around main sewer pipe hoping that heating pipes are not dense in that area. The entire bath would be no bigger than 50 sq ft. Is that too much to be covered?