I agree with Tom. I put radiant heat in my shop floor when I built from
scratch and I was very concerned about how the tubing would handle
settlement. The tubing does not appear to be able to take much in the way
of settlement without creating a leak. Once a leak occurs you must jack out
an area around the leak and expose a section of the tubing suitable for
installing some compression fittings and a splice. Doesn't sound fun. I'd
be very suspect of an existing floor with serious cracks.
Another thing I would be concerned about with pouring a new floor on top of
the existing one is insulation. Without pulling my notes I seem to remember
I put a vapor barrier down over the base, then 1 inch foamboard insulation
under the slab and 2 inch board on the permitter. I laid the concrete mesh
on the foamboard and ran 1/2 inch tubing 12 inches on center. The concrete
mesh was propped up about 2 inches so the tubing is in the middle of the 4
inch slab. I used 3500 psi reinforced concrete mix. That was 3 years ago
and so far, so good. Remember to add the insulation to your calculation of
your new finished floor elevation. I'd guess you are going to be up at
least 5 inches.
I used the Wirsbo system. I can't remember the names of the others I looked
at, but the Wirsbo appeared to be the best of the bunch. I am very happy
with the system, radiant heat is awesome. Highly recommended to anyone who
wants to play with cars in the winter.
If I had to do it over again, I would probably use even more insulation
under the slab. I think I am losing lots of heat under the slab. And I
would never even consider building another shop without infloor radiant
heat. Once you've had it, you can't go back to torpedo heaters!
I just realized this is my first post to the Vintage Race list... Hi. I'm
Henry. I'm in my rookie year running a TR4 with SVRA. ;-)
At 09:36 AM 5/3/00 -0400, Tombread@aol.com wrote:
>It is likely your existing floor has cracks because it has settled due to
>cavitation. You should have the base mud-jacked for support (fill the
>hollows under your old floor with a slurry mixture) before adding the weight
>of additional concrete, or you may end up with a new floor with new cracks.
>
>Tom Butters
Henry Frye thefryes@iconn.net
http://members.iconn.net/~thefryes/amici.html
Yellow TR4
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