Underfloor Heating

The Morrinsville Project

QPOD™ Flooring System worked with WarmNZ Underfloor heating for our latest project in Morrinsville. The 183.5m2 slab was engineered in a raft configuration.

QPOD™ Flooring System + Underfloor Heating

A commonly asked question is “Can QPOD™ Flooring System be used with underfloor heating?”

The answer: Of course! QPOD™ and underfloor heating are a perfect match. QPODs encapsulate air to improve thermal capabilities and produce exceptional R values, combined with underfloor heating you’ll have one toasty home. Underfloor heating is easy to install with The QPOD™ Flooring System and is simply tied to the mesh. Some clients like to increase the topping from 85mm to 100mm to allow for saw cuts and avoid damaging the heat pipes.

As outlined in the Allied READY Superslab Manual

Where underfloor heating or polished concrete is specified the topping shall be increased to 100mm. Bar chairs and top cover to mesh to shall be maintained as specified; 45mm maximum and 30mm as a minimum. QPODs have bar chairs built into the pods to support mesh to the appropriate cover and have been load tested to confirm topping performance is not compromised. 
Toppings greater than 100mm thick will require increased mesh reinforcement to meet minimum shrinkage requirements of NZS3101 and will require specific engineering input and are beyond the scope of the Superslab CodeMark document.
Where underfloor heating is specified, the pipes shall be no larger than 16mm diameter. It is recommended the underfloor heating pipes are installed below the mesh where saw cuts are located to avoid the risk of damaging the heating pipes when saw cuts are installed. Increasing the mesh top cover would increase the risk of shrinkage cracking and as such shall be avoided especially with polished floors.

The QPODs required for this 183.5m2 home came pre-assembled, compacted into two small stacks that fit on the back of a ute. The polystyrene raft equivalent would have taken up an entire truck and trailer! The QPODs were down in just a few hours – QPOD™ Flooring System is super easy to transport and fast to install.

How Does It Work?

Under floor Heating is now a popular heating system for new homes. It is not practical to retro fit into an existing home, but it is ideal for new homes with concrete slab constructions.

Instead of using radiators to heat a room, hot water pipes are laid into the concrete floor slab. This warms the slab/floor providing a warm floor and radiant heat into the room.

It is much more economic to run than electric under floor systems. In an under-floor system, the flow and return from the boiler connect to a manifold which all the pipes run from to each room / area. The flow of water through the pipes is generally controlled by room thermostats that are pre-set to desirable temperatures. The temperature of the water used for under floor heating is 40°C which produces a maximum floor slab temperature of 29°C. The room temperature is generally about 8°C cooler.

The floor of your home is separated into zones which can be controlled via thermostats or manual controls, centrally or room by room.

Warm NZ underfloor systems are all custom designed by qualified heating engineers.

For more info on WarmNZ: https://warmnz.co.nz/underfloor-heating/

“QPOD™ and underfloor heating are a perfect match. QPODs encapsulate air to improve thermal capabilities and produce exceptional R values, combined with underfloor heating you’ll have one toasty home”