Screed Pocketed Polystyrene

Warmfloor Screed Pocketed Polystyrene panels are the really effective alternative to pipe-on-mesh and they simplify the installation of heating pipe within a screeded floor.

The panels are sheets of rigid insulation which have channels cut into the top surface, into which the heating pipe is pressed. At intervals along the length of these channels, the channel is widened to form pockets which are slightly deeper than the pipe diameter. Between the pockets, short sections of channel act as grippers and hold the pipe in place.

With the pipe in place, a screed may be laid on top. The width and depth of the pockets is sufficient to ensure that the screed wraps around the pipe and that heat transfer into the screed is excellent. When the screed has been laid and has dried completely, a full ranger of tile, timber and carpet floor finishes can be added.

 

 

Warmfloor's choice of Screed Pocketed Polystyrene panels are formed from 2400 x 1200 sheets of polystyrene and are available in a range of thicknesses. Panels are available in a range of standard patterns. A schedule of these patterns (including profiled screed edge insulation strip) is available on request. The range is being continuously updated and extended as new designs are added.

 

 

SPP panels can also be used as a base for a heated fully-floating timber floor.

In this alternative application, just the pockets alone are filled with a weak sand/cement pug and this acts as an inexpensive heat diffuser to conduct the heat away from the pipe and spread it beneath the floor deck. When the pug is dry, the SPP panels and pipe are covered with a thin plastic film vapour-barrier and a standard floating timber floor deck is laid over the top. This deck is most likely to be formed from tongue and groove chipboard panels but could be tongued and grooved timber strip flooring.

 

 

Principal heating panels are available with straight parallel channels at either 200 or 250mm centres. You choose which you need according to the heat required.

Unpocketed return panels suit these spacings. They have three rows of return loops, which can be easily separated using a knife. Unpocketed transit panels carry Flow and Return pipework through common areas such as hallways and around corners and into the manifold. The absence of pockets automatically insulates the pipe and reduces the heat transfer in areas where it is necessary to prevent the floor becoming too warm. 

 

If you have experience of using conventional underfloor heating, you will appreciate the many practical benefits to be gained from using SPP panels instead:

There is no need to separately buy, cut and install plain insulation and reinforcing mesh, (and no need either for the alternative clip-rails or staples) The pipe centres are fixed and this eliminates the marking out process and the time consuming transfer of a drawn design to the floor. Pipe bends are fully supported and there is much less risk of creasing the pipe. Transit runs are automatically insulated and this avoids the need to buy and fit sleeving Installation of insulation and the pipe can be undertaken by one person and that person need not be experienced. If the screed must be reinforced with mesh, this can be laid over the top of the insulation and pipe.

The heat output from a system which uses Warmfloor's selected SPP panels is known and is based on independent test-house measurements High-quality installation is achievable and repeatable The full screed depth is available to take fixings (with pipe-on-mesh or clip rails or staple systems it is not, and drilling any fixings into the screed carries a very real risk of puncturing the heating pipe) Stress-relieving cuts can be confidently made across the screed using a diamond saw Because the pipe sits wholly within the insulation, wheelbarrows and general site traffic can cross the floor on duckboards with far less risk of damage to the pipe.