Timber-Floating Foiled Polystyrene

Each TFFP heating panel is 2400 x 1200 and manufactured as an assembly of rigid insulation and aluminium foil. Pipe channels are machined into the top surface of each panel and then fit thick soft-temper foil across the whole surface and into each channel. When the heating pipe is pressed into the foiled channel, the foil acts as an excellent collector of heat and spreads the heat across the underside if the floor deck. The heating panels are used in conjunction with other routed non-foiled panels which provide insulated pipe loops and channels for the Flow and Return pipe runs. The heating pipe is installed as continuous lengths and there are no fittings in the floor.

Apart from being much simpler to handle on site, TFFP panels eliminate the two principal disadvantages we found when using rigid aluminium diffuser plates.

 

 

Firstly, TFFP panels are much simpler and neater to trim to size.

Secondly, they completely avoid the irritating creaking and ticking sounds which rigid plates can create during warm up and cool down because of the large difference in expansion and contraction between aluminium and timber.

With TFFP panels and heating pipe in place, a fully-floating floor deck can be fitted over the top. Usually, this would be tongued and grooved panels of chipboard or ply but it could also be tongued and grooved timber strip or cement-bonded particle board.

 

As with most forms of full-floating floor, TFFP panels are installed on a flat and level concrete understructure. This may be a cast slab or block and beam or levelled planks.

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.

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

 

The benefits you gain from using TFFP panels instead of polystyrene and rigid aluminium diffusers are these:

A UFH system configuration is created using standard panel designs

The panels are pre-assembled and there is no need to buy routed insulation and rigid plates separately The panels are easy to trim to length whereas rigid plates have to be cut using tin snips and this a time-consuming process which leaves jagged edges which can abrade the pipe The heat output from Warmfloor's selected TFFP panels has been measured by an independent test-house and is assured The soft-temper foil completely eliminates the very irritating creaks which can occur with rigid aluminium plates during warm up and cool down, caused by the huge difference in thermal expansion between the plates and the timber floor deck. You have a choice of two different types of insulation and several different thicknesses Warmfloor's selected TFFP panels can also be used as a base for a screeded floor, of the form specified as Type B in EN1264.