Onix Installation Manual.qxd - Affordable Home Inspections

Floor CoveringsCarpet and Pad FlooringCarpet floor coverings help preventfloors from feeling cold because theyhave a higher R-value, or resistance toheat transfer, than any other floor covering.Carpet pads reduce energytransfer while providing some supportand cushion to those standing.With respect to a radiant floor heatingsystem, a carpet and pad floor coveringis the most difficult to heatthrough. In general, the ideal floorcovering would have an R-value of 2or less. In most cases, since we areusing a floor heating system, a thinnerpad should be used. Try to keep thepad thickness below 1/2".Step 2:Radiant ZoningZoning is a way of controlling how theheat is delivered to a given area. Themore zones there are, the higher thecontrol level. There is no rule to theamount of zones needed for a project.There can be as many zones as thereare rooms and as few zones as thereare levels (minimum one zone perfloor level).There are several ways to zone a project.1. Zoned by Floor Coverings:Different floor coverings transferenergy at different rates, resulting invarying supply water temperatures.A kitchen, with a tile floor may onlyCarpetCarpet Padpage 12SubfloorTypical carpet and pad installation sequence overa frame floor.Carpet Type Thickness (in) R-ValueLevel Loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0.64Berber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..41 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0.83High/Low Loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..42 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0.86Berber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..42 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0.96Berber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..48 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.0Frise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..42 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.1Saxony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..41 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.10Saxony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..44 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.15Saxony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..50 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.25Saxony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..55 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.32Cushion Thickness (in) R-ValueSlab Rubber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..23 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0.62Waffled Sponge Rubber . . . . . . . . . . ..43 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0.78Prime Urethane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..40 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.61Hair & Jute Coated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..44 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.71Bonded Urethane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..50 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2.09Carpet and Pad Combined Thickness (in) Total R-ValueLevel Loop andTextured Rubber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0.36 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.04Level Loop and Froth . . . . . . . . . . . . .0.25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.23Berber and Textured Rubber . . . . . . .0.36 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.36Berber and Froth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0.25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.54Saxony and Textured Rubber . . . . . . .0.36 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.62Level Loop andBonded Urethane . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0.32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.67Level Loop andSynthetic Fiber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0.33 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.67Saxony and Froth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0.25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.83Level Loop andGrafted Prime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0.36 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.88Berber and Synthetic Fiber . . . . . . . . .0.33 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.98Berber and Bonded Urethane . . . . . .0.32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2.01need 100¡F supply water, while thefamily room right next to it with acarpet floor covering may require140¡F supply water. If these tworooms were placed on the samezone, there may be control and comfortproblems.2. Zoned by Occupancy:Different areas of a home or businesswill be used during differenttimes of the day or for differentactivities. Bedroom or warehouseareas tend to be kept at a lower thermostatsetting while the rest of abuilding will tend to be keptwarmer.3. Zoned by Construction:There are various constructiondetails present in almost everyproject. For example, it is difficultto place a room with a slab floor onthe same zone as a room with aframe floor. Likewise, it is a goodidea not to zone multiple levels of aproject on a single zone. Tubing isnot easily installed from one level tothe next and heat losses/gains can bedramatically different from floor tofloor. Other construction concernsmight be varying joist directions orexpansion joint locations.4. Zoned by MechanicalConsiderations:Mechanical issues tend to relate tothe required supply water temperatureor heat load required in a givenarea.Typically rooms can be grouped in thesame zone if the supply water temperaturedoes not cause the floor surfacetemperature to exceed 85¡F. For thisreason, rarely is a carpeted roomzoned with a tiled room.Rooms with similar heating intensities(BTUs per square foot) can be zonedtogether, as well. If a room has agreatly exaggerated load of 50 BTUWatts Radiant: Onix Installation Manual