# Infloor



## OldSchool (Jan 30, 2010)

Just trying out my iPhone

5,000 ft of pipe on this job


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## user7551 (Oct 21, 2011)

thats a lot of pipe


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## Mississippiplum (Sep 30, 2011)

Alot of pex lol

Looks good!


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## OldSchool (Jan 30, 2010)

Here is more


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## bartnc37 (Feb 24, 2009)

Tied to the mesh like that is the way to go. My old boss used those foam staples which were fine while we laid the stuff down but as soon as the concrete guys got in there the entire layout was toast in 30 seconds.


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## OldSchool (Jan 30, 2010)

The way we do it up here is 2" SM foam then yellow vapour barrier then wire mesh...


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## WaterBoy (Mar 4, 2010)

Are those two water closets that have the foam around the drains?


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## OldSchool (Jan 30, 2010)

WaterBoy said:


> Are those two water closets that have the foam around the drains?


One is for the shower drain which will be a 5ft x 4 ft shower

The other is for a walk in bath tub

If you look close in the last picture by the edge of the building is the floor flange for one of the toilets


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## Bayside500 (May 16, 2009)

i have never done anything like that, so i have a novice question for ya guys that do this.

by securing the pex to the wire mesh, will it eventually rub a hole through the pex with the pex expanding and contracting ?

either way that looks really good and seems like a time consuming project :thumbsup:


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## OldSchool (Jan 30, 2010)

That took 4 guys a full day to lay the pipe.... spacing was all 6" apart on this job... because most of the house is glass and the heat loss was high...

5,000 ft of pipe is back breaking to tie down


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## WaterBoy (Mar 4, 2010)

OldSchool said:


> One is for the shower drain which will be a 5ft x 4 ft shower
> 
> The other is for a walk in bath tub
> 
> If you look close in the last picture by the edge of the building is the floor flange for one of the toilets


So you set you flanges before they pour? I heard they have these foam caps you can use for w/c on slabs, then after its poured you pour primer on it then set your flange.


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## OldSchool (Jan 30, 2010)

WaterBoy said:


> So you set you flanges before they pour? I heard they have these foam caps you can use for w/c on slabs, then after its poured you pour primer on it then set your flange.


If we got time we always set the floor flanges in before the pour.... one less thing to do later...

For elevations further from the wall we pull masonary string to get the right height for the flanges and floor drains and clean outs


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## drtyhands (Aug 16, 2008)

Bayside500 said:


> by securing the pex to the wire mesh, will it eventually rub a hole through the pex with the pex expanding and contracting ?


Nah,
That is only happening in the 100's of thousands of homes out here where the plumbers in the eighties and nineties tied their plastic sleeved copper manifolds to rebar stakes with tie wire.:whistling2:
Slab leak country now:thumbsup:

So on a house like this one with all the Pex in the slab...How does one anchor their walls.Even anchor bolts(J-Bolts) might end up against a bunch of lines.
Be cool to see the morning of the pour when everything is in before it goes down.

Nice lookin' bunch of pipe there mister


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## Mxz--700 (Jul 8, 2011)

Nice..... How's your back?


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## DesertOkie (Jul 15, 2011)

How long are the lengths of pex? Is it all one piece?


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## Epox (Sep 19, 2010)

I learned the hard way not to install flange on rough-in though it's my preference. No brainer to pull string, shoot it in or whatever. But concrete finishers don't always get it right. Plus depending on the size of slab they sometimes elevate the grade 1/8 to 1/4 inches out in center.
The foam slips work really nice. I've seen owners change thier mind from tile to wood or stained concrete.
Really nice looking underfloor piping OS. Looks like a work of art. I helped install one underfloor but where I live our winters are much milder than alot of the guys in here so demand is pretty much nonexistant.


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## Mississippiplum (Sep 30, 2011)

That's a big role of pex in the background.


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## mssp (Dec 15, 2009)

The floor heat we do around here in KC we run 250' lengths outside in drive ways and sidewalks. Inside house we run 300' lengths. Good looking job. It is a back breaker.


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## OldSchool (Jan 30, 2010)

We buy our rolls in 1000 ft lengths.... its much easier to unroll with the uncoiler...

the pipe has the footage marked on it .... so we make our runs 250 to 300 ft long.

we try to keep the loops on each header the same lenght.

Its more harder on the knees than the back actually


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## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

Cool job OS. I am a bit surprised by your photo though. You look much younger in that t-shirt than what I expected. 

I am also curious about the pex secured to the wire. How does that not result in leaks down the road?


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## DesertOkie (Jul 15, 2011)

I take it the places that groups of PEX pop up gives you control of one room or group of rooms? What are the hot water demands for a system like that. Can you do and upstairs room or is it in cement only?

Sorry for all the questions I'm a desert rat when it got cold we just unscrewed the 75 watt bulbs and installed 100 watt bulbs and we were good.:laughing:

The stuff looks real interesting, I'm not sure how much the do in NE OK but is sure gets cold enough for a decent heater here.


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## OldSchool (Jan 30, 2010)

zone control is done where the infloor pex terminates


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## cityplumbing (Jun 12, 2010)

Nice work, I miss doing heating systems..


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

plbgbiz said:


> Cool job OS. I am a bit surprised by your photo though. You look much younger in that t-shirt than what I expected.
> 
> I am also curious about the pex secured to the wire. How does that not result in leaks down the road?









Same question. That's plumbing 101 where I am located; potable water piping cannot touch cement, other metals, etc.


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

Bayside500 said:


> i have never done anything like that, so i have a novice question for ya guys that do this.
> 
> by securing the pex to the wire mesh, will it eventually rub a hole through the pex with the pex expanding and contracting ?
> 
> either way that looks really good and seems like a time consuming project :thumbsup:


 




Maybe one day the Canadian codes will catch up to Florida and the rest of the US.....:whistling2:...... ..........:laughing:


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## OldSchool (Jan 30, 2010)

plbgbiz said:


> Cool job OS. I am a bit surprised by your photo though. You look much younger in that t-shirt than what I expected.
> 
> I am also curious about the pex secured to the wire. How does that not result in leaks down the road?


Thats my oldest son in the picture.... I wish I was that young again and have the knowledge I have now...

As for leaks of pex expanding..... it doesn't happen

Through all the training I have had through the pex manufactures they say the expansion of pex only happens out of the concrete.....

the pex pipe in the infloor is surrounded by concrete... so over all these years of doing infloor .... we never had a slab leak...


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## OldSchool (Jan 30, 2010)

Tommy plumber said:


> [/COLOR]
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I can see this with copper tubing....but pex?

Any how infloor is not part of the potable water system....


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## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

OldSchool said:


> I can see this with copper tubing....but pex?
> 
> Any how infloor is not part of the potable water system....


I'm still not understanding. Nevermind code or pipe type, I thought zip tieing bare pipe to the metal mesh would result in a problem. But I guess if all that naked pipe in the concrete survives, the metal isn't an issue either.


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## billy_awesome (Dec 19, 2011)

My back hurts just looking at those pictures.......

With w/c flanges, if there is a tile floor I always cut a small piece of souno tube and put it around the pipe, allows me to put on a offset flange if necessary after the pour. then just fill the hole with cement later on. (saves me from dreaded jack hammering!)

By far that is the biggest one story in-floor heating job I've seen! good work!


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## futz (Sep 17, 2009)

plbgbiz said:


> I'm still not understanding. Nevermind code or pipe type, I thought zip tieing bare pipe to the metal mesh would result in a problem. But I guess if all that naked pipe in the concrete survives, the metal isn't an issue either.


You would think it would be a problem, wouldn't ya? But it isn't. It lasts "forever", or at least for a very long time. I've serviced radiant systems with poly-b that are way more than twenty years old, and they're still going strong.

What gets me is that a lot of installers tie their plastic pipe to the mesh with steel (rebar) wire. That seems to me like a cut pipe waiting to happen. But they seem to get away with it, so I guess it's fine...

EDIT: Oh ya, about that "naked pipe in the concrete". The concrete cures against it and makes a glassy smooth surface in the shape of the pipe's OD. I've renovated enough radiant-heated houses to see lots of it. When you bust it up, the inside of the pipe shaped tube in the concrete is shiny and smooth.

The only place where running in concrete is dangerous is where you penetrate the surface at the ends of the loops (the headers). That's where the cement guys' trowels are lurking, ready to slash your pipes. So we sleeve all surface penetrations with either utility-grade or better Poly-E or use PVC conduit 90 degree sweeps.


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## futz (Sep 17, 2009)

OldSchool said:


> 5,000 ft of pipe on this job


What kind of pipe is that? I'm very afraid to bend my radiant to 3" radius 180 degree bends like that. I find that when it's bent that tight it's right on the verge of kinking and I worry that the cement guys' boots will bump them and I'll end up with kinked loops in the slab. I usually let my 6" turns relax out to almost 12" to give em a bit more radius.

Like this:


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## OldSchool (Jan 30, 2010)

The pipe is rheau. never had an issue expect for one brand a long time ago ... I think it was plasco.... We use to use wirsbo.... but the fittings are much better from rheau


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## Mxz--700 (Jul 8, 2011)

Nice work up in Canada!! Can't wait for the snow !! Although i go to Quebec.....:whistling2:


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## OldSchool (Jan 30, 2010)

Here is the diagram we followed for this job


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## futz (Sep 17, 2009)

OldSchool said:


> Here is the diagram we followed for this job


OHHHHH!!!!  You have diagrams! Sweet!!! I have to make it up on the spot and lay my pipe where I decide I want it. Would be good to have a nice diagram to follow sometimes (and probably pretty damn annoying other times). It's occasionally difficult to decide what to do with it.


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## OldSchool (Jan 30, 2010)

It's part of the building permit requirement here. Heat loss/heat gain calculations. Duct drawing. Infloor drawing. Hrv calculation and drawing


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## Piper34 (Oct 10, 2011)

That's gonna be one cozy home


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