Prepare A Smooth Foundation

• 1). Level and clean the building foundation or underlayment preparing it for the initial concrete pour in which you will embed the heating elements. This can be achieved by pouring a concrete base to bring the foundation into level for thicker applications or by applying some other firm, smooth underlayment such as plywood. Allow to dry and cure thoroughly before proceeding.
  
  
• 2). Lay down insulating vapor barrier by placing a single layer over the length and width of your room and slightly up the sides of the wall to meet the concrete pour depth. The vapor barrier needs to lay flat, be butt jointed and can be tacked with tape on its topside to keep it in place if working over a very large area. If using electric panels these can be adhered to the underlayment directly with troweled on thin set adhesive.
  
  
• 3). Lay radiant water tubing system or electric radiant heat panels on top of the underlayment. If using a hot water based system, lay the tubing in a snaking zig zag pattern for a run length of the room and tape or clip to under layer. Make sure to begin and end the run of your tubing at the supply and return connection to the boiler. Tubing should be spaced between 2 and 5 inch intervals depending on the manufacturer set up and diameter of the tubing. If used in a very large commercial application or cold climates, sometimes the hot water tubing will be snaked in large circuit sections as opposed to a single snaking pattern the full length of the room in order to prevent heat loss from the long run of tubing.
  
  
• 4). Attach the electric panel leads together, then to your regular household electrical circuit and to the programmable thermostat control. Mount the thermostat on the wall. For hot water tubing systems, begin and end tubing at the supply and return location (often a corner of the room) push tubing ends down through the floor to the boiler location leaving plenty of tubing length to make connections. At boiler control panel connect tubing to boiler piping and secure.
  
  
• 5). Quality check installation of the heating systems fully ensuring smooth operation at the control panel and remote boiler location in a water tubing system. Once certain of smooth operation, pour concrete over the tubing or panels to cover by at least 1/3 inch, smooth the concrete layer and allow to cure two to five days as needed. At this point the concrete can the be sanded and polished to its final finish.