Products: TileFix®, SlimFix®
Older properties can bring some interesting challenges when it comes to renovating them with modern heating technologies such as underfloor heating (UFH), but when you work with an expert supplier, there is always a solution.
We recently worked with the owner of a stone house in Cornwall who wanted to replace their existing radiator system with UFH across the ground and first floors. First built in 1904, the 115m² property had low ceilings and a number of different floor heights to contend with. The owner also wanted to use both tiles and engineered wood floor coverings throughout the property, adding an additional layer of complexity to the project.
The different floor heights and finishes meant we had to look at combining multiple UFH technologies into a single system, in order to create a uniform height across the floor once the UFH was installed. This would also allow both floor types to be laid on top of the UFH, providing the luxury finish the homeowner wanted.
Switching from radiators to UFH allowed the homeowner and their heating engineer to remove the old radiators and maximise the living space in each room, as well as being able to remove all the surface-mounted pipework from the outdated heating system.
After discussing the project with the owner, our Technical Sales Adviser, Troy Wyse, recommended an UFH system comprising both our TileFix® and SlimFix®-18 solutions.
SlimFix® is a low-profile system of high-compressive strength composite panels, each with a heat-dissipation layer to maximise heat output. SlimFix® is designed to accept wood and laminate floors directly, or carpets and vinyls when fitted with a suitable cover board such as our DriDEK™-20 board.
The panels measure just 18mm thin, keeping floor build-up heights to a minimum, and come with built-in return panels to make installation quick and easy. SlimFix® is simply laid directly onto the base floor, before Continal’s SUPERflex™ pipes are pressed into the pre-routed pipe channels.
In the rooms where our customer wanted a tiled floor finish, we recommended our TileFix® panels. These provide the same fast-response heat output and high-compressive strength as SlimFix®, but are the only UFH system available that you can tile directly onto using a flexible tile adhesive. This meant our customer could place the tiles straight onto the TileFix® panels without having to first lay a board that would increase the build-up height. This also meant we could create a uniform floor height across each floor of the property.
We won the contract thanks to the high level of service that we were able to offer. Every project we work on is assigned to a specific Technical Sales Adviser, so that the customer will always have the same point-of-contact whenever they have a query. We also support our customers right from the very first enquiry, through to system commissioning and beyond. Our team is always at the end of the phone to help, and will even liaise with our customers’ contractors and engineers to make sure the entire project runs smoothly. With this project, we arranged for our customer to visit the Continal head office in Launceston, Cornwall, so they could see the different UFH products for themselves before purchasing, and to answer any questions that they had.
Once the project was complete, our customer left us a five-star Trustpilot review saying: “I had great service and assistance from Continal Technical Sales Adviser Troy Wyse, who effectively held my hand through the ordering process and system build-up. This was a complete ground and first-floor installation to refurbish a 1904 Cornish stone house, and do away with all the old radiators and associated surface 'spaghetti' pipework. Troy very patiently helped with my subsequent queries, putting up with my ignorance, and the system was brilliantly installed by a local heating engineer. I now have a very controllable, room-by-room system providing a great heating solution.”
Continal has been a leading UK design and supply specialist for energy-efficient warm-water UFH for more than 20 years. The company’s full range of UFH systems for solid floors, overfloor applications and joisted floors, as well as a full portfolio of controls and accessories, can be found at www.continal.co.uk.
