hydronic flooring and what to top it with

[dodgeviper]

Greetings, new member and looking for some advice. I have just finished building a new home and garage. The house has a larger 2 car garage for regular use...daily drivers, and also a single car garage which acts as a man cave and hobby car play mechanic area. The single car garage has heated floor and will have a four post hoist included. I live outside Toronto and our climate is similar to Detroit, cold winters. The heated floor allows me to smoke cigars, watch hockey and tinker with cars in the colder months.
I was looking at the Race Deck open tiles but not sure about durability with the hoist over periods of time in one spot. I like the fact though that it allows heat to rise from the concrete floor...slush and dirt is no concern cause its not a daily driver garage. So although pluses with open tile, not hip on durability.
With regards to regular flat tiles, I am not convinced they work well on transmitting the heat from the concrete to the garage area.
So that leaves a coating. It will transmit heat easily and be durable.
With it being a virgin garage, is this the way to go?
I have been reading alot of the threads and any advice is appreciated....esp from those who have a heated floor

 

[Armorpoxy]

Hi, we sell both tiles and epoxy. For a heated floor we recommend an epoxy floor like our www.armorcladepoxy.com since these are super durable and work great with radiant heat.

We have thousands of successful installs using this product over radiant heat.

 

[mygarageone]

You can put almost anything on a radiant floor and it will heat properly. However that being said there are some things you shouldn’t put on the radiant floor. Whatever your choices are make sure you read the fine print and follow directions.
For instance , there is a cheap peel and stick vinyl tile out there that clearly states not to be used on it radiant floor. There are some wood flooring products that should not be used on a radiant floor.
So my advice is whatever it is you choose to use , just do your homework .

 

[dodgeviper]

Thx MG1. I have been reading quite a bit on this awesome forum. And def going with epoxy. The vendors on this site seem very supportive, products have been Garage Journal approved, so now its time to pull the trigger on which one. Durability, looks and diy application are important to me....cost is not my decision barrier

 

[mygarageone]

Thx MG1. I have been reading quite a bit on this awesome forum. And def going with epoxy. The vendors on this site seem very supportive, products have been Garage Journal approved, so now its time to pull the trigger on which one. Durability, looks and diy application are important to me....cost is not my decision barrier

Sounds good , go for it.

 

[Radix2]

With a modern insulated building, the difference in temp between the air and the floor is not that much. For example, in the winter I set my floors to 68 and the room is comfortable to work in at 64-65. The concrete does not even feel "warm" with it heating the room into the 70s.

So...the idea that the floor is going to be so hot it is going to melt some flooring is silly. About the only real no no is a strongly insulating material like carpet and pad ( but even then I doubt it would make much difference if you have good insulation under the Crete.

Unless you really like tiles, a simple coating seems the obvious choice.

 

[mygarageone]

With a modern insulated building, the difference in temp between the air and the floor is not that much. For example, in the winter I set my floors to 68 and the room is comfortable to work in at 64-65. The concrete does not even feel "warm" with it heating the room into the 70s.

So...the idea that the floor is going to be so hot it is going to melt some flooring is silly. About the only real no no is a strongly insulating material like carpet and pad ( but even then I doubt it would make much difference if you have good insulation under the Crete.

Unless you really like tiles, a simple coating seems the obvious choice.

What I find interesting about carpet pad, the better quality pad the better the heat transfer.
There are thousands and thousands of homes with quality carpet pad and carpet over a radiant floor. The heat great.
Like I mentioned before the biggest problem is the wood the wood flooring. The best thing to use on the radiant floor is composite flooring it will not warp nor dry out.

 

[dodgeviper]

Composite...as in vinyl/polymer type flooring? Using these products might make my car hoist to leave indentations. My garage floor slab temp will be set to a max of 60 in the winter so in theory it should not hurt the adhesive or the strength.
Geez now you got me thinking of going with tile instead...its an easy diy project too.

 

[mygarageone]

Composite...as in vinyl/polymer type flooring? Using these products might make my car hoist to leave indentations. My garage floor slab temp will be set to a max of 60 in the winter so in theory it should not hurt the adhesive or the strength.
Geez now you got me thinking of going with tile instead...its an easy diy project too.

No , I wasn’t saying you should use composite . I was just saying it’s the only one type Wood floor you can use or should use over radiant heat