Walking on pex during pour and repairs?

[thammel]

I'll be laying my pex next week - using 1/2" stuff. I plan on stapling it to the insulation. It feels really tough, but I'm wondering about the cement guys walking on it. Have any of you ever had problems? Have you ever had to repair it? If so, and it's stapled to the insulation, it seems to be a difficult thing to do. In any case, pulling it up with concrete and repairing it sounds like a PITA. I guess we all just pray for no problems. At 1' spacing I'm almost positive there's no way we can guarantee it not being walked on. And I have the feeling the guys use rakes to pull the wire mesh up. I can just see these snagging on the pex. I guess I have to instruct to be gentle. Yeah, right, concrete guys are going to be gentle. I guess we all worry about this stuff.

Tom

 

[Vicious_Cycle]

I can't picture what you mean by stapling the pex to the insulation. I used plastic tie-wraps (zip-ties) and tied the pex to the wire mesh. Then during the pour, wherever I ran the wheelbarrow, I put down some scrap pieces of OSB in order to spread the load over the pex. That worked fine. There was no damage to the pex, no leaks, everything works as intended.

We did lift the mesh with rakes, but you would have to try pretty hard to damage the pex with a rake. I wouldn't worry about it. Also, I like the idea of having the pex closer to the concrete surface, and farther away from the insulation/ground.

 

[tigmusky]

I can't picture what you mean by stapling the pex to the insulation. I used plastic tie-wraps (zip-ties) and tied the pex to the wire mesh. Then during the pour, wherever I ran the wheelbarrow, I put down some scrap pieces of OSB in order to spread the load over the pex. That worked fine. There was no damage to the pex, no leaks, everything works as intended.

We did lift the mesh with rakes, but you would have to try pretty hard to damage the pex with a rake. I wouldn't worry about it. Also, I like the idea of having the pex closer to the concrete surface, and farther away from the insulation/ground.

right on... Just be careful when dump the wheel barrows.
Your going to love that in floor heat.

toasty........ daye

 

[79firebird]

What a buddy of mine did befor he pored his floor was he used compresed air in it so if well they where poreing if they put a nick in it it would show right away 150 psi and he had his compressor still atached to it so if it did the compressor would turn on and pump air in tell the leak is found but it shouldent be a prob i have driven over it with bobcats befor helping pore a slab and no prob.

 

[72Tunaboat]

Make sure you have an air test gauge on the manifold or somewhere on the system and pressurize it to 100lbs. If you are concerned about the tubing getting damaged, try to be there when they pour. most concrete guys are smart enough not to walk all over the tubing though.