Fussbodenheizung / Underfloor Heating

Finally, there is more visible progress. Today, Niedermaier's men installed most of the underfloor heating pipes. They did the living room, the kitchen and half of the corridor. They probably would have finished the bathroom as well, but there is an issue with the shower drain - they didn't know what final height the floor will be, so they needed to wait until Christian Schöpfberger (the guy who will be pouring the concrete) determined the height with a laser level.

In order for Niedermaier's men to have been able to install the underfloor heating pipes today, we had to do a lot of work last weekend. I put in two 18 hour days on Saturday and Sunday and Sandra put in much the same. Even Eileen was busy sweeping and hoovering. What needed to be done was to get from a position where we had a OSB floor in all rooms, to where we had 4cm of insulation plus 2cm of a kind of aeroboard with very big beads - the idea is to act as a silencer. What had to be done first was to roll a foam band around the bottom of the wall. This will act as a barrier between the concrete floor and the wall so that no sound will transmit from the floor to the wall.

About 23:00 on Sunday, the boards are installed

Then, the 4cm aeroboard insulation was installed. That took quite a while because of all the cutting we needed to do - not just around the edges and the beams but also because of all the water pipes and network cables that crossed the floor.Once that was finished, we hoovered once more and then installed the silencer boards on top. Not quite as much cutting was needed (because the pipes on the floor were already taken care of by the thicker 4cm boards) and it was also easier to cut as the boards were only half as thick. We also had a hot wire cutter, which meant that we were only producing dangerous toxic fumes rather than a mess (try cutting aeroboard with a knife or saw). Once the 2cm boards were in, a 0.2mm plastic sheet was draped over the whole floor and up the wall so it overlapped the foam band by a little bit. Niedermaier's men laid out cardboard (probably plastic actually) on top of that - the underfloor heating pipes were stapled to that sheet to keep them in place.

As well as the work inside, our painter Sven and I are making considerable progress with the painting of the outside. The west gable is completely finished (2 coats of paint). The north (street) side has one coat of paint generally and two on the reveals. The east side has one coat of paint generally and two on the reveals. The south (yard) side also has one coat and two on almost all reveals. With a bit of luck we should be finished this weekend and can get rid of the scaffolding. When the scaffolding is gone, we can have the balcony and stairs put in (it should be ready by then). Hopefully,on Monday, we'll be able to have the concrete put in for the floor.

The towel drier/heater runs on the same heating as the underfloor heating (<30°)

The pipes from the different zones arriving into the central controller

The pipes are one a revolving stand and can be pulled off as they are needed

The kitchen is finished. Only one pipe is next to the wall (for condensation water avoidance) as the kitchen presses don't need to be heated from underneath

The plastic/cardboard boards which the underfloor heating pipes are fixed to with big staples

Cutting the plastic sheeting