EasyFloor®
Hydronic Floor Heating
FloorHeat’s EasyFloor Grid system is the most efficient radiant heat system on the market. It is easy to install, making it an ideal choice for either the Do-it-Yourself installer, or for professional contractors. The EasyFloor systems works with most flooring materials, tile, carpet, and many hardwood floors. The Easyfloor system can be used in basements, single story homes, and multi floor projects.
EasyFloor Hydronic Floor Heating
FloorHeat’s EasyFloor Grid system is the most efficient radiant heat system on the market. It is easy to install, making it an ideal choice for either the Do-it-Yourself installer, or for professional contractors. The EasyFloor systems works with most flooring materials, tile, carpet, and many hardwood floors. The Easyfloor system can be used in basements, single story homes, and multi floor projects.
The EasyFloor grid system, an award winning radiant thermal mass solution, which perfectly fulfills the market demand for simplicity of installation and maximization of efficiency, offers a number of significant improvements over traditional radiant heat systems achieves it extreme efficiency through several unique features. EasyFloor is the only in-floor radiant heat system to utilize a radiant barrier, which acts like a mirror, reflecting the heat into the room rather letting heat escape through the floor like most other systems. The system uses heat plates and cement board to create an efficient thermal mass to distribute heat quickly and evenly throughout the room. This efficient thermal mass allows the EasyFloor system to respond to temperature changes much faster than traditional in-slab solutions.
Grid systems are the easiest hydronic systems to install, making it possible for you to eliminate the cost of hiring a contractor. These systems work well in your home as they can be placed on the subfloor, allowing for a wide variety of different materials to be placed over them. It doesn’t matter if your home has a hardwood floor, a tile kitchen, or carpeted living room, FloorHeat’s flexible design can fit them all.
More options for heat.
The high efficiency of the EasyFloor system allows it to operate at a lower water temperature than other systems such as in-slab or staple-up systems. The lower water temperature makes it feasible to consider alternate heat sources like geothermal and solar in addition to the traditional boiler system. Smaller installations of under 1,000 feet can even be run off your hot water heater. *
*Dependent on local building codes.
Combine the EasyFloor grid system with one of FloorHeat’s distribution panels and our design services for the ultimate home heating system
System Sections
Every possible functional segment of a thermal mass system has been condensed and formed into the modular components of the EasyFloor™ System. Lay the components of the EasyFloor™ system down and snap them together. The modular structure of EasyFloor™ speeds design time and reduces overall waste. Installation is quick and easy, no special tools required. The EasyFloor system is composed of two major sections, the Thermal Mass Section and the Tubing Section.
Thermal Mass is the most important part in any radiant floor heating system. The efficiency of thermal mass is determined by its composition, thickness, and thermal conductivity. The Cement Backer Board is specifically designed to be used in radiant floor heating underlayment. It offers the best possible heat distribution and radiation, and provides a smooth surface to facilitate a better condition for the installation of finished floor products. The thermal mass is the component that creates even heat transfer over the surface of floor. EasyFloor uses a cement-based board to function as the thermal mass and provide a solid surface for the finished flooring (wood, tile, carpet, etc.).
EasyFloor uses the right amount of thermal mass to spread the heat evenly across the floor and still provide good response time to thermostat changes. Systems with a large thermal mass such as in-slab systems may take hours to respond to thermostat adjustments. Other systems that have no thermal mass may heat the floor unevenly
Premium Tubing
The EasyFloor system is supplied with a high-tech premium tubing consigning of a cross-linked polyethylene (PEX) with an aluminum core and a PEX inner lining. The tubing is engineered to withstand thermal cycling, and is corrosion resistant and is safe for heated, pressurized water. This premium tubing virtually eliminates the potential for leaks.
Tubing Base Module
The Tubing Base Module is made from recycled plastic. The unique design of the Tubing Base Module provides a guide for laying down the PEX tubing. Each Tubing Base Module has guides to allow the tubing to be laid down in a straight line, or follow a curve for a 90 or 180 degree turn. This flexibility allows systems designers to specify the right coverage for each room.
Heat Plate
The heat plates are metal plates that drop into the tubing guides before the tubing is installed. They help conduct the heat from the tubing to the thermal mass. See how the radiant barrier described below works with the heat plate to direct heat energy up into the room and not down into the ground or space below.
Radiant Barrier
Another unique feature of the EasyFloor system is the use of a radiant barrier. A radiant barrier prevents heat loss by reflecting radiant heat energy towards the thermal mass. EasyFloor uses a Thermal Reflecting Foil, which is a thin polyurethane sheet with aluminum coating or equivalent to achieve the radiant barrier. The EasyFloor system is able to have an effective radiant barrier because the Tubing Base Module creates an air space between the tubing and the barrier. Without the air space, heat energy would radiate downward as well as upward which is not what you want in a radiant heat system.
Acoustic Barrier
This sound deadening layer in addition to the air space provided by the Tubing Base Module creates a significantly more effective acoustic barrier than other radiant heat systems offer.
Frequently Asked Questions
EasyFloor is a unique method of constructing in-floor hydronic heat panels (radiant floors) that are designed to deliver radiant warmth to homes or buildings. The system is easy to install and provides impressive operating efficiency and even heat distribution throughout a room.
The FloorHeat Company provides the EasyFloor System to offer coherent, pre-engineered hydronic heating solutions to consumers, plumbing heating contractors, and builders. The EasyFloor System is a collection of two products – our EasyFloor radiant floor and our custom-built EasyPanel distribution panels and manifolds. While each product can be ordered separately, most customers prefer pre-designed and pre-tested solutions. We don’t just supply ‘pieces and parts’, we provide in-floor hydronic radiant heat systems – at a price that is remarkably affordable.
Radiant heating transfers radiant energy into a room, similar to the heat an active lightbulb provides around it. The sections of the EasyFloor System work together to release radiant energy to cooler objects in a room. The air itself is warmed as it comes into contact with the radiant floor and heated objects throughout the room.
A properly constructed radiant heating system utilizes a thermal mass to store and release energy into the room. generally, this mass is stone or a concrete type material that can retain radiant energy. Radiant systems without a thermal mass are inherently less efficient.
Many people have the misconception that radiant floors must feel ‘hot’ in order to do an effective job in ‘heating’ a building. Remember, however, radiant heat is not about heating the building but about ‘warming’ the objects in a building (the floor, the counter top, the kids, cat and carpet). If the floor feels ‘hot’, it is too warm and will feel uncomfortable to the people in the building. Ideally, the temperature of the floor in a properly managed radiant system is less than 80 degrees – a temperature that the human body senses is not too hot or too cold – just right. So, when the thermostat calls for heat, the floor is brought up to around 80 degrees and radiant energy is released from the floor into the room.
The EasyFloor System is designed to work with a variety of heat sources depending on fuel preference and availability, BTU requirements, local building code requirements, and personal preference. Heat sources can include ‘upper end’ hot water heaters and boilers fired by natural gas, propane gas, electricity and wood in addition to geothermal and solar systems.
EasyFloor radiant floor is designed to work with many different kinds of floor covering – but when selecting floor covering, be sure to mention to your floor covering supplier that you will be utilizing in-floor radiant heating. Most floor covering products have published ‘R’ factors which will determine their suitability for use with EasyFloor. Please keep the following points in mind:
- Carpet works well with EasyFloor. Select a typical carpet with reasonable-thickness (avoid long pile and tight pile carpets). Select carpet pads made from relatively thin, flat cellular sponge rubber or synthetic fibers (avoid fiber/hair/jute and waffle rubber). Specially designed radiant floor pads are now available. Carpet and pad should not exceed an R factor of 3.5.
- Hardwood also works great with EasyFloor. Engineered floors and certain natural hardwoods (recommend 3/8” quartersawn) can be installed over the backer board by gluing directly to the backer or floating on the backer. Consult with the product manufacturer or FloorHeat Company for installation methods.
- Ceramic tile is the most efficient material for conducting heat into the room. There are several choices for applying tile over the backer – depending upon floor deflection, and the type and size of tile. In general, properly installed EasyFloor with secured backer does not change the deflection characteristics of the floor. Please consult your tile installer or the FloorHeat Company for specific recommendations.
- Laminates are typically floated on the thermal mass – first taping the joints on the thermal mass and applying the laminate pad over the backer.
- Vinyl flooring can also be used with EasyFloor. However, you should install a thin wood underlay material on top of the thermal mass to prevent the seams in backer board from showing through to the vinyl.
The FloorHeat Company will work with your HVAC contractor to help design a highly efficient air conditioning system to operate in conjunction with your EasyFloor system. Typically, single story residences place the air conditioning air handler in the first floor attic or other suitable location and run flexible 6” ducts into the ceiling of each room – allowing the cool air to fall into the room. For two story buildings, a high velocity air conditioning system that utilizes mini-ducts is an excellent choice. FloorHeat can provide you information on both methods.
The EasyFloor system goes directly on top of an existing slab or subfloor. When installing EasyFloor over suspended sub-floors, screw backer through the grids to sub-floor (2 ¼” galvanized deck screws or backer screws) being careful not the screw through the tubing! Over concrete slabs, secure the EasyFloor and thermal mass to the slab with TapCons or ram sets. In certain applications, plywood decking can be used in place of the backer board – consult with the FloorHeat Company.
EasyFloor can be used in second and third floor installations without having to reinforce the floor joists. The weight is less than 5 pounds per square foot when using the backer board thermal mass.
EasyFloor packages typically add only 1 ½ inches to your existing floor – 1” for the plastic grids and ½” for the thermal mass. In new construction, this added height is usually accounted for by adding a second 2×4 to the bottom sill plate of walls.
EasyFloor can be installed by do-it-yourselfers. It is possible for a reasonably skilled person familiar with construction techniques to install EasyFloor and connect the floor to the EasyPanel™ primary control panels available from the FloorHeat Company. However, we recommend utilizing a qualified professional to install the heat source to system controls to insure proper installation and operation of the entire heating system.
The EasyFloor tubing base module (‘grids’) can be cut to fit with a hand or jig saw or table saw equipped with a fine tooth blade. The ¼” backer board can be scored and snapped with a utility knife and the ½” backer board cut with circular saw equipped with a fiber cement blade.
EasyFloor is designed for a lifetime of care-free enjoyment. The system is constructed from highest quality materials that should reasonably be expected to last for a very long time – aluminum reflective foil, modular plastic grid, galvanized steel heat reflector plate, and fiber cement thermal mass. Of course, your heat source and control systems should be regularly inspected and maintained by heating professionals.
While it is highly unlikely that your EasyFloor will develop leaks when properly installed, the good news is that because of the modular construction of EasyFloor, it is possible to get access to the problem area. There is a 25 year warranty for the recommended Kitec® PEX-AL-PEX tubing included in EasyFloor. If the leak was caused by failure of the tubing, the warranty covers the cost of repair of the system and repair to the structure and replacement of damaged floor covering. Importantly, proper installation of the heat tubing means that the installation of tubing is designed as one or more ‘loops’ – each ‘loop’ a continuous tubing run without splice or joints from the manifold and returning back to the manifold.
Yes, in cases where construction indicates a poured concrete slab such as in a basement, the FloorHeat Company generally recommends that the PEX heat tubing be placed directly in the slab. Operating in conjunction with the basement in-slab system, the EasyFloor can be used on sub-floors and slab surfaces not equipped with in-slab tubing. Also, in cases where there is extreme heat load in a room, baseboard radiant heat or heat coils may be used along with EasyFloor. However, many times EasyFloor is used on top of slab on grade floors because EasyFloor is significantly more responsive than tubes in overly-thick concrete.