Radiant heat anyone installed it in a slab?

[rdzone]

Well I have my foundation hole done and a really good qoute for a block basement, now I am looking at possibly installing pex tubing in the slab for future radiant heat.  The mason said as long as I (or someone) ran the tubing it wouldn't cost me any more $$.  Anyone ever installed the tubing over mesh before?  Looks simple enough.  I know runs should be less than 300' , I will need several zones, need insulation,  and I will need a manifold, but I don't think there is anything else needed at this time.  Anyone have any input?

[Daddymem]

Here's a link to a FirstDay cottage with both radiant heat in the basement slab as well as in the main floor...nice pictures.
http://www.hazbro.com/first-day/radiant.html

[mclausen]

I just got done putting my floor heat in my slab last Friday and poured my slab on Saturday.  It went very well.  I used a product called "slab shield" for an insulating blanket/vapor barrior under the concrete.  On top of that, you will need to roll out concrete mesh to attach your tubing to.  The general rule of thumb is to use one foot of 1/2" tubing/sqft of building space.  Mine was 24x32 or 768 sq ft so I went with 3-300 foot runs.  I used electrical zip ties to secure the tubing to the mesh.  It is best to chart out your area so that each tube starts its run along the outside walls and works towards the center of the building.  You will need to buy some 1" 90 degree conduit pieces to protect the tubing where it comes up through the concrete.  (leave about 4feet of tubing above concrete for attaching to the manifold)  My cost for the slab shield was $.56/sqft and $.32/sqft for the tubing.  I dont know if you have Menards stores where you are at, but I was able to purchase the Pex Barrier tubing for $84/300ft roll.  It took me an entire day to do this, but it is well worth it.

[rdzone]

Thanks for the information.  Did you pressure test your system?   Did you leave it pressurized during the pour?  Any pictures??  It sure doesn't look to hard, just time consuming.  

[mclausen]

I did not pressure test the system, but there was only a few hours lag from out of the box until the concrete went on.  I guess I wasnt real worried as I did it all myself and had confidence that nothing was going to puncture it.  I can always install baseboard heat if there are issues!   I will post some pictures when i get a chance to download them off the camera