Heating the Floor Screed (Estrichtrocknung)

We have a schedule with one of the Technician from the manufacturer of our heating system, Vaillant. One way to fully dry our flowing screed is to turn on our underfloor heating system.

On our Vaillant Heating System, the screed drying function is used in a fresh laid heating screed in accordance with the rules "Dry to heat". The flow temperature of controlled heating circuit is independent of the outside temperature regulated according to a preset program. The start Temperature is 25 ° C.

Drying of Flowing Calcium Sulphate Screeds (TrocknungCalciumsulfat-Fließestriche)

After the delivery of the floor screeds, we are not allowed to get in there for atleast four days.

During my research, I was able to stumble to this helpful article from Euromortar.com. It says... "Correct drying is therefore essential for flowing screeds so that they are speedily ready for application of surface treatments or coverings.

The following points must be observed when drying flowing screeds:

- The screed must be protected from draughts for about 48 hours after application.
- Intensive ventilation is required from the 3rd day onwards. The water absorption capacity of the air is dependent on the weather, e.g. on the temperature.
- Ensure that precipitation cannot enter through the open doors and windows.

Heating Floor Screed:
Drying of heating floor screed is accelerated by heating it up. The screed can dissipate its humidity faster and the air can absorb more moisture as it is warmed up. Hence, the drying time for heated floor screed depends on the nature and means of ventilation as well. Continuous closing of the windows to avoid heat loss simultaneously prevents drying of the screed. A constantly tilted window is also insufficient to quickly dry the heated floor screed.

We started the ventilation on the fourth day after the delivery/application. Here are some pictures as  of date.

Floor Screed is in the House! (Endlich Estrich ist da!)

Today at 8:30 am, I was already at the building site waiting for the Floor Screed Troop. While waiting, I took the opportunity to take pictures with measurements for the important corners where our underfloor heating is located.

At around 9:20 am, A&D Troop arrived and started to check every room of the house. They measured how many cm of screed we exactly need. After 20 minutes, the first floor screed pumptruck arrived. When they started putting-in the floor screed, it was really fast. We have flowing calcium sulphate screeds. This is the best floor screed for houses and buildings with underfloor heating.

The troop was finished at around 2 pm.

These are some pictures during the delivery and application.

Floor Screed Delivery Schedule

I was able to contact A & D (floor screed company) and requested for an earlier-than-planned delivery of our floor screed. Since everything is ready, we would love to have it the earliest possible. Unfortunately, A & D is already fully booked. That means...two weeks of waiting, sigh*.

In the meantime, hubby is testing and running the underfloor heating to make sure that everything is all right.

All About Floor Screed (Fließestrich)

This morning I went to double check on the Damp Proof Membrane that was installed. I need to make sure that it was properly laid so it is ready for the next step, which is the installation of underfloor heating system plates. Since there were some places where I need to undo the job, I was only able to finish three rooms at the second floor. That means, I need to do the same work tomorrow 'til Friday.

While reading on the internet, I stumbled on the website Screedscientist.com. They have good reading articles that is got to do with screed construction.

The illustration below (from Flexelinternational) is how the construction of our floor should be-like, except that we are using an underfloor heating plate instead of the Fixing Band. Another thing is, we have a Damp Proof Membrane between the insulation board and underfloor heating plate. Last but not the least, we do not have a Floor Censor.

From my previous post, we already have until the Damp proof membrane. Hubby will soon install the underfloor heating plates and the heating pipes.

Floor Insulation - Creating an Energy Saving Home

Good news! There is an update about our project ~ building our family dream house.

Today the troop from the company A & D Estrichbau arrived at around 11:15 am. They delivered our floor insulation materials and installed it as well. They finished their job at around 7 pm. Here are some chosen pictures of during and after installation.

Basically at the ground floor and second floor, they first installed the insulation board Xtratherm Thin-R Underfloor. Then they used the Isoperl® - Dustex® (This is a grained, heat and sound insulating levelling bulk on a perlite-basis under screeds), to level all the parts where pipes were installed. After that, they place the second layer of the insulation board and lastly they put the Damp Proof Membrane.

At the basement, they do the same row of the job, except that they first installed a seal foil before putting the first layer of the insulation board. The seal foil works as an optimal protection against rising damp.