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A load bearing Insulation Board is similar to standard construction board, but does not include the cementitious
outer face that gives construction borad its extra rigidity. This outer
layer is entirely unnecessary for floor insulation and underfloor
heating applications as it will not add any additional strength.
Construction boards consist of an inner sheet of insulation coated
with a reinforced, cementitious outer face to give them extra
rigidity. This extra rigidity allows the construction board to be
used as wallboards to tile on, especially suited for wet situations.
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Load bearing boards of extruded polystyrene foams will give the best
all round performance.
Polystyrene has high thermal insulation
properties, high compressive strength, capable of supporting normal foot
traffic. It is waterproof, rot resistant, lightweight, easy to handle, easily
cut and shaped with a sharp knife and are available in various depths from
6mm to 60mm at a low cost. |
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These boards are designed to meet the very rigorous needs to be both
high thermal performance and high compressive strength (35 tonnes per square meter)
capable of withstanding long-term static loads. |
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 16 September 2007 )
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Due to it's inherent strength, load bearing insulation boards can be
used in most situations where there is only limited room for the
screed. These boards have approximately double the compressive
strength characteristics of standard building construction insulation
boards. |
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The thicker the board the better the heat insulation, but obviously
if you have an existing floor that you want to insulate, you may well
be governed by the thickness you can add to the floor because of the
height from the finished floor to the underside of your door.
The
load bearing insulation boards come in thickness from 6mm to 60mm. |
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For cement sub-floors you will need to use any good quality fast setting, water based (solvent-free) floor tile adhesive. The special polymers added to the flexible adhesives will make allowances for any tile floor movements through heat expansion and contraction. |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 18 September 2006 )
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This depends on a number of factors like the sub-floor type and
insulation.
A cement sub-floor will be slow to warm without a
thermal barrier, creating a significant drag on the performance of the
floor. A layer of high quality insulation will have a dramatic
effect in these circumstances, speeding up the initial warm up times to
within 15-20 minutes. |
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Where normal foot traffic is anticipated, load bearing insulation
boards can be tiled without any special preparation when using any good
quality flexible floor tile adhesive. |
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Traditional use of plywood is a well-proven method but it is difficult to
cut around complicated bathroom objects, is heavy and relatively
expensive. It will require fixing to the sub-floor and primed prior
to the use of tile adhesive.
Load bearing insulation boards will
achieve the same result being easy to cut with a sharp knife, available in
more manageable sizes and require no special priming to apply floor tile
adhesive. |
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Reflective surfaces will give a greater performance when an air barrier is
present (like behind a radiator). If buried within a cement layer
then the reflective surface will act as a conductor and transfer the heat
or cold. No useful gain can be attributed to a reflective surface
when applied in this way. |
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