EasyScreed and UFH

Has anybody got an experience with using this material for flooring in place of a concrete screed.

I am looking into screeding over my UFH system and was interested in what the Jerry Beades website had to say about Easyscreed. They seem to suggest that the fact that a 35mm layer of Easyscreed is equal to a 75mm layer of standard screed means that UFH costs will be reduced by using a thinner layer. However, a lot of other sources suggest that a 75mm layer of screed is required to act as a heat sink for optimum UFH operation - has anybody used a thinner layer of Easyscreed with UFH?

IfcJfc,
I am almost at the same stage as you an hope to pout the floor screed in a few weeks. I have also looked into using the Easy Screed but as I understand it, the cost for easy screed is about 20Euro/m2 for 35mm thickness. A m3 of concrete is about 80Euro which equates to around 6Euro/m2 for a 75mm thick screed. So it works out over 3 times more expensive for the easy screed ?

the advantage of pourable screeds is the quicker drying times and guaranteed levels . thicker screeds however will hold more heat longer which assuming you are properly insulated can only go up into your room which means your boiler will come on less when it is up to temp. i have 75mm screeds and reckon the room starts getting noticably warmer within 2 hours of startup from cold.
last winter we ran out of oil on a sat morning . the ufh areas of the house were still noticably warmer than the rad part the following monday afternoon when the oilman came

Hello Guys,

Nearing plastering stage in the inside of my self build, and i'm now looking into screeding the floor, well costing it anyway. My geothermal/Underfloor supplier recommends not to use an easyscreed for the inside, as he states it sets like a plastic, and doesn't allow the heat to rise up through it effeciently. He suggested a sand cement screed or a concrete with a small chip in it.

So i have two questions has anybody tried the easyscreed systems and what you felt about it, and if you have used the other two for screeding and how they turned out. And if you can rememeber what did the screeds cost in terms of materials and labour.

My biggest fear is that there will be alot of air voids, which will prohibit the heat from rising as effiecently as possible.

Thanks for any help

I would recommend the 75mm of screed anyday. Use a fairly wet 30N concrete mix which will ensure that the concrete will completly cover all the UFH pipes. You can also use additives to the concrete but that is only necessary if you want to move in straight away.
I have recently put in 75mm of screed on my UFH coil for my 2700Sq ft house and it worked out well. It took only 15m3 of concrete @ €75/m3 which is a lot cheaper than calcium sulphate screed. You will need a dry day to allow the concrete to dry and then power float to give a good finish.
I know a few people who have installed easyscreed and they had a lot of difficulties during the pour.

I would think the quality of work of the concrete layer would be important. I went for concrete and was lucky to get a good concrete guy. Floors are very level and smooth. Worked out at €10/sq.m for 210 sq.m house for labour and about €1500 for concrete (75mm) if memory serves correctly. I looked at Easyscreed and price was about twice that of concrete approach.

I didn't use Easy screed but we did use Apollo Screed it worked out about 20 Euro sq meter. We used a 65 mm screed. The major cost saving came in because we did not need to put steel mesh into the floor. Apparently there is some type of fiber product made by Sika added to the mix that strenghtens the floor avoiding the steel mesh. Must say I am delighted with the underfloor heating . The house is really comfortable

I poured the UFH screed last week on the upstairs floors of my Dormer bungalow. It took 9m3 (for 75mm depth) and cost 1200Euro (inc VAT) for the screed and 700 Euro for the concrete pump. The screed was 3:1 Sand cement with Fibers and an additive which they recommended for UFH to help prevent voiding (I think). Powerfloat was 100 Euro for the week. Worked out well. Surface finish is different to normal concrete as it is a dark grey/black finish and slightly hairy. These will dissappear when walked on over time.

Lesons learnt for downstairs floors was to add more spot levels and start earlier. For upstairs we planned to start pouring at 10am but as the concrete was late it was 11:30 before pouring. The concrete was all poured by 3pm. It was 9pm before it could be floated which we finished at 1:30am. Other than that nore real problems once the preparation is done and you have some help.

Just been quoted 7500 euro ( cash job ) for a 75mm screed for a 250 m2 floor using " special Roadstone concrete ". This price includes pump hire, labour and concrete.
Seems excessive going by some of the prices in this thread.
Not sure what the special Roadstone concrete is. The guy said it is specially for UFH, but I have never heard of it. I'd say it is the pump mix concrete.