Drilling into floors containing radiant heat

[lunkrich]

I have radiant heat throughout my home, and in one room (which is carpeted), I need to install a pair of floor-mounted door stops to prevent a pair of glass doors from damage.

Each door stop requires three screws to be drilled into the floor, but I'm worried about potentially piercing any of the radiant heat lines.

Does anyone have any advice about how to prevent a potential disaster? I bought a laser temperature sensor, and was hoping to be able to use it, but with the heat on, I am not able to discern where the lines are and where they aren't.

Thanks -

Lee

[colonial carpentry]

As a standard the radiant heating tubes that i have seen have all been located between the floor joists,ideally if you can locate your floor joist screw into it. Do you have a basement in your home?is ceiling in your basement drywalled?

[colonial carpentry]

******is the ceiling........*****correction!

[Rich]

colonial,
I've never actually installed radiant heat under sub-floor.. always been in 1.5" of gypcrete on top of 1-1/8" subfloor, in a concrete slab, or a concrete slab over metal deck. Anyway - different areas different construction methods.
I was going to suggest a very accurate thermometer.. one that senses the temperature of the slab and not the air.. but sounds like you already did that with no luck.
Well a saying I use once in awhile - prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Be ready to shut the system down and do a little chipping, if it's in concrete, to repair the line. I wish there was a better way - I just don't know of one. Anyone?

[Tom R]

Devise another method to stop the door - - not worth the risk! How about a hinge-stop?, - a chain-stop?, - a spring-stop, - a wall-bumper?, - a base-stop?, - a horizontal drop-hinge bracket?, - etc., etc.

[Rich]

I agree Tom - i would go with a hinge stop.

[Tom R]

All those choices and you just picked one? I was trying to be like 'Maxwell Smart' here. :lol:

[lunkrich]

Thanks for all the replies. I should have been more clear - the room is on a concrete slab, no basement. I'm hoping that the temp sensor approach is not a lost cause - it's been hot here, and so there's no a great difference between the room temp and the heat. I can only boost it so much. I'm planning to go out there on a really cool night and give it a shot again with the laser sensor.

I remember when the house was being inspected, the inspector used one of them in another room and was able to trace out where the lines were.

I don't think I can go with another approach to stop the french doors - they're full glass panels, and there is new exercise equipment on either side of the doors. A gust of wind (the doors lead outside) or a careless kid could throw the doors open leading to instantaneous glass implosion.

Anyway, thanks again for the suggestions!

Lee

[Tom R]

Do you know what hinge stops are? I know of no reason why they wouldn't work. You'll find them in any big box or hardware store.

Or, if by full glass panels you mean with no wooden frames you could still make a custom 'triangular' stop attached to the wall near the top inside corner of each door.

[lunkrich]

I did a search for "Hinge stop", and got a bunch of hits for "hinge pin stops". Are they the same?

Is this a picture of what you're talking about?

http://www.directdoorhardware.com/Images/MiscHardware/hingestoplr.jpg

How are they mounted? Right to the door hinge?

My other issue is that one door cannot be allowed to open more than 90 degrees, while the other cannot be allowed to open more than about 60 degrees. Will these still work in that scenario? I know this sounds odd, but they are french doors that are not the primary entrance into this room - I want to be able to open the doors more for ventilation than for passage.

Thanks again for all your help..

Lee

[Rich]

They are mounted right through the pin of the hinge. Then the one side of the bumper is adjustable to set the angle that you want the door to open to. The angle that each one can be set to should be labeled on the package.

[Tom R]

Yes, that's what you want. They're adjustable over a fairly wide range, I'm sure they'd work for you. Like Rich says, they mount into the hinge pin. I usually mount them on the top hinge (less visible). Simply remove the pin, set you stop on top, and re-install the pin thru the stop and back into the hinge the same way. Two doors - - two different settings, no problem. If the doors are extra heavy, or the winds extra strong, or the kids are 'themselves', maybe install two stops in each door. They're only a few dollars each. Good luck, let us know.

[mjpliv]

Consider cutting a hole in the carpet/underlay and epoxying the stop to the floor.

[k54kenny]

Hi, I agree with Tom R. I used two stops on a heavy front door, one on the top and one on the bottom hinge. A previous one hinge-stop installation had broken. Make sure you adjust both stops to make contact simultaneously for even force distribution. Our wall now survives the enthusiastic entrances of a 7 year old granddaughter. Good luck! -ken-

[lunkrich]

I went out and bought some hinge stops, but found that the diameter of my hinges was larger than what they had available at the hardware store. These are large doors (7 feet +), with large, heavy duty brass hinges.

Additionally, the hinges don't have just a long pin going through them - when I knocked the top up, it was just a cap. And the bottom was a hex nut that unscrewed. I'm not clear how a hinge pin would attach to these hinges. BTW, they're Marvin doors.

Do they make door stops in larger sizes? Couldn't find any on the web.

Thanks -

Lee

[mjpliv]

It sounds like you have a set of ball bearing hinges - you may need to consult with a commercial door supplier to find a hinge stop for this type of hinge.

[Tom R]

Here's an idea - - go back to your original thought - - the floor mounted doorstop - - install it at the hinge end of the door/floor (I believe radiant heating tubes usually stop about 6" from the walls). Open the door to the desired 'maximum' and set the stop on the floor about 3" from the baseboard. Also, install longer screws in the 'jamb' hinges to counteract the greater 'pulling' force.