In message , Steve Walker
writes
On 21/05/2019 08:32, Brian Gaff wrote:
I've often wondered why, given that its being heated and cooled, does this
not result in either creaking noises or if in a rigid material eventually
concrete cracking or leaky pipes?
Brian

The pipes are plastic and able to cope with a little flexing and do it
silently, even with minor misalignment at a slight crack. The screed as
a whole sits on insulation and stops just short (25mm or so) of the
walls due to insulation being placed around the edges before laying the
screed. That gives some space to expand and contract slightly without
significant forces being generated.

As to how likely things are to fail. It has been done that way for
decades and there doesn't seem to be big fuss about failures, so it
must work. Certainly ours does.

As for the type that is laid within insulation panels, perhaps with
spreader plates to distribute the heat. I would assume that the
insulation flex stops creaking noises and the floor on top is a
floating floor, so that can freely move too and is little different to
the expansion and contraction of a laminate floor.

I put a 3mm foam underlay between the spreader plates and the 12mm
plywood floor. No creaks or noise you assume are copper pipes moving
with expansion in a radiator set up.