Installing a radiant stretch ceiling, part two

The insulation and the air gap

The reflective insulation goes in first, with its return at the edges to close the plenum. Then comes the air gap, held by spacers at a constant distance. That regularity is not a cosmetic detail: it is what guarantees the radiation goes downwards and not into the original substrate.

Fitting the heating films

The films are prepared to our dimensions in the workshop, which avoids any cutting on site. They fix beneath the furring channels, following the layout drawing. Every element carries its reference, and that reference matches the drawing the installer has in hand.

Wiring

Connections are made in tinned copper, with crimped joints under heat shrink or lever terminals. Cables are held with nylon clips, never passing through the insulation: a penetration at this stage undoes the airtightness work of the previous phase.

Checks before closing up

Continuity of each circuit, absence of insulation fault, full warm-up and a thermal camera check. It is the last moment when everything is reachable, and the only one where putting something right costs nothing.

The next phase is described on part three, and the wiring in detail on the page about connections.

Why the films arrive already cut

A carbon heating film can only be cut in zones intended for it. A cut made anywhere else interrupts a circuit and makes the element useless, without that being visible to the eye. That is why cutting is done in the workshop, from the drawing, and never with a knife on a scaffold.