Screed / Moisture measurement / Underfloor heating / Expansion joints

Hello forum community,

since I did not find anything through the search function nor by browsing the forum and only found sporadic answers online, I have decided to create a topic.

I am in the process of buying a condominium and have a few questions regarding the title.

There is underfloor heating installed in the apartment, but it is not yet connected. The house was built in 2014, so the screed (I don't remember exactly what type) has been there for several months.
In the middle of the living/dining room, there is a hole with plastic rods to later perform moisture measurement, I was told.
As a layman, I asked: Doesn't the underfloor heating need to be heated for several weeks to dry the screed so that nothing cracks later when the floor covering is installed?
I was told that there are expansion joints around it and that this would prevent it.

Can the screed even be dried over the "colder season" if the apartment has never been heated?
And what is correct or incorrect about that statement?

Thank you in advance for your help
Regards, Jerome

The screed can also dry over the cold season. It essentially hardens. The thing with the expansion joints is correct - with proper installation of the screed. If you have a low flow temperature of the underfloor heating, then the underfloor heating at 30 degrees should not expand either.

Thank you for the quick response, so I could have the tiler do everything and then, that is when moving into the apartment, first put the underfloor heating into operation!?

The functional heating should definitely be carried out beforehand.

The functional heating should definitely be carried out beforehand.

So a functional heating must be carried out before the floor coverings are installed. Or is that then a floor readiness heating? Somehow I don’t really understand the fundamental difference!

Since the heating apparently has never been connected and will only be when I buy the apartment, that confuses me, but actually that should have been done beforehand by the builder.
I would have the floor coverings done by him for a flat rate and I would supply the material.

I’m pretty suspicious about that now :confused:

Functional heating means testing the function of the underfloor heating. Whether there is a floor covering on it or not is irrelevant from my point of view. You can also save yourself the ready-to-cover heating by having a long drying time - it is about removing residual moisture. If this is below the reference values for you - it should be fine. But I am just an amateur,...