Under floor heating has become a more popular option when it comes to heating homes all around the UK in recent years, but it can be a costly and disruptive exercise to get it installed in your home. However, this disruption may be worth it when you consider the many benefits given by it against the more traditional heating methods.
There are now several ways that you can have your underfloor heating work, you may opt for electric underfloor heating, or the more traditional water underfloor heating systems. Which ever way you go, there are systems suitable for most types of flooring.
Most of the really traditional heating methods (for instance radiators, storage heaters, hot air systems) tend to mean that most of the benefit end up heating the ceiling as it they rely on heating the air (and as you know from your childhood science classes, hot air rises to the highest point it can reach before cooling down and sinking again). Where as, whichever form of underfloor heating you use, up to 50% of the heat from it is radiant heating stored in the floor itself, which in turn heats objects (and of course people) in the room nice and evenly, avoiding hot or cold “spots” in the room.
Because of the way under floor heating works it is a far more energy efficent heating system and you can set it at a lower temperature then traditional heating options as under floor heating “stores” more heat then other systems. On average you will find you can save around 20 –25% of your heating costs. This makes under floor heating more efficient, cheaper to run, as well as more environmentally friendly. If you have a condensing boiler, which is designed to run best at lower temperatures, then your savings could be even greater.
Unlike traditional heating systems, each room that is fitted with underfloor heating can have individual thermostats in them so that you can control each room individually – or if you prefer many underfloor heating systems have a “weather compensation” control, that you can just set and leave.
As well as the benefits to heating costs, you also gain more freedom when decorating your home. Radiators and other wall mounted systems aren’t very attractive and often take up valuable space in your home, especially as if you want to get the maximum benefit from your radiators, you can’t put furniture in front of them or it will block the heat from the room. Even the maintenance is easier, as there are no valves to fail, no “bleeding” of the system required – saving you time and hassle later on.
Underfloor heating also allows you to be versitile in the choice of floor covering you decide upon, as many modern systems have been developed to take into account that customers also want an attractive, practical floor finish, wheither that is wood, stone, carpet or vinyl. There are considerations that have to be taken into account when choosing the right floor finish for your underfloor heating, but you can get some idea of these in our helpful article.
Because of the complexity of fitting an under floor heating system, we would recommend you contact a reputable company like Hepworths who give free underfloor heating installation quotes that is personalised – this way they can also recommend which rooms it would be suitable for and talk you through all the various options so you get the best possible underfloor heating system for your home.