Under floor heating is a system of heating one’s home using pipe work that is sited under the floor.
This works very well because the whole room is warmed instead of a small section where a radiator is fitted. There are no convectional currents and so no drafts.
The heat from this type of system fills the whole room to about 3meters high so designs including cathedral ceilings or very large rooms can be incorporated easily. At the planning stage we do not have to worry about where radiators are going. Churches could be heated very successfully in this way.
At ground floor level the pipe work is installed above the insulation before a screed is laid.
At the first and subsequent levels the under floor pipe work can be installed below the flooring or into the void between floors.
Either of these options does not produce the efficiency of the screeded system because the concrete floor heats up in its entirety whereas the timber decks cannot achieve this they still work very well.
There are occasions when a property can have a screeded floors on all levels and this is ideal.
The whole system is controlled automatically and each room has its own control so that individual rooms can have their own temperatures. The system is weather compensated so that as temperatures drop the system will heat up (more quickly than we can feel).
Insulation
The key to this type of heating being successful is insulation. The greater the levels of insulation the better the under floor system will work.
This is another reason why this product is best suited to new builds and conversions because it can be quite costly to insulate an older property.
The guidelines in the latest building regulations must be met whenever a new home is being built but we would recommend over insulating because for little extra expense quite remarkable savings can be made. Just ask us how!
Heat sources
Under floor heating can be connected to either fossil fuel boilers or to renewable energies.
If one is building a new home then the complete package of under floor heating with a renewable heat source would be ideal. The running costs would be minimal and you would be rewarded financially for going green.