Underfloor heating

typeractive

Bikertov - that's such a great reply!! Thank you very much. I've just been talking to some friends who have the entire downstairs of their home with UFH with the pipework. They're in a bit of a different situation though as they built their house from scratch, and they live in Ireland, so the costs are quite different...probably in my favour actually.

I didn't realise it would cost quite so much for the heating of that one area. Though the area does sound much larger in comparison to my kitchen. Having said that, we would be laying the concrete ourselves, then placing the piping and I'd have to consult my heating engineer about rigging it all up. Then we'd place the screed over the top. So I guess it's mostly the materials we (I keep saying we - I mean me!! lol) would be paying for!

My friend from Dublin had some good points, asking if I want to sell teh house in the near future and if so, there's probably no point in installing UFH as I won't gain the costs. I was just looking at the opportunity of having a luxury such as that in the kitchen as I have the floor up anyway and it needs to go back down - better to consider it now, rather than wishing I'd done it when the tiles are all down!

I need to get some costings and find out what kit is good!

Keep up the advice people!

MX5huggy

What insulation are you considering putting in the floor? and where? between the ground and slab or over the slab but under the screed? Obviously the heating pipes go in the screed.

100mm of celotex is generally what we are recommending at work now.

Mankysteve

Sorry i didn't realise B&Q did a wet one my old store was too small to stock everything. The electric underfloor was the one I was referring too.

typeractive

MX5huggy wrote: »

What insulation are you considering putting in the floor? and where? between the ground and slab or over the slab but under the screed? Obviously the heating pipes go in the screed.

100mm of celotex is generally what we are recommending at work now.

Thanks huggy!

Well i'm new to it all, and wasn't quite sure. I would have thought that it goes, concrete, insulation, pipework in screed, tiles. Forgive me if I have missed a vital step out.

What's this celotex stuff then? Is this specilaist to UFH?

Mankysteve wrote: »

Sorry i didn't realise B&Q did a wet one my old store was too small to stock everything. The electric underfloor was the one I was referring too.

No problems! That's why I went to a larger store as my local store is rubbish! The webiste hinted at the pipe stuff, but they only had electric - quite disappointing.

tonycamps

Wet unbderfloor heating is the prefference, not cheap to install but far more effective and economical to run, and coulb be tied in with renewable sources. Though one point is UFH works best on solid floors as this act as the thermal store. A cheaper optionn and as you are replaceing the skirting s Thermaskirt see www. heat and energy.org but tjhis is not a diy job!

jimbugalee

Apologies as I haven't read everyone's replies but we have just installed electric UFH in our bathroom (about 2 m2) and have just had the latest electricity bill in. It's cost us about £20 this month - we've had it on alot - about 8 hours a day. I was quite shocked at the cost so we're not going to have it on that long any more and tbh we don't really need it.

In the kitchen we are definitely installing a water system instead.

If you need advice on where to get an electric UFH system, I would recommend http://www.theunderfloorheatingstore.com/ They also have an eBay store where prices are slightly less.

suisidevw

I too ordered from theunderfloorheatingstore on Monday and it arrived Tuesday morning as a cable kit! Hoping not to have ours on that long in our bathroom. £20 extra a month! Eeeeek!

Bikertov

jimbugalee wrote: »

Apologies as I haven't read everyone's replies but we have just installed electric UFH in our bathroom (about 2 m2) and have just had the latest electricity bill in. It's cost us about £20 this month - we've had it on alot - about 8 hours a day. I was quite shocked at the cost so we're not going to have it on that long any more and tbh we don't really need it.

In the kitchen we are definitely installing a water system instead.

If you need advice on where to get an electric UFH system, I would recommend http://www.theunderfloorheatingstore.com/ They also have an eBay store where prices are slightly less.

Get yourself a decent timer for the Electric UFH, as it will control things more to your requirements, so keeping the running cost down.

You will be happy with wet UFH in the kitchen, especially if it a large area. Not cheap to install though, so do your homework and be prepared to pay for the privelege.

typeractive

jimbugalee wrote: »

Apologies as I haven't read everyone's replies but we have just installed electric UFH in our bathroom (about 2 m2) and have just had the latest electricity bill in. It's cost us about £20 this month - we've had it on alot - about 8 hours a day. I was quite shocked at the cost so we're not going to have it on that long any more and tbh we don't really need it.

In the kitchen we are definitely installing a water system instead.

If you need advice on where to get an electric UFH system, I would recommend http://www.theunderfloorheatingstore.com/ They also have an eBay store where prices are slightly less.

Thanks jimbugalee, that's pretty handy. Guess it really highlights the cost of the electric, though at the same time that's a lenghty stint of use per day. I'm set on the water system if I go ahead with it. I just get the feeling it's much more industrial so to speak, and more suited to my current position of having a ripped up floor.

I just checked their site. Think I need to contact them for a bit more advice, but there 12m2 square system looks like the one I would go for. Whilst my room is slightly bigger (15m2) I don't think I would need to go right to the very edges of the room. Though of course I will speak to them and see as I need to check this is the right system.

I'm sure there will be some more 'hidden costs' such as insulation board or something along the way, but in reality, this isn't THAT much more expenisve from the outset in comparison to the eleccy kits. I think it's the eleccy kits are more accessible to those that aren't starting from scratch so to speak.

Bikertov

typeractive wrote: »

Thanks jimbugalee, that's pretty handy. Guess it really highlights the cost of the electric, though at the same time that's a lenghty stint of use per day. I'm set on the water system if I go ahead with it. I just get the feeling it's much more industrial so to speak, and more suited to my current position of having a ripped up floor.

I just checked their site. Think I need to contact them for a bit more advice, but there 12m2 square system looks like the one I would go for. Whilst my room is slightly bigger (15m2) I don't think I would need to go right to the very edges of the room. Though of course I will speak to them and see as I need to check this is the right system.

I'm sure there will be some more 'hidden costs' such as insulation board or something along the way, but in reality, this isn't THAT much more expenisve from the outset in comparison to the eleccy kits. I think it's the eleccy kits are more accessible to those that aren't starting from scratch so to speak.

Certainly for a decent sized area, like you are looking at, a wet system is beter, IMHO.

You should go to the edge of the room where the floor area is clear, but you don't need to go under a run of kitchen units, for instance.

Electric systems are great for small areas, with suspended timber floors - eg bathrooms, toilets etc. So they do have their place.