Underfloor heating, - does it add value?

shirlgirl2004

We put electric underloor heating in our bathrooms and kitchen in our previous home. Suffice to say we haven't bothered this time around. It is really expensive to run because it takes hours to heat the tiles and the room. I wouldn't see it as a selling point and if there was no alternative source of heating in that room it would be a big negative.

darkpool

PJD wrote: »

On that basis, why not have any heating at all, - just wear coats and gloves etc

i'm not against heating, i'm just not convinced that the merits of ufh outweigh the disadvantages.

the merits of ufh seem to be - warmer feet and no radiators. not issues that bother me to any real extent.

amblondon

darkpool wrote: »

but if there was a leak how would you fix it? you'd have to rip your floor up, break out concrete, locate the leak then fix it and reinstate your floor?

not really that different to burying copper piping under the floor or in walls then?

PJD

shirlgirl2004 wrote: »

We put electric underloor heating in our bathrooms and kitchen in our previous home. Suffice to say we haven't bothered this time around. It is really expensive to run because it takes hours to heat the tiles and the room. I wouldn't see it as a selling point and if there was no alternative source of heating in that room it would be a big negative.

Read this earlier:

"And whilst I am on the subject find me someone who says electric is too expensive I will show someone who has a poorly insulated home.

Insulation it is in my opinion the single most factor as to how successfull you will judge your install 3 years, 5 years and 10 years down the line, get this wrong and you will be disappointed."

darkpool

amblondon wrote: »

not really that different to burying copper piping under the floor or in walls then?

with ufh the pipes are encased in concrete. i work in construction, breaking out pipes encased in concrete without wrecking the pipes would be nearly impossible.

if something went wrong with an ufh in a concrete floor you'd either have to get a different heating system in or break out the floor with a pneumatic drill.....

PJD

darkpool wrote: »

with ufh the pipes are encased in concrete. i work in construction, breaking out pipes encased in concrete without wrecking the pipes would be nearly impossible.

if something went wrong with an ufh in a concrete floor you'd either have to get a different heating system in or break out the floor with a pneumatic drill.....

I dont think UFH goes in concrete, it's a laid out matting which sits on top of insulation, which sits on top of the concrete?

darkpool

PJD wrote: »

I dont think UFH goes in concrete, it's a laid out matting which sits on top of insulation, which sits on top of the concrete?

Henry_Hoover_2

We have underfloor heating (electric) in our kitchen and are really happy with it, although it wouldn't influence my decision either way when buying a house.

kmmr

To cover a point mentioned earlier - we have wood flooring and UFH. You have to get engineered wood, which is cheaper in some cases than solid wood. The engineered wood doesn't seem to expand or contract. Our floor still looks neat and solid like the first day it was installed.

It wasn't cheap, but I LOVE our system, which is a wet one. Really effective heating for a very large open plan kitchen and dining space, and I think it makes the wood feel beautiful under your feet. Plus it gives us complete freedom for furniture layout etc. We also have electric in the bathroom, but we never seem to use it. The bathroom just doesn't seem to need it, and it does seem to take forever and a day to get even noticable. But the water system operates on a timer like normal heating, and is lovely. My only gripe is that they missed one spot in the kitchen, so there is a cold spot right where I stand to prepare. Which now clearly can't be fixed, so in winter I end up stretching from the warm patch to do the prep!

Toby1990

DarkPool, you clearly don't understand, so please don't fault it. As someone said it's no different than putting pipes in walls, you could easily find the leak without running pipes and half the time it would be your own fault that there's a leak. No there is no corrosive material in the systems, so how would it block up? The water circulates at 40 degrees, normal radiators 70 degrees.

There is no fittings in the floor! So unless somehow plastic now breaks down in months I dont ever see you have to break up the floor. Unless the home owner lets someone drill in the floor for some reason without sayings there's ufh. And if it does leak for some weird reason so what, its sealed system and will leak out a few litres of pressure.