Cost of wet underfloor heating

GiftDeed

Hi,

I am planning to get UFH installed in the house I am buying but I don't have any idea about the cost (material/labour). Has anyone have any experience with UFH?

Initially I am planning to install it in the living room (7.2 m x 3.8 m) but if it's affordable I might get it installed in all other rooms as well.

Thanks

mr-bob_2

What is the flooring like in the house?

Ground floor only or upstairs too?

What about the ceiling heights?

If you for example have a concrete floor and have to dig most of it up to install, then it'll be expensive. If you need to put a concrete floor in, again this could be quite expensive. Or you might get away with a 'slimeline' system.

Will it be running off a boiler, or a air source heat pump or something else?

GiftDeed

Wow, good questions!
I think I'll start with the ground floor. To be honest as I don't have any idea how much it's going to cost, it's hard to say where I am going to use it. If I can afford, of course I want it through out the house

So let's assume it's going to be in the lounge only. The floor is carpet so I am not sure what is underneath. But ES said it should be wooded floor under the carpet.

Ceiling height is standard I guess. it's 1950 built house (by Cook if it make any sense).

What is slimline by the way?

I am only looking for rough estimate

Thanks

mr-bob wrote: »

What is the flooring like in the house?

Ground floor only or upstairs too?

What about the ceiling heights?

If you for example have a concrete floor and have to dig most of it up to install, then it'll be expensive. If you need to put a concrete floor in, again this could be quite expensive. Or you might get away with a 'slimeline' system.

Will it be running off a boiler, or a air source heat pump or something else?

mr-bob_2

Carpet is a very bad conductor in any case, so if you want carpet over it I would probably advise against it.

I think there are some carpets that are 'okay' over underfloor heating, but again... meh.

So being a lounge, you'd probably want solid wood floor, or a good thick laminate that is suitable for underfloor heating.

The reason what is under the floor matters is that you ideally need a concrete base to put it on to make it effective. If you don't have good insulation underneath the under floor heating then it doesn't end up being very effective.

And again, why I asked about ceiling height is a lot of the time the pipes are quite thick (unless you get a slimline system, that has thinner pipes and can work with different insulation underneath). So if you end up adding 3-4 inches to your floor then by the time you trim down all your doors etc the house can look a bit odd if you get what I mean. Even more so if you just want it in one room.

I'm not a builder or anything but have done some research in the past due to me also wanting underfloor heating in the future.

I think the best thing to do would be to get 2-3 people in for a free quotation to get an idea of what is possible and what the costs involved are.

It can vary quite a bit depending on the information I asked and all the different solutions have different pros/cons and costs. So, yeah - I think getting people in for a rough idea would be best.

You can then decide if it is for you or whether it is worth it etc.. It becomes more worth it if you plan on having an air heat pump and solar panels in the future etc.. that all then work together to bring the costs down, but it can also be efficient just off a boiler. And can be more 'comfortable' and desirable in any case.

GiftDeed

mr-bob wrote: »

Carpet is a very bad conductor in any case, so if you want carpet over it I would probably advise against it.

I think there are some carpets that are 'okay' over underfloor heating, but again... meh.

So being a lounge, you'd probably want solid wood floor, or a good thick laminate that is suitable for underfloor heating.

The reason what is under the floor matters is that you ideally need a concrete base to put it on to make it effective. If you don't have good insulation underneath the under floor heating then it doesn't end up being very effective.

And again, why I asked about ceiling height is a lot of the time the pipes are quite thick (unless you get a slimline system, that has thinner pipes and can work with different insulation underneath). So if you end up adding 3-4 inches to your floor then by the time you trim down all your doors etc the house can look a bit odd if you get what I mean. Even more so if you just want it in one room.

I'm not a builder or anything but have done some research in the past due to me also wanting underfloor heating in the future.

I think the best thing to do would be to get 2-3 people in for a free quotation to get an idea of what is possible and what the costs involved are.

It can vary quite a bit depending on the information I asked and all the different solutions have different pros/cons and costs. So, yeah - I think getting people in for a rough idea would be best.

You can then decide if it is for you or whether it is worth it etc.. It becomes more worth it if you plan on having an air heat pump and solar panels in the future etc.. that all then work together to bring the costs down, but it can also be efficient just off a boiler. And can be more 'comfortable' and desirable in any case.

We will definitely get rid of the carpet as soon as we move in (we have a Golden Retriever and carpet is a no-no )

I think you are right. I'll wait until we move in and get some people to give me some estimates.

Thanks for your help and time!

_

mr-bob_2

When you get some quotes and solutions, please do post them.

As I say - I am interested. I've not got people in yet for quotes so would like to know rough costs too.

Although someone who has it already might be able to contribute.

daveyjp

My parents have just extended and internally remodelled a bungalow. One of the jobs was to replace the central heating. A traditional rad system was the first choice, but the builder arrived and suggested a UFH system.

The actual parts cost for the UFH system is similar to a rad system. Boiler is the same and they use plastic pipe and a manifold instead of copper pipe and radiators.

Where the cost can ramp up is preparation of the floors. The bungalow had suspended timber, all these were ripped out and a new sub floor suitable for UFH was installed throughout including the extension. Lots of floors would have had to come up to lay new copper pipework and a suspended timber floor in the extension would have taken longer than laying a solid UFH floor.

You also need to consider the electrical side. Every room has a seperate controller which needs cabling, so if you want cables hiding redecoration may be needed.

Carpets are available for UFH systems, you just need the correct ones.

This is my only experience of such a system, but IMHO I don't think its a job I would want to undertake just to provide UFH to one room.

GiftDeed

mr-bob wrote: »

When you get some quotes and solutions, please do post them.

As I say - I am interested. I've not got people in yet for quotes so would like to know rough costs too.

Although someone who has it already might be able to contribute.

Will definitely do that.

GiftDeed

daveyjp wrote: »

My parents have just extended and internally remodelled a bungalow. One of the jobs was to replace the central heating. A traditional rad system was the first choice, but the builder arrived and suggested a UFH system.

The actual parts cost for the UFH system is similar to a rad system. Boiler is the same and they use plastic pipe and a manifold instead of copper pipe and radiators.

Where the cost can ramp up is preparation of the floors. The bungalow had suspended timber, all these were ripped out and a new sub floor suitable for UFH was installed throughout including the extension. Lots of floors would have had to come up to lay new copper pipework and a suspended timber floor in the extension would have taken longer than laying a solid UFH floor.

You also need to consider the electrical side. Every room has a seperate controller which needs cabling, so if you want cables hiding redecoration may be needed.

Carpets are available for UFH systems, you just need the correct ones.

This is my only experience of such a system, but IMHO I don't think its a job I would want to undertake just to provide UFH to one room.

This sounds a massive and scary job Let's see what kind of floor I have first.

warmhands.coldheart

Would agree with some previous comments.
I completely renovated our house recently and when pricing new heating system, it was only a couple of £100 more expensive to have underfloor heating throughout the ground floor over Radiators.
I was in the situation where the ground floors were all in poor condition (really old house) so needed ripped up anyway. was a mixture of suspended wooden and concrete floors. You need to dig out a good 400mm below your eventual floor level. Then compact about 100mm hardcore, put down a DPM. then 100mm concrete, then 100mm insulation, I then put in another DPM which was really to stop screed getting in between insulation joints, then clip UFCH pipes down to insulation then cover in 75mm screed. I used a flow screed as no wheelbarrows involved just pumped in the entire floor in under 1 hour.......

Now in theory if your floors are all completely shot, from an energy saving point of view you could argue you should do the above to re-new your floors anyway whether your putting in UFCH or just Radiators..... Up to yourself though.... I think it was worth it....

Emma18

Just found your thread on a search as we are contemplating UFH.

We are extending our house and the builders say the cost is reasonable for UFH in the new part as they have to build the floor up anyway, so easy to include the required insulation/damp-proof/pipes etc to today's standards.

However, the existing dining room and kitchen (1960's house) will become part of our new 'family room' and they say that the cost to do these areas in UFH is high, due to the digging out required.

We spoke to an UFH company at a recent home show and the product cost for the areas we ideally would like to do is around £2200. The builder has not been specific (as his quote for the whole extension just 'includes' supply and fit of UFH) but has indicated that the cost to dig out (and take away the debris which appears to be even more costly) is around £20k!!!!

It does sound quite expensive to me.............I'm tempted to hire the kango and lug it out myself!

What should I do? We really want the UFH - heard good things about it but can I really justify paying them so much money to dig out? They say they have to go down about 12" to do it properly. A rough guess we are looking at digging out about 36 square metres.

Any builders out there who can say if they are having a laugh.....or are they justified in this cost?

Thanks