underfloor heating

bozzy18

Hi folks, we are currently looking at underfloor heating to replace our radiators as part of our house refurbishment. We would like this to go across the hallway, downstairs WC, kitchen, dining and sitting room. Our builders have now said we should go for electric because with the hot water system it would raise the floor level so he would have to dig into the ground (concrete flooring) to lay the water pipes – he said it would be time consuming, messy and more costly. I’m not sure about the electric floor heating as I have been reading about the running costs which looks scarey! I am surprised about having to dig into the flooring to lower the floor levels – are the pipes really that thick? I know they would have to screed the floor, put down new layer and then layer on top before laying flooring (we’re planning on karndean). Views on this would be welcome please. Thank you.

missile

Hi,
My underfloor heating pipes are 15mm outside diameter You should install insulation below, plus circa 10mm screed above. Thus you would need to lower the floor or raise the rest of the floor to compensate. http://underfloorparts.co.uk/product-category/water-underfloor-heating-system-kits/staple-underfloor-heating-system-screed-floors/?utm_source=Bing&utm_medium=CPC&utm_campaign=underfloor-heating/?mh_keyword=underfloor%20heating%20system
You may not need to dig down the full thickness as Karndean may be thinner than whatever floor covering you may have in the remainder of your property.

I believe underfloor electric heating would pose similar problems of raised floor height: http://www.ambient-elec.co.uk/

All thermostats supplied by Ambient mount in to a 35mm deep single box, all thermostats are supplied with a floor temperature sensor (some systems have two) which must be installed beneath your flooring.

Whatever system you choose, please ensure you employ a specialist contractor.

fezster

Electric underfloor heating will cost you significantly more than a wet underfloor heating system running off of a gas boiler. It is true that an in-screed system would mean digging up some of the floor or raising the concrete floor height. You can also get an overlay system to lay on top of floorboards, again raising the floor height.

I personally would never consider electric underfloor heating for anything larger than a bathroom.

bouncydog1

We've just had a wet underfloor heating system laid in our conservatory and kitchen. The builders took up the existing floor screed, installed insulation board, then the system and ply on top. We have used a system called Timoleon which is a small pipe system and the height of the finished floor matches the rest of the floors on the ground floor.

The water runs from the existing boiler and there is a separate manifold etc. Seems very effective so far.

Rain_Shadow

My recently built kitchen has wet underfloor heating. It is really good. I'd definitely recommend it.

spud

We've had wet underfloor heating for the past four years throughout the ground floor. It is without doubt the best form of heating I've ever had as well as money saving as each room runs off of its own programmable stat. I highly recommend it.