Underfloor heating - wise?

[Ellie78]

I just wondered whether people wouldn't mind posting their experience of underfloor heating systems? Particularly in a family house.

We really want either a concrete or resin floor in our large-ish open plan space we're creating (we're joining 2 flats together). This is a kitchen and living room and it's going to be about 425 square feet.

This will be our main family living area, but will also include the kitchen (so will get heat from that) and part of it (the kitchen area at the back) is underground.

We do want underfloor heating but have been advised by the contractor that this may cause problems if something happens with the heating - ie it will all have to come up to fix it, although it should be under warranty for 10 years etc.

I'm not sure I care that much if we dont have underfloor heating, but we are limited on wall space (it is - after all - not enormous and we're using most of hte wall space for storage etc) and radiators will steal other space needed.

Having said that, it is a basement area and I have always wondered - really - how much we will need it heated. We have been renting it (the area is actually a separate flat, we live above it) - it doesn't have central heating and the tenants were happy with two small storage heaters in the two main rooms.

I guess I'm just looking for different experiences really. Did you want underfloor heating and decide not to go there? Did you regret it? Is it the best thing since sliced bread etc? Should I rethink my flooring choices?

[Bumpkin]

we've got underfloor heating in our large open plan kitchen / living area and it's fine. It's been down around 10 years I think (we didn't put it in) and the only issue we have is that it takes a while to get going at the beginning of the winter, not as quick to warm up as radiators. That (tiny) issue aside, it's no problem at all, would recomend. Great not to have to have radiators on the walls, sometimes I wish I could have a rug to make the room feel warmer but clearly would actually make it colder! I'd go for it.

[James Barber]

we recently had a kitchen /dining area extension and the under floor heating is wonderful. Makes the space cosier, no radiators, occasionally the kids have laid on the floor out of pure joy. But I've not checked the heating bill yet...

[SearchDog]

HI,

We installed underfloor heating throughout our entire house. The house is Edwardian (and so not solid floor), but there are also systems for suspended floors (insulation sit in mesh between the joists then a ply subfloor with groves in which the pipes run is laid). It works really well in our house free up the walls and actually our bills are much reduced and are lower than the average house of the same size. In winter we maintain our house at a constant temperature rather than cycling up and down.

[LondonMix]

I agree with the others. Its been great in our house, though it was only installed 2 years ago. I don't know how we'll deal with it once it needs to be replaces or repaired.

[goldilocks]

We love it - it works best on concrete floors - our kitchen extension is amazingly lovely with the heating on. Its pretty good throughout the rest of the house too on the suspended floors. I'd go for it again - no radiators is great in terms of where to put furniture!

[Pickle]

We have electric underfloor heating in our hallway and kitchen/dining area, mainly under tiles but a small section is under wood.

Makes a huge difference in winter, and our heating bills reduced quite a lot in the 12 months after we had it fitted. It's been in for about 5 years now with no problems.

[Undiscovered]

We've got it in our kitchen diner under marble floor and love it. Have it in utility too so washing dries quickly. Also have it in our bathrooms too which is great, no bathmats!! Means we barely put normal heating on anymore. We have our kids lying on their too!!

[The Nappy Lady]

Love it. The UFH that runs off your boiler (wet system) costs more to put in but is cheaper to run. Electric is cheaper to install but more costly to run.

We have it in our kitchen and adore it. It's on a separate control to the rest of the house which is fab too as we spend more time in here and can make it cosy without heating the whole house.

Our girls lie on the floor a lot too and the hard tiles feel strangely soft underfoot when warm. I actually miss it in the summer!

Go for it, if it's laid right you shouldn't have problems with it so just make sure you have a good installation team.

Xxx

[Dun]

I echo Nappy Lady. We had it installed in our previous house (Edwardian) and it was taken for granted that we would do it when we moved in this house. Love it and cheaper and better then radiators. Like Bumpkin said it takes longer to get started but also lasts longer once turned off. You just need to take that into account and set the timer accordingly. Haven't had heating on in the rest of the house yet this autumn. Underfloor only comes on for 2 hours in the morning and house is cosy. Upstairs is cooler (but not cold)but not there during the day as live & work on ground floor during the day. But we also had the entire ground floor insulated before they lay the wet underfloor heating system and put in new back doors (take up all 5 metres of back of house)which are super insulated and new roof on house with lots of insulation so all combined made a huge difference. Well worth the building works!

[SLad]

Watching this with interest as we are thinking of having underfloor heating installed in what will be our kitchen/family room when we knock down a pesky wall or two. Can any of you splendidly experienced people recommend a brand and fitter you thought were good? We're not going for the electric one having moved into a house with it under a slate floor only for it to break within 4 months of us arriving and realising we'd have to pull up the whole floor to get it fixed (as we didn't have any replacements for the slate and couldn't match it well enough).

[prit]

Can I ask to those who have suspended underfloor heating what kind of flooring you have on top? I am thinking of doing this and want wooden floors.

I have a friend who has done just this in an previous house (so can't go to see it) and swears it's great but I just can't imagine that it works so well under wood.

Also can anyone give any ideas of how much it has cost? Want to do whole (3-bed edwardian) house.

[newtoedf]

we've got underfloor heating which is a wet system laid on a concrete base with a wooden floor above. We absolutely love it. The system and floor is 5.5 years old now and we've never had any problems with and the wood floor has aged well. Our heating bills are much lower than the average for a house this size too. We have one of three identical houses and they all have the same system/flooring which is working well in all the houses. They were all new build though so I don't know installer details.

[LondonMix]

We've got wet underfloor heating under wood and its incredible. You can use concrete or sand as the conductor. The floor is super cozy. I wish we'd done it in every room in the house.

prit Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Can I ask to those who have suspended underfloor

> heating what kind of flooring you have on top? I

> am thinking of doing this and want wooden floors.

>

> I have a friend who has done just this in an

> previous house (so can't go to see it) and swears

> it's great but I just can't imagine that it works

> so well under wood.

>

> Also can anyone give any ideas of how much it has

> cost? Want to do whole (3-bed edwardian) house.

[prit]

Can I ask another qu - thinking of doing the whole (Victorian) house so would be plenty of suspended UFH under wood - how has the heating been in the recent cold weather? A friend had theirs done and thinks that an old house might struggle to warm up on very cold days.

V grateful for any thoughts.

[goldilocks]

We have a whole Victorian house heated with UFH - its lovely even in cold weather. We have double glazed sashes though and lots of insulation on the roof.

[tarafitness]

we have underfloor heating in our kitchen diner. I'm not sure who loves it more, us or the cats (I think maybe cats :-) )

We have black limestone tiles over the top. I'd recommend limestone as it's a great material if you have underfloor heating... I wouldn't recommend black though as the stain rubs off and looks a bit shabby.

If you can afford to have it done, do it! Our kitchen is amazingly snug, the floor is the only source of heating as we don't need a radiator in there any more.

[SLad]

We have wet system ufh in our kitchen/family room with amtico on top which is one of the best conducting materials and the room is v cold although it does have to cope with a chimney and cold single glazed patio doors. All of the draught issues are fixable but still think the ufh is not hardcore enough without additional heating.