Author: aubern

A lot of people are unsure whether they can install underfloor heating in their home. The short answer is yes!

Every property can have underfloor heating in one method or another and do away with those unsightly radiators. 

Depending on your floor type, water-based underfloor heating can be installed in brand new screeded floors, wooden joisted floors and even over the top of existing concrete floors and floorboards in various systems. 

This means that no house can’t have underfloor heating, and underfloor heating can be installed in every floor and room of your house. 

Whether you have all the space in the world, or can only allow the smallest build-up, there is an underfloor heating system that can meet your needs!

To find out which system would be ideal for your property, click here to contact us today, and let our expert staff show you your options.

When deciding to have water based underfloor heating you may think it isn’t suitable depending on the floor covering you are wanting. 

However, you might be pleased to hear that most floor finishes can be laid over the top of water based underfloor heating. These include tiles, laminate floors, engineered wood flooring, LVT and even carpet (low tog). 

Some LVT when using a glue is classed as heat sensitive so will not want to exceed a certain floor surface temperature provided by the manufacturer. If this is the case, we can supply a floor probe to limit the floor surface temperature and prevent any issues. 

If you are planning on installing a specific type of floor and would like to know if your new floor covering will work with a water-based underfloor heating system, then contact us today by clicking here. 

When referencing a ‘Low Profile’ or ‘Overlay’ underfloor heating system, we are referring to a water-based underfloor heating system that has a minimal height build up for use over the top of an existing floor. 

This enables water based underfloor heating to be installed in existing properties without the need to pull up the existing floor with a height gain as little as 15mm before the final floor finish (e.g. tiles). 

There are many overlay underfloor heating solutions suited for different height build ups, floor finishes and heat sources (e.g. gas boiler). 

Contact us to find out which system is most suitable for your property and get a quotation today. 

Water-based underfloor heating is the method of heating your property using pipework in the floor rather than using traditional radiators. 

How does underfloor heating work?

How it works is that warm water travels through pipework embedded in your floor, transferring its heat into a thermal mass (screed/concrete).

This heat is then retained in the floor and in turn transferred into the air of your room. 

By heating the floor rather than the air directly, your room stays warmer for longer, as well as giving a much more even heat distribution. (It is often the case in rooms with radiators that you get cold spots, and two people sitting in the same room can be at completely different temperatures ).

A key feature of water based underfloor heating is that with the inclusion of the thermal mass the system can run at a lower input temperature from the heat source (e.g. boiler) than with traditional radiators.

This means that less fuel is used to heat the water when compared to radiators and with the thermal mass retaining the heat it can continuously provide stored heat into the room once the system has switched off and stopped using fuel.

This is turn saves money on energy costs.

Click here to see our range of underfloor heating kits and products.

When choosing a thermostat for your underfloor heating there are two main options, wired or wireless. 

Wired Underfloor Heating Thermostats

A wired thermostat needs a cable to be run from the thermostat location to the manifold for power and to turn the system on. 

Wireless Underfloor Heating Thermostats

A wireless thermostat does not need a cable and relies on batteries for power. The thermostat communicates to a receiver wired in at the manifold location. 

Both types of thermostats can be controlled via an app on a smartphone with the inclusion of a hub.

You can view our range of high-end thermostats by clicking here.

Or view all our Smart Hubs by clicking here.

When asking which underfloor heating system is best, the main question here is: which is better – water based underfloor heating or electric underfloor heating? 

A water based underfloor heating system can act as the primary heat source for a property without the need for additional heat from traditional radiators, whereas an electric underfloor heating system will still need traditional radiators to control the air temperature.

Electric underfloor heating systems although cheaper to install than water based underfloor heating systems are more costly to run due to the high cost of electricity. Water based systems operate at lower input temperatures than traditional radiators so less fuel is required to heat the water to a suitable temperature to heat the room whether this be from a gas, oil or an electric boiler. 

If you’re planning to install an electric heating system because of the cheaper installation costs, it is important to remember to factor in the cost of the additional radiators, fitting and plumbing and see if this is still a cheaper option.

If you’d like to browse our complete underfloor heating system packs, just click here.