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Radiant Floor Heating
There's nothing worse than bare feet on cold tiles in winter. Radiant floor heating solves this problem by heating your house from the floor up.
Types of radiant floor heating
- Hydronic. Uses hot water tubes installed in the floor to produce radiant heat.
- Electric. Uses electric coils, which produce a lot of heat but are less efficient than a hydronic system.
- Radiant air floors. These don't hold heat very well, so are usually only used for commercial buildings.
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How radiant floor heating works
Hot-water tubes or electric wires beneath your floor produce thermal radiation. As this radiation rises, it warms up any objects it comes in contact with, which then radiate the captured heat even further. This gives your home a constant, even heat that forced-air heating can't match.
Radiant floor heating is not suitable for carpeted floors ' the carpet acts as insulation and will stop heat getting through.
Highly efficient
Once installed, a radiant floor heating system can be up to 30% more efficient than a forced-air system.
Invisible & Quiet
Radiant floor heating is pretty much invisible ' all the parts are hidden under the floor so there are no ugly radiators or air-conditioning ducts to look at.
A radiant system is completely silent. You'll never be bothered by clanking radiators or noisy vents again.
Heat large or small areas
If you don't need radiant floor heating in your whole house, how about installing a small system in your bathroom, kitchen or living room? Radiant systems can be retrofitted to heat only the particularly cold spots in your home.
Installing radiant floor heating
The best time to install radiant floor heating is when building your house, but in most cases the systems can be fitted to an existing home.
Because no single manufacturer supplies all the parts needed for a radiant floor system, you'll need an experienced contractor to get the system up and running.
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