Under floor heating Post Reply

[Kate31_r]

Hi - we are renovating our classic Victorian terrace.

We had planned to put underfloor heating throughout the downstairs under an engineered wooden floor. However, the builder says it won't be warm enough, even with double glazing, so he says we will need radiators as well as underfloor heating - this kind of defeats the point.

Is this right? The floor company are saying it will be fine. Does anyone have any experience of this?

Really grateful for views on this!!

[antu83]

I agree with the floor company. We have just finished our kitchen extension, about 25sqm, with underfloor heating, and we definitely don't need any radiators! Have double glazing bifold doors.

[claphamama]

Agree with the previous poster. Definitely no need for radiators from our experience with wet underfloor heating!

[Kate31_r]

Thanks. Can I ask what type of floor you use with your heating? The builder says the issue is that we are using wood, if it was tiles we would be fine.

Thanks!

[antu83]

We have wood floor!

[delsh]

We have a wooden floor everywhere except the hall where we have tiles and we have underfloor heating throughout. We were told by one underfloor heating company that we would need radiators as well but we went ahead anyway and I'm so pleased we did - it's plenty warm enough and it's great not having ugly radiators everywhere!

We integrated ours with the Nest thermostats and I'd highly recommend that too.

[Tri_Fit]

Those of you who have underfloor heating -

Do you have wet or dry/electric?

Can you recommend someone to install?

Thank you.

[actuallyadad]

Under the engineered wood floor it's fine in the front. But on the coldest days (like yesterday) the back of the kitchen by the bifolds where there are concrete tiles is not really warm enough. If like us you have a sofa there that's annoying, but if you're not going to be sitting right by the bifolds on cold evenings you may be ok. If I was doing it again (which I would never, ever do by the way!) I would get a radiator by the bifolds.

[LP73]

We have underfloor heating throughout the whole house. Under engineered wood, slate tiles and carpet upstairs.
The house is so warm, we didn't even have to use the heating until December and it stays a constant throughout.
If it is fitted correctly you won't need any radiators as it will do an effective job.
We also have bifold doors and it works well with the doors.
Make sure you go for wet underfloor heating rather than electric, whilst slightly more expensive to fit it will save you money in the long term.
Your builder clearly doesn't have knowledge of decent under floor heating.

[MMmmm]

We have wet underfloor heating throughout the whole of the ground floor and an engineered wood floor. It's amazing, I couldn't recommend it enough and we've had no experience of needing radiators. It's more than warm enough. In the new part of the house, i.e. Under the side return it sits on top of a concrete pad and in the existing parts of the house it's on top of the old wooden joists. I mention this because I imagine some of the variability of people's experiences comes down to how the floor under the underfloor heating has been insulated. We made sure that the builders insulated the floor really well underneath the trays that they lay the pipes into, this has made our heating super efficient. Similar to a previous poster, we've also linked it into a Hive which is like a Nest and allows you to operate your heating via a smart phone. Great for when your on holidays and want to get your house and hot water warm before you get home.