Underfloor heating brings warmth into the house and can be used in conjunction with radiators keeping the entire home at an ambient temperature or might be used instead of radiators, being the only heat source for your home. Under floor heating can be installed as an electric system or a wet gas system connected to your boiler.
Electric underfloor heating relies on electrical cables to generate heat. Wet gas under floor heating are pipes connected to the boiler and relies on a pump, to pump water through the heating circuit, bringing warmth to the room.
How does underfloor heating warm a room?
Regardless of whether you have a wet under floor heating circuit or an electrical under floor heating circuit, they both are made up of coils which transfer heat to the floor.
An electric under floor circuit works with the electricity heating the wire mats. The wire mats that are underneath the floor surface naturally warm up from the transfer of heat.
For a wet under floor heating circuit that a gas engineer would install, an underfloor that is connected to the gas boiler, can be an extended part of the central heating radiator system. The water pumping through the system is heated by the boiler, and this hot water flows through the pipes of the under floor heating, which then transfer heat to the floor surface.
Floor materials that work the best with underfloor heating are stone and tile. Carpet works with a low thermal resistance underlay and the carpet should have a hessian back for efficiency. Wood is not as effective, thinner wood is better than solid wood which might need the system running a month before any noticeable difference.
Does under floor heating replace radiators?
This depends on the energy efficiency of your home. If your home is well insulated and generally a warmer house (or a newbuild), then you can enjoy more space in each room by removing radiators from the walls and replacing the heating with underfloor heating.
Most UK homes tend to rely on a combination of radiators and underfloor heating (UFH). Under floor heating can take a gradual time to warm up a room (warming from the bottom up) and it is not as hot as the heat being distributed out of a radiator. The under floor heating will however deliver the heat more evenly in every room. This is because under the floor is a set of loops of heating running along the entire floor surface of a room. A radiator is fixed to a wall in one section of the room, making that part of the room by the radiator naturally hotter than the rest of the room. Also, as underfloor heating cannot be installed underneath thick wooden floors, it would not be suitable to completely remove all radiators and only have UFH. For a comfortable cosy winter period, the best is to have both; underfloor heating circuit and radiators.
How much will it cost to fit underfloor heating?
The cost of fitting underfloor heating is dependent on how big a floor space will be having under floor hoses and if the installation is a retrofit or part of a new refurbishment. On average the cost for fitting under floor heating, will work out as £125 per square metre for a refurbishment or for a retro fit, £145 per square metre. The installation cost is about 50% labour and 50% of the cost is the materials
A gas heating engineer will be able to retrofit an underfloor heating to a living room in one to two days of labour time (whether the system is being screeded into the floor or not). The engineer will install the manifold first which the loops of the underfloor heating are connected to, before then laying the loops (also known as hoses). If the entire 3 bed house is being renovated with wet underfloor heating fitted, this could be 5 - 7 days labour for the gas engineer. If the system is being retrofitted, then allow for a few days extra of labour charges for the extra time needed accessing where the hoses will be fitted.
|
Cost to fit underfloor heating |
Per |
Average total labour cost |
|
Fitting underfloor heating in a bathroom refurbishment |
Per day |
£230 |
|
Fit underfloor heating on the ground floor of a 3 bed refurbishment |
Per day |
£620 |
|
Install underfloor heating on both floors of a 3 bed |
Per day |
£900 |
|
Clean rust out of the underfloor heating circuit on a ground floor |
Per day |
£350 |
|
Replace a faulty isolation valve on the manifold of an underfloor heating system |
Per hour |
£90 |
Which is better; gas or electric under floor heating?
Both wet and electric under floor heating come with their own set of advantages.
Electric underfloor heating is easier to retrofit and when it comes to small spaces like a bathroom, it is cheaper to install. The underfloor heating mats are thin so they do not add much height difference to the floor.
A water underfloor gas heating is cheaper to run than the electric heating and when you are doing a house refurbishment, they are generally cheaper to install as well. Wet systems can be a smart underfloor system being controlled remotely from your phone to keep them more energy efficient as they are better when heating up large rooms like a basement area or a living room.
What to consider when getting underfloor heating?
Underfloor heating suits almost any age, size or condition of a property. If you are considering fitting under floor heating, consider the floor space that you would like heated. Is this just going to be in wet rooms like bathrooms?
Or will you want the entire downstairs on the under floor heating circuit.
What is the current floor surface, if old carpets / laminate / vinyl, will they be compatible with under floor heating and do you need to re carpet / laminate / vinyl with a new thermal resistant underlay?
What is the thermal energy efficiency of your home? if not too great, then underfloor heating will need to work with radiators on the walls and will not be able to replace the radiators.
Most importantly, speak to the gas heating engineer to find out the cost of installing a wet water under floor heating system versus the cost of an electrician installing an electric dry system and decide which system would be overall cheaper to install and run in your home.