Underfloor heating

sep9001

sep9001

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Kev
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Hi

Anyone had underfloor heating installed (Water based) recently?

If you have what flooring have you gone for?

Thinking of having it installed in the new kitchen but do not want to put down tiles at the moment and want to know if it is okay to use laminate.

Thank you
 
I've read a little about underfloor myself as i plan on laying it in my kitchen diner. Water based is a big and expensive job thats best laid through the house. If you are just doing the kitchen you are better off with the electric. Its cheaper and also easy enough to lay yourself which will save you even more money. You can buy it in a laminate floor laminate underlay form so it kills 2 birds with one stone.
 
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I'll be doing the same in my project next year, Laminate isn't a good idea though as this will insulate the room and not allow the heat from below to convect through. I think we'll be doing the modern polished concrete in areas and tiled flooring elsewhere (thinking of going with 600mm slate tiles)

In my old house we had the electric element type and that was soo hot you could literally cook an egg on it- only trouble was that it took 9 hours to heat up so there was no turning back once it was on!!!
 
We're also going for one of those pellet heater boiler devices (you can run the things on sunflower seeds etc) - trying to go totally eco, plans and funds permitting ofcourse..... :D
 
Flightphoto said:
We're also going for one of those pellet heater boiler devices (you can run the things on sunflower seeds etc) - trying to go totally eco, plans and funds permitting ofcourse..... :D
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Yeah i've read a little about these also very cool. You can get auto feed models which you can set on timer but they are very expensive. Had not heard about the sunflower seed thing though. Are they cheap to buy?
 
They're mainly sold in the U.S. but I've found a few DIY plans to do one myself, the auto feed system is literally an Archimedes screw like in a grain silo, as for the sunflower seeds, I have a farmer beside my cottage that does a crop every 2 years which has quite a large yield (several tonnes), it's all down to preference, you can literally feed it on anything so I'll be contacting the local timber mills for saw dust :D
In a nutshell, me and the wife are fed up with paying for heating oil, electricity etc so we're going to sell the cottage next year and build an eco home for around £200k all in, we even bought the plans so we can cut out the architect. We're ideally looking for a plot of land ideally on a hill as the plan involves being built into a hill side at a 25 degree incline (we were originally looking at ground heat pumps but it's too pricey)
 
Flightphoto said:
They're mainly sold in the U.S. but I've found a few DIY plans to do one myself, the auto feed system is literally an Archimedes screw like in a grain silo, as for the sunflower seeds, I have a farmer beside my cottage that does a crop every 2 years which has quite a large yield (several tonnes), it's all down to preference, you can literally feed it on anything so I'll be contacting the local timber mills for saw dust :D
In a nutshell, me and the wife are fed up with paying for heating oil, electricity etc so we're going to sell the cottage next year and build an eco home for around £200k all in, we even bought the plans so we can cut out the architect. We're ideally looking for a plot of land ideally on a hill as the plan involves being built into a hill side at a 25 degree incline (we were originally looking at ground heat pumps but it's too pricey)
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This is my ultimate dream to build a eco home also. I do not want to be a slave to the utility companies any longer. I've just bought my first house which need a full renovation, so i will make it as efficient as i can. I decised on a pyroclassic logburner with a back boiler. I'm still very interested in the pellet systems however, and heat recovery systems.

Move to Wales plenty of hills here!:)
 
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We had water based under floor heating installed in out extension when it was built, my only regret is that we can't afford to rip up the concrete floors in the rest of the house to have it everywhere!

It's simply brilliant, we have laminate wood flooring over the top and it's been fine. Only word of warning would be to make sure the concrete slab laid over the heating pipes is bone dry before laying the floor. Sounds obvious, right? Our builder didn't. Despite a hot period during 2009 when it was done, running the heating after a few weeks to 'make sure' it was dry, they never bothered using a moisture meter to check. As a result, within 2 months of the floor being down the laminate started to blister in places, and when it was pulled up the evidence was obvious that remaining moisture had formed under the floor and ruined it.

Other than that, it's brilliant. A practical hard floor through our family room, dining room and large utlility room areas that are easy to keep clean, yet never have to suffer the associated cold floor that usually goes with it. It was funny when it was first switched on and our two cats discovered it. You could see them walk from the unheated kitchen floor onto the heated part and stop, feel the warmth, then just lie down and start rolling around on it before going to sleep there and then!
 
One thing that hit me when we lived in a house with under floor heating was that there is nowhere to warm hands or dry wet socks or whatever quickly - living in Cornwall means lots of sudden showers so one can get soaked several times in a day, and a radiator is a good place to dry things, a warm floor is not so good......
 
Shine On said:
We had water based under floor heating installed in out extension when it was built, my only regret is that we can't afford to rip up the concrete floors in the rest of the house to have it everywhere!

It's simply brilliant, we have laminate wood flooring over the top and it's been fine. Only word of warning would be to make sure the concrete slab laid over the heating pipes is bone dry before laying the floor. Sounds obvious, right? Our builder didn't. Despite a hot period during 2009 when it was done, running the heating after a few weeks to 'make sure' it was dry, they never bothered using a moisture meter to check. As a result, within 2 months of the floor being down the laminate started to blister in places, and when it was pulled up the evidence was obvious that remaining moisture had formed under the floor and ruined it.

Other than that, it's brilliant. A practical hard floor through our family room, dining room and large utlility room areas that are easy to keep clean, yet never have to suffer the associated cold floor that usually goes with it. It was funny when it was first switched on and our two cats discovered it. You could see them walk from the unheated kitchen floor onto the heated part and stop, feel the warmth, then just lie down and start rolling around on it before going to sleep there and then!
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Thanks.

Did you have to use special laminate?
 
That's what I'm wondering about, clearly it's not soo efficient if there's a laminate on top, especially with the type where you need to put the sheet of membrane insulation down etc?
 
It's perfectly efficient, just check the packaging, or make a quick call to the manufacturer to ask. The water based heating is a lot safer for flooring than the electric versions which are rather more fierce. The thing is, it doesn't get roasting hot like putting your hand on a metal radiator. It just radiates the heat evenly and makes the space feel really comfortable throughout, whilst feeling lovely for your feet! We do also have a towel rail in the kitchen for tea towels, etc, and normal radiators in the rest f the house. My cousin has a large, very modern house, and the heating throughout both floors is underfloor. It's incredibly efficient, always comfortable, and heating costs are significantly less than you'd expect with regular radiator heating. Taking into account it's got very state of the art insulation, thermally efficient glass, etc, and his 6000sq ft house doesn't cost any more to heat than his previous place half that size.

One thing to consider is that when you first put the heating on in autumn for example, it takes a couple of days for it to really come through - but once it does the floor acts like a big heat soak.
 
Shine On said:
It's perfectly efficient, just check the packaging, or make a quick call to the manufacturer to ask. The water based heating is a lot safer for flooring than the electric versions which are rather more fierce. The thing is, it doesn't get roasting hot like putting your hand on a metal radiator. It just radiates the heat evenly and makes the space feel really comfortable throughout, whilst feeling lovely for your feet! We do also have a towel rail in the kitchen for tea towels, etc, and normal radiators in the rest f the house. My cousin has a large, very modern house, and the heating throughout both floors is underfloor. It's incredibly efficient, always comfortable, and heating costs are significantly less than you'd expect with regular radiator heating. Taking into account it's got very state of the art insulation, thermally efficient glass, etc, and his 6000sq ft house doesn't cost any more to heat than his previous place half that size.

One thing to consider is that when you first put the heating on in autumn for example, it takes a couple of days for it to really come through - but once it does the floor acts like a big heat soak.
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Thank you.
 
We have underfloor heating which was installed when the house was built. It's the water one and that's all I know. The builder insisted that the normal oak flooring he was going to use for all the houses was sufficient for ours too. We argued it but he installed it anyway. I believe the bonfire they had after turning on the heating was worth around £5K, not to us of course. I'm not sure what the laminate we have now is though.

The aim is to eventually hook it up to ground source heat pump and the deposit has been paid for solar panels to be installed reasonably soon. My husband has gone all eco on me but as long as he continues to wash, i'm happy.
 
I love having underfloor though. No radiators to dictate where you place your furniture and nice warm feet.
 
Laid electric type in my new extension, easy.

Concrete floor
Foam Insulation Boards
Heating mat
Laminate on top of mat
Wire it all up
Done

Heats up quickly, laminate box has temp specs. Mine is 27 deg C. Temp controlled by digital stat.

Company
http://www.theunderfloorheatingstore.com/?gclid=CPXHlYapirwCFWITwwodZAsAug

Boards, lightweight, easy to cut
http://www.theunderfloorheatingstore.com/xps-premium-insulation-157-c.asp

Mat kit
http://www.theunderfloorheatingstore.com/underwood-heating-13-c.asp

videos...
http://www.theunderfloorheatingstore.com/how-to-install-3-w.asp

The kits and boards from the same company were cheaper on Ebay when I bought them. I also have a electric rad fitted to heat the area up quicker if the floor is ice cold and I want to use it immediately.
 
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twist said:
Laid electric type in my new extension, easy.

Concrete floor
Foam Insulation Boards
Heating mat
Laminate on top of mat
Wire it all up
Done

Heats up quickly, laminate box has temp specs. Mine is 27 deg C. Temp controlled by digital stat.

Company
http://www.theunderfloorheatingstore.com/?gclid=CPXHlYapirwCFWITwwodZAsAug

Boards, lightweight, easy to cut
http://www.theunderfloorheatingstore.com/xps-premium-insulation-157-c.asp

Mat kit
http://www.theunderfloorheatingstore.com/underwood-heating-13-c.asp

videos...
http://www.theunderfloorheatingstore.com/how-to-install-3-w.asp

The kits and boards from the same company were cheaper on Ebay when I bought them. I also have a electric rad fitted to heat the area up quicker if the floor is ice cold and I want to use it immediately.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the detailed reply. The install is the water type one but check out the links when I am on the pc.
 
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