Underfloor heating under laminate

[FlamingGallah]

My first post in property & DIY!

We have a loft conversion that was done about 15 years ago, long before we bought the house. We're replacing the flooring due to water damage and wondered about getting underfloor heating in the bedrooms up there to make it warmer- any thoughts please?

Our builder seems rather sceptical, says its expensive to fit and run. He's suggested bigger radiators instead, which we will also do.

Does underfloor heating work under laminate, and is it any good or a bit of a white elephant?

Thanks in advance

[MrsTaraPlumbing]

UFH will work under any type of flooring - you have to make sure the flooring is suitable for the UFH, that is the tricky part you need to research the info on the flooring you intend to put down.
Don't ask a builder you need to get an experienced heating engineer to come and look and price it for you.
Phone round get quotes and ask them if they have experience in that kind of job.
UFH does work - some things about it are brilliant and other things are not.
To be honest, if we were to convert our loft and put bedrooms up there I do not think we would choose UFH.
As heat rises anyway I would expect bedroooms in the loft to be warm. Makes me wonder if either the rest of the house is also cold or is there enough insulation between the loft room and the sky outside?

[FlamingGallah]

Thanks MrsTara! The loft insulation isn't great apparently, but not much can be done now without lowering the ceilings even further. The house was apparently originally a flat roofed house, so the peaked roof and loft rooms are sitting above what was originally a proper flat roof- presumably this keeps the warmth from rising?

We've got an electrician coming next week to have a look and quote us, but maybe I'll try and find a dedicated heating engineer too.

[MrsTaraPlumbing]

You weren't clear in your first post whether you were thinking of electric ufh or "wet" which runs from your boiler like a big radiator under the floor.
Electric UFH is quite cheap and easy to install - can easily be a DIY job. You can just get the electrician to connect it up and check with him before hand that you are running it the right way.
Some heating engineers only install typical boiler & radiator systems that are the norm in most houses some do everything so ask someone who is a real expert because they will be able to look at your realistic options.

[PigletJohn]

electric heating is much more expensive to run than gas ch.

[FlamingGallah]

Thank you both, I hadn't even realised there were 2 types until searching on mumsnet

We had what I guess must be a dry system put in a bathroom a couple of years ago and it works nicely; we didn't remember it as being extortionate so were a bit flummoxed that the builder reckoned it would cost several thousand to install in the rooms this time.

We wouldn't have it on all the time, and would have some proper radiators put in the rooms too. It's just that the bedrooms up there are bitterly bitterly cold and we are trying to think how to make them inhabitable!

[PigletJohn]

Pull the ceilings down and insulate poperly between sky, tiles, and room.