Underfloor heating- not convinced!

[Beaumatrix]

We are having a large extension and dh wants underfloor heating. Anyone recommend it?? I'm really not bothered but husband would love it
Thanks x

[RippleEffects]

I miss mine. Its such a gentle heat.

We have radiators in our current house, great for drying but give local hot spots. Underfloor warms a whole space, feet are never cold. The house suffwrs less from needing to tweak the thermostat because the heat is gentle and constant.

When you clean the floor it drys really quickly.

[scaryteacher]

We've just moved into a rental with this, and I'm pleasantly surprised. The only downside is nowhere to dry your towels, so we bought some plug in heated towel rails from Lakeland.

[Baxdream]

We have had this battle too. We have decided we’re not having it for the following reasons:
Our room is big (about 5 metres by 15 metres) so the cost for water will be huge.
Our budget is tight and we’ll be able to get parquet flooring without that expense
We asked our friend whose just moved into a swanky new house with a big family kitchen room. They don’t like it as it takes a while to warm up and cool down so you end up really hot as the floor is warm!

Having said that if budget wasn’t an issue I’d still get it but alas we only have so much money

[whiskyowl]

I'm getting this for my extension. I have a very large space to heat (high ceilings) and I'm assured that UFH is more likely to keep the heat where we will need it - near us, not at the ceiling! I understand your trepidation, though - not having much experience of it, I'm nervous as to how/if it will work.

I'm confused by the cost of water thing, Bax. Isn't it the same water going round and round rather than new water each time??

[oklookingahead]

i would be put off by the risk of underfloor pipes leaking - very expensive to pull up the floor, move the units etc. Negative approach to life I know! (Obviously that can happen with normal radiator pipes as well but why add another risk!)

[Geneticsbunny]

It is great, cheaper to run than normal heating and you get all the wall space back from losing the radiators, I don't know why anyone wouldn't get underfloor these days if they can afford it. You can always put parquet down in a year if you can't afford both now.

[FannyTheFlamingo]

I love ours!! I love the look of the house with no radiators. We have heated towel rails in the bathrooms, so I don't miss the radiators at all. There's nothing better than putting your feet on a warm carpet on a cold morning. Our house is approx 6000sq ft and we have it throughout, so it does work out very expensive, but we have thermostats for each room so we can turn some rooms off.

[picklemepopcorn]

If you can put a wet system in off your existing boiler it should be great. You get a low constant heat, rather than turning it on and off all the time.

[macshoto]

Wouldn't be without it.

To get the best out of it you have to recognise that it is a very different heat to radiators. It's best for homes / rooms you are occupying all the time rather than the typical radiator approach of warm in morning and evening. Underfloor heating should run with water just slightly hotter than the temperature you want to achieve, in a well insulated room (which shouldn't be an issue in a new build extension), meaning the floor should only be comfortably warm rather than hot.

[Baxdream]

Sorry I meant the installation of the water system rather than the water itself. How much does it cost per metre square?
It’s not something I’ve ever had so I don’t think I’ll regret it. I have to be realistic that we’re just a normal family having an extension and not someone on grand designs. The size of our extension itself is more than I ever dreamed of so I’m very grateful

[massistar]

I absolutely love mine! Have installed in 2 separate houses now and never had any problems.

It gives out a lovely heat that diffuses round the entire room and seems to last all day too. And nothing beats the feel of cosy floorboards under your feet in the morning.

Plus you don't have any wall space taken up by radiators so gives more options for furniture placement.

[whiskyowl]

Bax - the price has dropped significantly over the past few years. I think the kit for a room your size would be about £800, with installation on top of that.

Parquet is not the ideal floor to put on top of it, though, and this may be a major consideration for you. For it to work best, you want something that conducts heat like porcelain tile.

[ChinUpChestOut]

You can get some excellent porcelain tile that looks identical to wood - colours, grain of wood and texture too. I'm pulling up my awful bamboo flooring next year in my living room and replacing it with wood effect tile (God that sounds awful, but it really isn't). Underfloor heating is better with tile anyway, as the tile retains the heat better than wood.

[whoopwhoop21]

A friend who had a large kitchen extension just put it in the main walk through areas as opposed to the whole floor if that makes sense. Saved a bit of money.

[WhatHaveIFound]

I love our underfloor heating. It's a wet system under a concrete floor so it's on for a couple of hours in the morning and stays warm all day. I love not having radiators cluttering up the walls.

[Bluntness100]

We had underfloor in our last house and it actually works very very well. The floor is never hot as such, it’s just gently warm, but the whole room heats up quickly. You just can’t see it. I’d recommend it also.

[Crumbelina]

We're definitely having it in our new extension under a polished concrete floor. I can't wait! Definitely don't want radiators getting in the way (they're such a pain to dust). We don't hang towels on them either as it causes condensation.

[Ifailed]

The Romans seemed pretty fond of it.

[picklemepopcorn]

It’s not Grand Designs, it’s effective and practical, environmentally sound.

And the porcelain wood effect tiles are wonderful. Mine look fabulous, you’d have to really look close to tell they aren’t real.

[massistar]

We've got it under polished concrete in the kitchen and engineered oak in the living/dining area. Doesn't need to be tiles but any wood needs to be suitable for underfloor heating which I think means it needs to be engineered.

[Seti]

We had it in our last house and loved it but it was £££ to use.

The floor tiles felt lovely underfoot though

[whiskyowl]

seti - did you have wet underfloor heating or electric? I have heard the latter is v expensive to run, and the former is cheaper?

[Crumbelina]

Definitely go for wet. Electric is very expensive!

[namechangealerttt]

Wet underfloor heating reduced our bills. Miss it so much (we moved house). All visitors commented how nice it was. You do need to set it to turn on earlier in the morning, but it retains heat really well so you can also turn it off earlier.

[whiskyowl]

I'm intrigued by all these comments saying it retains heat for ages. How long does it stay warm?!