Underfloor heating anyone?

[GoByTrain]

Getting new extension built, can't afford gas underfloor heating, so we planned to get radiators.
Visited friends on the weekend who have electric underfloor heating system and were raving about it - so cheap - and say they've not noticed any increase in their bills (mind you, now occurs to me that it was laid in the summer so they've not yet had any real bills ;)
So anyone got electric underfloor heating and if so

1. have you found it to be very expensive compared to radiators? (Or more specifically, how does it compare?)

and

1. my friends seemed to have to switch it on and off each time they want it - but are there systems that have a timer (just as with radiators)?

Any views or insights thankfully rcvd!

they all have programmers
you set it to a tick over temp - around 14/15d when not really wanting it and only turn it off in the summer (or not as we have no sun) when not needed as cost a little to power up.
we have had it as main heat in our last 2 houses through out the down stairs.
We don't find it expensive to run, once the temp gets to what we like we tend to turn it down as tiles keeps the heat in the room.
My dad has the same size house all ran on rads as his bill is around our cost.
We do have a fancy radiator for the look in the kitchen and is always good for a heat boost if needed

I used this under oak flooring in living room in my old house, and the cable system under tiles in the kitchen. It was all fully programmable, with day/night and holiday settings - much better than the GCH thermostat/timers in my current house. It's also very easy to lay yourself (I did mine, albeit this was before I had DC so I had a lot bit more time on my hands), although you'll obviously need an electrician to wire it in.

We chose it because our old house was tiny and we didn't want radiators taking up valuable space, but the hot water underfloor system wasn't an option. I really rated it and it's the one thing I really miss in my current house. I found it fairly economical and very effective under tiles particularly - we tended to turn it up quite high to get it going if the house was very cold but once warm we tended to keep it around 20 degrees. If you have concrete floors you'll need a decent layer of insulation before laying the electric mats/cable.

it might be worth asking how much it would cost to have the insulation and pipes laid in the concrete floor during the building, with a view to installing the blender, pump and stat later and connecting it to the boiler when you can afford it.

it will be impractical to add a wet system after the slab has been laid.

Heat from electricity costs two or three times as much as heat from gas.

Its a bitch if your pressure drops, then the builder has to dig up all your parquet before discovering the leak is in the pipe join just below the bloody boiler. But by then its too late because you've already had your pro

perty defaced by a carbunkle of pipes fitted around the walls but too wide to hide under skitrting boards so you have to look at them for ever.

Hypothetically, of course.