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

[Nadiakoo]

We are doing a build, part will be entirely new and part existing. Everyone has said get underfloor heating, I've never had it? Do I have to have it? Seems everyone loves it!

[Spudlet]

That's interesting that people are saying it's economical - I always thought it was expensive to run. My ILs have it but they never switch it on as it costs to much (and they aren't hard up) - but maybe theirs is an older system. I know they didn't put it in so maybe it's not as efficient. I don't know what kind it is or anything like that.

We had a holiday cottage that had it in the bathroom and it was wonderful. It's definitely on my wish list if money were no object!

[Seti]

We had electric, and were told it wasn’t recommended under Kardean or Amitico as it can affect the glue.

[WhatHaveIFound]

Can you use UFH with Karndean?

Ours is under Amtico so pretty similar i would have thought.

[Whatthefoxgoingon]

That should never happen ttbb. Ours has been perfect since day one. No hot/cold spots and beautifully even heat since initial warm up.

[TsunamiOfShit]

How long does it stay warm?!

Depends on the inertia of the floor. Thick concrete = a few hours. Floating floor = not very long at all.

It's a massive pain. It takes ages to heat up/cool down, it wreaks havoc with your boiler and the floor temperature is still patchy so you have to wear slippers anyway.

Sounds like it wasn't installed properly.

[Ttbb]

It's a massive pain. It takes ages to heat up/cool down, it wreaks havoc with your boiler and the floor temperature is still patchy so you have to wear slippers anyway.

[Humptynumpty02]

Can you use UFH with Karndean?

[Beaumatrix]

It seems far more positive than I thought. I just keep thinking if it goes wrong it will be a right pain to fix :(

[Whatthefoxgoingon]

We have it under engineered wood and it works excellently. We have it under carpet and that works just as well. Just need to make sure all your flooring is compatible. It is cheaper to run than radiators though initial outlay is more.

[whiskyowl]

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

[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.

[Crumbelina]

Definitely go for wet. Electric is very expensive!

[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?

[Seti]

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

The floor tiles felt lovely underfoot though

[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.

[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.

[Ifailed]

The Romans seemed pretty fond of it.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.