Wet Underfloor Heating- Can you have a mix of flooring?

[illiterato]

Would love some advice from anyone with experience of installing wet UFH in a large area.

We are considering a property that currently has radiators throughout the downstairs that we would want to replace with underfloor heating (wet not the electric mats). I have it in my current house but didn't install it so a bit clueless in terms of what is feasible and the pitfalls. My biggest question is whether all the flooring has to be the same throughout the entire area (currently we have Karndean throughout). Could I have a mix of limestone tiles (hallway, kitchen/diner and conservatory and carpeted areas (sitting rooms and study)? Is there anything else I need to consider or that mean I can't do it or would limit what I can do? Anything I should try to find out from the vendor re the current floors?

I know I cant have solid wood flooring, but apart from that?

TIA

Firstly you can have wood floor - I do over a 35 Sqm area. The trick is to get engineered floor which is top half solid wood and bottom half a kind of ply. Looks and feels exactly the same as solid but it MUCH more stable. Its not a problem if fitted correctly. The suppliers will tell you what to do to make sure you have no problems.

To retrofit underfloor heating you've need to either dig up your existing floors(!) or raise them. There are very slim systems but these do away with insulation under the heating pipes so you'll spend a load of money heating up mother earth! The rolls-royce is something like 100mm insulation then the heating pipes then 50mm of screed then your floor.

Different floor types vary in how efficient they are in transmitting the heat from UFH.

Tiles are most efficient, carpet the least, engineered wood in between. For this reason you might want the different areas to be zoned and controlled separately ie each has its own thermostat. Otherwise you’d have to have the heating up high for the carpeted bit but that’s more than you need for the tiled bit.

Personally I wouldn’t put UFH in a carpeted area, radiators will work better there. Or choose hard flooring if you want UFH.

As PP said it’s not easy to retrofit UFH especially if the subfloor is solid concrete rather than on joists. Usually it’s put in as part of doing an extension or a full “back to brick” refurb where the floors are coming up anyway.

Thanks both. This is exactly the type of info I was looking for. Lots to think about.