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1.
Underfloor heating IS controllable.
Each
room has its own circuit and is individually controlled by its own
thermostat so that you can make some rooms warmer than others. For
instance, you would probably want your bathroom to be about 24 C
when your bedroom would be warm enough at 18 C. Even if it's en
suite your bathroom would be fitted with an individual circuit and
its own controls to allow this. This is normal practise for us.
You could even have your system operating automatically so that
you never have to touch any of the controls. With this level of
control your rooms would be the same temperature all the time without
you having to move a muscle. It's called a weather compensation
system because it monitors the outside temperature and automatically
adjusts the heat output of your floor depending on the temperature
outside. Back to top
2.
Underfloor heating is NOT expensive to install.
Underfloor
heating should be no more expensive to install than a comparable
radiator system. To give you a rough idea, underfloor heating will
cost you about as much as a good quality carpet, or a fraction of
the cost of a fitted kitchen. £20 per square metre for supply
and installation would be a realistic figure for a rough calculation.
We can't tell you an exact amount until we have floor plans because
the costs for each floor type vary and the size of your project
is a major factor in determining cost. Back
to top
3.
Underfloor heating will NOT delay building works.
There's
absolutely no reason why any work should stop just because the underfloor
heating is being installed. There's so much else that other trades
can be doing at the same time. Early in your project we would meet
with all trades to discuss planning the installation to fit around
the build programme. It may be the case that the builder would like
us on site immediately after the foundations have been laid so that
when the frame arrives the heating is already installed in the slab.
Other builders prefer to leave the heating until the house is almost
complete. The most popular time to install the pipes is when the
building is wind and water-tight and before the partitions are in
place. In one project completed recently we installed the pipes
while the painters were finishing the walls! Back
to top
4.
Underfloor
heating will NOT make your feet ache.
This used to happen with older systems where electric elements were
embedded in a concrete slab with no insulation below. These floors
were notoriously difficult to control and used to overheat because
they were running at full output trying to warm the room while the
heat they produced was disappearing through the fabric of the uninsulated
building. No wonder people's feet ached. Nowadays most systems use
water and the temperature can be controlled much more accurately.
The floors do not overheat because the controls are more efficient
and the building is fully insulated. Hey presto! No pain and plenty
of gain. Back to top
5.
Underfloor
heating doesn't work.
Of course it does! It worked well for the Romans, and it's been
working successfully in mainland Eruope for over 30 years. In fact,
we have customers who have lived abroad and insisted they have it
installed in their new homes because it was so reliably warm and
easy to live with. Underfloor heating is a different kind of heat
from what you may be used to. Radiators work by convection; they
heat the air which in turn makes you feel warm. The problem with
this is that hot air rises and the heat accumulates at the top part
of the room, which is great if you're a fly or Spiderman, but not
much good if you spend your life with your feet firmly planted on
the ground. Underfloor heating works by giving off radiant heat.
This is the same as the heat we get from the sun; you feel its warmth
without the air needing to be warmed. The floor effectively becomes
a large thermal store which gives off a constant even heat to the
people and objects in the room. You will feel warm without knowing
where it's coming from. Back to top
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