Why underfloor heating is not just for modern home owners

There is an irony in the belief that underfloor heating is only suitable for the modern or new build home. We assume that as a ‘new’ technology, retro-fitting the system to an existing property or an older property will lead to inefficiency.

And yet underfloor heating is one of the oldest heating systems around. To match this, modern versions of underfloor heating systems are streamlined so that they can be added to existing properties without too much renovation work or hassle.

Underfloor Heating and New Homes – The Preferred Choice?

The drive for maximum energy efficiency in properties has led to exciting new innovations in insulation technologies and in heating systems too.

A well-insulated property is the right place for the gentle heat given off by underfloor heating. Installed as part of the build, it is a hassle-free installation that negates the use of radiators throughout a property. Not only that, energy bills for new build properties are much smaller.

Rapidly becoming the preferred choice of new build properties, sales of wet underfloor heating kits are increasing all the time.

There is more good news on the horizon – the hassles of installing underfloor heating in an existing property have also largely been sold. The days of this cheap to install and run heating system only being right for new properties are gone.

If you want to install underfloor heating in your home, listed property or younger, you can.

Low-profile wet underfloor heating kits

The term ‘low-profile’ describes everything that has changed about wet underfloor heating systems.

* No more digging down

In a property being built, the process of laying the pipe loops beneath the top layer of flooring is of no issue. It becomes part and parcel of building the property, just as installing a central heating system would.

Typically, however, in an existing property unless the renovations were extensive, that is gutting the inside of a property, laying a wet underfloor heating system, the most efficient of all heating systems, was problematic.

It meant increasing the height of the floor, with interrupted the lie of any skirting boards and meant shaving inches off the bottom of doors, something that is not always possible.

A low-profile kit means that all this is no longer an issue. It is a heating system that can be added to an existing property much easier. No need to take down doors, shave off inches and re-hang. No more ripping our skirting boards and so on.

* Minimal Disruption

Laying a wet underfloor heating system meant days or even weeks of disruption. Installing wet underfloor heating was a long job, requiring screed flooring to cure as well as other additional work to be carried out.

As well as not adding a lot of height to a room, there are now products coming to the market that are complete with pre-routed, insulating boards into which the plastic piping can be securely looped.

If you don’t want or need to lay a screed floor to protect the plastic piping, you can opt for these boards instead.

Very quickly, you can see how a low-profile wet underfloor heating kits are just as easy, quick and painless to lay as an electric system, all without compromising on running costs.

* Make the best use of the top layer of flooring

Wall to wall carpets became common in UK homes from the 1930s onwards. Prior to this, textiles on the floor was the preserve of the rich. Prior to the 1930, flooring in most homes was hard flooring, from floorboards with rag rugs in poorer homes to polishes parquet and quarry tiles in older homes.

If you live in a home that dates before 1900s, lift your carpets and you may find a delightful hard floor lurking beneath. Easier to clean, hard flooring is considered practical, as well as stylish.

Hard flooring materials are far better at thermal conductivity than carpet. The parquet flooring in your home that you prize, the quarry tiles that give your hallways a luxurious feel are all materials that work well with underfloor heating.

With a professional installer, experienced in retro-fitting installer underfloor heating in older properties, the lifting and re-laying of such flooring materials will not be an issue. It is also an opportunity to repair flooring, as well as give it some tender loving care.

Is Underfloor Heating Right for Your Home?

It is a redundant question. The question should be ‘which underfloor heating kit is right for my home?’

Guest Post - Underfloor Heating Trade Supplies is an established supplier of low-profile underfloor heating kits, perfect for retro-fitting in any age or style of property.