Radiant Floor Heating

Radiant floor heating has become a popular solution to cold tile flooring, icy driveways and home saunas. This type of heating system is installed beneath the floor and is controlled by a thermostat that you set, turn on, or turn off.

How Radiant Floor Heating Works

Radiant floor heating performs as a distribution center for the home by taking advantage of the floor and laying tubing throughout the whole floor. Tile, marble and slate floors are beautiful and durable in homes, but they tend to be uncomfortably cold, particularly in the winter months. With radiant floor heating you can now have beautiful flooring and still walk around barefoot. They also help to maintain a comfortable room temperature, reducing the amount of time your central heating unit runs and thereby saving on your overall heating costs.

Types of Radiant Floors

• Electric Radiant Floors—These systems do a great job at heating any kind of home. On the down side, they can be extremely expensive.
• Hydronic Floors or Liquid Floors—Cost less and are, therefore, used more often in residential construction. They can be difficult to install in an existing home, however.
• Radiant Air Floors—The floors don’t generally hold large amount of heat. Consequentially, they are most commonly used mainly in commercial buildings or settings.

Putting Radiant Floor Heating to Use

Using a hydronic floor system is certainly a viable way to heat your entire home, but you can also use it on a smaller scale, installing it in a cold room such as a basement or under your bathroom floors so that you don’t step onto chilly tile after a warm bath. Radiant heating systems can be used with virtually any type of flooring material, including hardwood flooring and bamboo flooring, although checking with manufacturer’s recommendations and consulting the expert advice of a flooring professional is always a good idea to make sure your flooring and the system are compatible.

Installing a Radiant Floor System

There are two categories of installation for radiant floor heating—wet and dry. Wet installation is most commonly used in the ground floor. Your contractor needs to be experienced with the installation of these types of systems, both wet and dry, so be sure your builder knows ahead of time that you are contemplating having a radiant floor system installed, because steps need to be taken to ensure there will be enough space in the substrate. When installing a radiant floor system on the upper floors of your home, the most common method is called “dry installation,” which is a system that suspends the tubing underneath the subfloor, between the joists.

More on Radiant Floor System Installation

Denser, thinner pads such as a slab rubber or waffle rubber pad, without clay fillers, are considered the best choice among pads for use with radiant floor heating systems. Your flooring industry professional will know which type of material is appropriate for your individual system. It should go without saying that the installation of a radiant floor heating system is almost always above the reach of do-it-yourselfers. Make several inquiries to reputable contractors to make sure you are getting the best installation possible at the most reasonable price.

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