Are your floors still up? There is one more thing you should do

What you should know about installing underfloor heating

Under-floor heating, or UFH.
Yes, that’s right. The rising star in home improvement, UFH can give a warm, cosy feeling and much more comfort than any other heating alternatives available out there. Encased in the floor screed, the UFH system snakes under the floor, heating the entire living space evenly, from the bottom up. The advantages? No more cold feet during the day, a warmer bed at night, and lower energy costs during the winter months.

As other surfaces and items in the room slowly absorb the heat from the floor, they become secondary heating sources, spreading a gentle heat throughout the living space. Unlike radiators, which create hot spots and cold drafts, making people feel quite uncomfortable and turn up the heat, UFH systems transform the entire house into a huge radiator, which makes for a very comfortable environment.

But the UFH systems deliver many other benefits. Not only they can be installed in any room, on the ground floor, but also they’re out of sight and make no demands on wall space. This means that a UFH system allows you to decorate your home the way you want.

Unfortunately, under-floor heating comes along with a couple of downsides, such as:

1. It’s not very responsive. While a radiator can heat up a room in 20 minutes, under-floor heating can take up to two hours to create an agreeable warmth in your home. Yes, we know, it doesn’t sound too efficient; however, all UFH systems can be programmed to maintain minimum temperature levels, so they need never start from zero.
2. Regular flooring alternatives can significantly reduce UFH effectiveness. Fortunately, a wide range of special floor coverings that facilitate heat transfer, including soft woods, solid hardwoods, tiles, and carpets, are available today.

The screed also plays a very important role in UFH. It not only keeps the UFH system in place, but also retains the heat for long periods, acting as a complementary heating source that transmits heat evenly across the entire floor surface. The thermal properties of most screeds enhance the overall efficiency of a UFH system.

If you’ve decided to complement your screed with under-floor heating, you’re welcome to contact us at HomeScreed by calling 0845 500 4055 or sending us an email. Our experts will analyse your project and offer you no-obligation advice on the best retrofit solutions, installation options, insulation levels, sizes, and BTUs.