November 19, 2019

Smart Homes

The benefits of underfloor heating

There’s nothing quite like the sensation of waking up on a cold winter’s morning and putting your foot down on a warm floor. Stepping out of the shower in bare feet onto a heated floor tile. Or arriving home after work when it’s dark already and being enveloped by a cosy feeling of warmth once across the threshold. Underfloor heating also known as radiant heating represents an evolutionary advance in environmental comfort within the home. After the era of the open fire, the stove and the hot water radiator now comes underfloor heating. It is efficient, clean, healthy and environmentally friendly. But what is underfloor heating? At its most basic a system of heat exchange where the entire floor becomes an ambient radiator. Warm air rises from the floor and is much more evenly distributed than with traditional methods. Here below we look at the advantages of underfloor heating and explain how to go about installing it. However as with any construction works using a qualified professional is always recommended.

Heated flooring

What are the advantages of underfloor heating

The benefits of underfloor heating are manifold, from getting rid of unsightly radiators to saving money on heating bills. Traditional radiators must be heated to between 65 and 75° C in order to heat a room while underfloor heating works most efficiently at 29° C. This represents an average saving of 15% on home heating bills. Because the floor effectively becomes a radiator walls are free from radiators which allows for greater freedom to arrange furniture, hang works of art etc. When installed by a qualified professional underfloor heating is maintenance free and should last a life time.

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How to install underfloor heating

Underfloor heating is compatible with almost all floor surfaces. The optimum approach regarding how to install underfloor heating is to do so during construction or refurbishment works. However it can be installed over existing sub-floors with the appropriate system. There are two main types of underfloor heating, electric and water based systems. Regarding how to lay heated flooring a network of cables or pipes is normally laid in the substrate which must be completely level. The pipes are threaded through a series of clamps creating an evenly distributed mesh of pipework with an impermeable layer beneath. Then a levelling compound or adhesive is laid and the finished floor surface covers the embedded network beneath. The system is connected to a thermostat and can be controlled directly, via a timer or alternatively remotely using an App.

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How to install electric underfloor heating  

The Butech underfloor heating mat is an example of how an electrical system, in this case an ultra-thin 1.8mm cable network, can be suitable for all flooring situations. An unintrusive option when replacing floor finishes thanks to its minimal depth. To install simply place the mesh under any floor finish, such as the Porcelanosa range of tiles and connect to a suitable thermostat (8GM Smart controller is recommended by Butech).

>More information about Butech underfloor heating

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One thought on “The benefits of underfloor heating

  1. Hi looking to install Butech unfloor heating in a new kitchen. Total tiled area is 36m2, with 20m2 to be heated.
    Do you recommend any particular adhesives, self-level screed and sub-floor prep layers (concrete)
    thanks

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