Talk To An HVAC Contractor About Floor Heating

Installing heating in your home involves a lot of choices. You have to choose what kind of furnace you want, what fuel you'll use, and where you want to have the furnace installed. One option that you may not necessarily consider is to get radiant floor heating. This can be a good choice for your house, especially if you have a floor that can act as a thermal mass, like a tile floor or a concrete floor.

Radiant Floor Heating

This kind of heating can also be called underfloor heating. The reason for that is that it is installed under your floor. The heating system comprises a series of tubes or heating elements. When the heater is turned on, the heating elements or tubes will warm up. When they warm up, they will warm up the floor. The warm floor will heat the air above the floor. That air will rise, allowing colder air to sink against the floor. The cycle continues until there's no more heat coming off the floor. It is a gentle heat that can keep your home warm for a while. If your floor is made of tile or has a cement base, it can act as a passive thermal heating mass. That means it will heat up and hold on to that heat, releasing it into the air even after the heating elements have turned off.

Installation Choices

Radiant floor heating comes in two forms. One is an electrical system with heating elements running through the floor. The other is a hot water system that uses a series of pipes or tubes that fill with hot water. A hot water system is probably the best choice for you if you have a boiler already installed in your home. The electrical option generally comes in a series of mats. The mats are made up of heating elements, which makes installation more manageable because the mat just gets laid on the floor. Generally, installing radiant floor heating is easier when the house is being built. However, you can retrofit it into an existing home, especially when doing other renovation work.

Radiant floor heating can be a good option for your house. It will mean that you will never have to put your toes down on a cold floor again. Talk to a heating installation contractor if you want to get radiant floor heating. The contractor can come to your house and evaluate it to make sure that it would be the right choice for your home.