Underfloor heating quotes from local installers

Why underfloor heating feels different

Most heaters warm the air near them, which rises to the ceiling and leaves your feet cold. Underfloor heating warms the whole floor gently, so heat rises evenly through the room from where you're standing. Rooms feel comfortable at a lower air temperature, there's no heater taking up space, and tiled floors stop being cold underfoot on winter mornings.

Electric or water-based?

Which floors it works under

Tiles and stone are the best match: they conduct heat well and hold it. Engineered wood and laminate can be used with systems and temperature limits approved by the flooring manufacturer, because wood dries and moves if it's overheated. Carpet and thick underlays insulate the heat away from the room, so they're the least efficient choice. Tell installers what floor finish you're planning before they quote.

Insulation and controls

Without insulation under the heating, a good share of the heat goes down into the concrete slab instead of up into the room. Insulation boards under the heating element make the system warm up faster and cost less to run, especially on ground floors.

Each heated zone should have its own thermostat with a floor sensor, so the floor never gets too hot for the finish, and a timer, so the floor is warm when you need it rather than all day. Floors take time to warm up, so heating schedules that start before you get up work best.

When to install it

Underfloor heating goes in under the floor finish, so it's easiest and cheapest to add when you're laying a new floor anyway: during a bathroom renovation, a new kitchen, or new building work. Retrofitting under an existing floor means lifting it. Thin electric mats can sometimes be laid over an existing tiled floor with new tiles on top, if the extra floor height works at doors.