Stay Warm with Radiant Flooring

source: FlooringMagazine.org

Ever walk into your bathroom or kitchen in the middle of the night in the dead of winter in your bare feet and have your system shocked by the freezing cold tile?

If not, you're among the lucky 1 percent of the population not to have had experienced the frigid, glacial, and utter arctic coldness of it all! It sends an instant shiver throughout your entire body making you feel like your overall body temperature just dropped several degrees in those few seconds!

Now, I happen to have polished granite tile on my bathroom floors...beautiful to look at, but freezing to walk on. It's almost a game to me to stay on the rug I have in there and just slide it around to where I need to stand.

Amusing? Slightly. Wish I had radiant floor heating? You bet your bare feet I do!

There are several different types of radiant flooring available today: (Excerpted from the US Dept. of Energy Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) site.)

Electric Radiant Floors

Electric radiant floors typically consist of electric cables built into the floor. Systems that feature mats of electrically conductive plastic are also available, and are mounted onto the subfloor below a floor covering, such as tile.

Because of the relatively high cost of electricity, electric radiant floors are only cost-effective if they include a significant thermal mass, such as a thick concrete floor, and your electric utility company offers time-of-use rates. Time-of-use rates allow you to "charge" the concrete floor with heat during off-peak hours (approximately 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.). If a floor's thermal mass is large enough, it can store enough heat to keep the house comfortable for up to ten hours. This saves a considerable number of energy dollars compared to heating at peak electric rates during the day.

Electric radiant floors may also make sense for additions onto homes for which it would be impractical to extend the heating system into the addition. However, homeowners should examine other options, such as mini-split heat pumps, which operate more efficiently and have the advantage of also providing cooling.

Hydronic Radiant Floors

Hydronic (liquid) systems are the most popular and cost-effective radiant heating systems for heating-dominated climates. Hydronic radiant floor systems pump heated water from a boiler through tubing laid in a pattern underneath the floor.

The cost of installing a hydronic radiant floor is approximately $4-$6 per square foot ($40-$60 per square meter), depending on the size of the home, the type of installation, the floor covering, remoteness of the site, and the cost of labor.

Air-Heated Radiant Floors

Because air cannot hold large amounts of heat, radiant air floors are not cost-effective in residential applications. Although they can be combined with solar air heating systems, those systems suffer from the obvious drawback of only being available in the daytime, when heating loads are generally lower.

Benefits of Radiant Flooring

The benefits are plentiful:

• typically 20 to 40 percent more energy efficient than other heating systems.
• no noise.
• heats evenly.
• reduces dust mites and airborne allergens by 60 to 90 percent.
• can be installed under just about any type of flooring: laminate, wood floors, concrete, carpet, hardwood, linoleum, marble, stone, tile, etc.
• provides no need to consider vents, baseboards, radiators, or drafty areas when furnishing your home.
• for a hydronic (water) system, it can use a variety of equipment to heat the water: natural gas, propane, electric boiler, wood boiler, heat pump, solar collector or geothermal energy.

Costs

The costs of radiant flooring and it's installation will vary widely depending on the type of system purchased, the installation method, control options, and project size.

New construction tends to be the least expensive, while tearing up and replacing floors in an existing home costs the most.

According to CostHelper.com:

• Hydronic (water) radiant floor heating system will cost $6 - $15 a square foot.

• Electric radiant floor heating will run about $400 - $700 for averaged-size bathroom with a thin electric mat installed in thinset cement and controlled by a timer-thermostat. Electric radiant heating is typically installed in one room rather than an entire house.

• Radiant air heating system are used in commercial buildings, and are generally not considered cost-effective for residential use.

More information on radiant heat flooring:

Radiant Floor Heating
article and image from This Old House
That's the appeal of radiant floor heating, says This Old House plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey, who has long been a fan. "It's truly invisible," he says.

Radiant Floor Heating
article and image from Service Magic
Radiant floor heating has become a popular solution to cold tile, icy driveways and home saunas. This type of heating system is installed beneath the floor and is controlled by a thermostat.

Radiant Floor Heating
article and image from Concrete Network
Heating your home with a forced-air furnace isn't your only option when you have concrete floors. You can save energy and create a healthier, more comfortable living environment by having the floor itself distribute the heat via a radiant in-floor heating system.