Underfloor heating, Yay or Nay?

I'm looking into buying a run down terraced house. The place needs gutting and starting again and i am after the mighty 'orgs knowledge.


Is underfloor heating a good solution for a terraced house?

My + Points so far from looking are:

1. I am an electrician by trade so putting it in isn't a problem.
2. Everyone says it's brilliant and makes feet feel toasty and warm.

My - points are:

1. It's expensive compared to a combi boiler which as the house has no heating seems the easiest route to go down as at about £2-£2.5k for a complete new system fitted seems cheaper than the £1200 for underfloor heating i estimate i need plus then a hot water supply too for showers etc . . .
2. As i am gutting the house and starting from scratch, i think it might be easier to put the combi boiler in as it needs rewire, kitchen, bathroom etc. . and just be one less job to do.

So is it worth the hassle even perhaps for say the living room and bedroom?

I've fitted a fair few electric matting types, but not the hot water type.

IMO, they will take the chill off but not heat the room, unless you live in a super insulated modern house.

The floor needs to be super insulated too as although heat rises, the floor is a massive potential for heat loss.

IMO, get a combi fitted, you'll need hot water anyway, by all means fit underfloor heating but only as secondary heating.

Underfloor heating will keep your feet warm if you have hard flooring. Might be easier to get carpets.

[Fallout]

How expensive is it to run? My house is electrically heated using storage heaters. They're not great, but obviously they only charge up during the 7p/KWh off peak rates. When it was really nippy over the winter, we had a 2KW electric fire on in the lounge most evenings and our leccy bill was noticeably bigger. From that, I can imagine under floor heating is pretty expensive to run.

Sometimes I miss having gas, but mostly it's fine. Our hot water is also heated off-peak by immersion, so it's not expensive, and we don't have to worry about boiler servicing, installing pipe work for radiators, bleeding them etc. Our system is zero maintenance.

They're not for everyone, but they work for us. Nice only having 1 energy bill too.

My parents have got underfloor heating in their house and the floor is carpeted in th living room, but, tiles everywhere else.

There are no radiators downstairs and even in the coldest of winters it keeps the house lovely and warm and gives and even heat around the whole room, not just near the radiators.

Makes drying out clothes a pain, but, is worth the effort

[Balky001]

My father in law has just built a timber framed bunglow and went for underfloor heating. Every area has its own manifold/heat setting.

I was sceptical but it brilliant. The only thing is it heats to a particular height (weird) so not sure how it affects a house, probably need rads. You do have to spend more on carpets/underlay as thy have to be compatible and they are not as thick as some carpets if your thinking of going super lux but they are good. It was that expensive to put in and cheap to run. That said the bungalow is well insulated and gave the highest rating of efficiency/air leaks

Go the combi route, underfloor needs to be left on all the time, you can't come in from work and go oh it's a bit chilly put the heating on, well you can but you won't be able to tell the differance for hours, and it's the cost of laying it, the insulation screed etc

I'm an electrical contractor and have fitted quite a few also.
A wet (piped) system is good if you are completely starting from scratch. Do you have timber or concrete floors? If it's concrete (downstairs) you really need to smash it up and put 100mm Kingspan insulation beneath before re-concreting and laying the wet system, then the finished floor. Tiles,wood or carpet all work.
Timber (upstairs) would need lifting, insulate between joists or use insulated backing board/ply, then pipework on special trays, then the finished floor. All that would take up room so you'd probably have to raise the door-casings.

I'd recommend a combination of rads and H/W from a combi (do you have gas?) along with electric UFH by mats (like the Warmup system) in bathrooms and en-suites. Maybe an electric or dual-fuel towel rail if finances/space allow. If you go for a conventional boiler and cylinder then put the towel rails on the hot water loop.
The last few electric UFH mats I've fitted have been Vent-Axia, pretty good, easy to fit and about 30% cheaper than Warmup. The wet UFH systems I use are from Upanor, very pricey but I have ones in service that were fitted 12 years ago, no problems so far.

www.warmup.co.uk
www.vent-axia.com
www.upanor.com

Just noticed Bluefish's post, correct-but they do heat up surprisingly quickly, depending on what the finished floor is.
The Warmup and Vent-Axia ones have a temperature probe that embeds in the floor, a dedicated programmer that does on/off times like a normal C/H programmer and which also has settings for comfort levels/floor temperature/economy monitor etc.

both the wet and electric systems work well,but have seen floors ripped up when the electric type stopped working,and assume its like a electric blanket and can burn out or wires break,so if some one else installs it get a long guarantee or do your research on the most reliable,but how well it works is all down to insulation both floor and the rest of the house,as to running costs is there any such thing as cheap heating.i advice living in the uk summer time and the other 11 winter months move somewhere warmer