What Makes Underfloor Heating Such a Must-Have Amenity?

Imagine walking into the bathroom in the winter and feeling a gentle warmth under your feet, instead of the biting cold of icy tiles. Sounds appealing, doesn’t it? 

In recent years, underfloor heating has become the heating method of choice for many homes. Once seen as tricky to install and only useful in bathrooms, modern technology now means that it can be installed under many different flooring types, in every room. Smart technology has taken it a step further, allowing users to ‘zone’ their home and control their heating at the touch of a button.

However, the fact remains that for most people, installing underfloor heating means taking out existing radiators and ripping up the flooring. Not only is this costly, but it’s disruptive unless you’re already renovating. So why should you bother? In this post, we explain why underfloor heating is such a must-have amenity in residential properties.

Efficiency 

Perhaps the biggest reason to go through the cost and bother of getting underfloor heating installed is the money and energy it will save you in the long run. Underfloor systems are around 25% more efficient than traditional radiators, increasing to 40% more efficient if paired with a heat pump. 

As well as saving you money, this means the carbon footprint decreases to 686kg CO² per year, rather than 2,745kg CO². Considering that we all need to do our bit to protect our planet, it’s a great choice for eco-minded homeowners.

More space, better design aesthetic

Radiators can be a pain to plan around in a room. They reduce the usable space for furniture like bookshelves or sofas, and have to be removed or painted around with tiny rollers when decorating. They’re also usually bright white, meaning they have to be painted or they stand out from the rest of your colour scheme. 

In comparison, underfloor heating provides warmth with no visible parts. This means you get more space in the room, allowing you total design freedom.

Consistent heat in the room

Because of the way that a radiator works, it warms one area of the room before the heat permeates the rest of the air. This is why it feels warm right next to the radiator, but takes a while for the other side of the room to feel the effect. As underfloor heating is spread out across the whole floor, you lose these ‘cold spots’, instead enjoying consistent warmth across the whole space.

This might take a while to get used to, because you lose the ‘hot’ feeling a radiator gives. But you’ll get used to the feeling of consistent, comfortable warmth in your home before too long. 

Hygiene

Have you ever considered how much dust your radiator collects? Fluff gathers in between the radiator and the wall, in between the fins and on the floor, and most of us don’t regularly clean it out. This matters because just one gram of dust can be home to up to 200 dust mites, which can cause flare-ups of conditions like asthma and other respiratory issues.

In contrast, underfloor heating allows you to properly clean every corner of your home, reducing areas where dust can gather. Plus, it just makes it easier to clean – rather than having to try and navigate under the radiator with the vacuum, you can move around the floor with ease.

A cosier home

These are just a few of the benefits of installing underfloor heating. Whilst it’s undeniable that it does mean some disruption, these systems have a long lifespan, meaning that you should only have to do it once – a small price to pay for a warmer, more efficient home.