Radiant Heat Flooring

Radiant heat flooring is a system of tubes that are under the flooring in your home that fills with hot water, which distributes heat into the room.  There are several ways to install radiant heat flooring.  One way of installing it, is by installing the tubing between the floor joists on top of fibreglass or heat transfer material, encasing it with cement, building a sub floor above the tubes then installing flooring on the sub floor.  This is an ideal installation when you are first building your home. 

If you have an existing floor, then one way of installing the heat flooring is by placing the tubing on the existing floor with heat transfer material and firring strips in between the tubing, or encasing it with cement.  A sub floor is then built on top of the tubing and your choice of flooring is installed atop the sub floor.  Prior to installation you will want to ensure that the sub floor is dry.  Testing the heated tubing prior to encasing it with cement will help ensure that the floor is dry.  If you notice moisture collecting on the floor while testing the floor heating you will want to quickly resolve the issue as the moisture can cause any wooden flooring to expand, shrink and eventually crack. 

When installing radiant heat flooring in your home you have the option of installing flooring of your choice, such as carpet, tile or hardwood.  If you are installing hardwood flooring you will want to ensure that the wood being installed is suitable.  Certain types of wood may not be able to handle the heat from the radiant flooring and could cause future damage to your flooring that will cost you a lot of money to replace.

Radiant heat flooring is an ideal way to heat your home, as it heats the rooms from the bottom to the top.  It heats the room just the way a traditional radiator wood, minus the bulky radiator.  The water in the tubing is never too hot, and can easily be adjusted with a thermostat.  This type of heating will reduce any heat loss, costing you less; it also maintains a constant room temperature and properly disperses the heat throughout the room.  This type of heating will also heat our bodies properly, as it is believed that our feet are like our bodies thermostats.  So by always keeping our feet warm, it will also help keep our bodies warm.  Radiant heat flooring is an ideal form of heating as we can benefit from the installation in many ways.