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Another thing that makes floor heating a much more attractive option than forced air heating is that the home is not pressurized, therefore heat is not going to be forced to escape through cracks and small openings. This will ensure that the heat stays inside the home.
Once you start shopping for radiant floor heating, you will want to examine all of your options. There are water, also known as hydronic, systems, as well as electric systems. You also have to decide if your heated floor system will be installed in a concrete slab or if it will be attached to the top of a sub-floor. As you can see, a lot of the decision is going to depend on how much money you are able to spend and whether you are dealing with an existing home or a new construction.
Just because you have an existing home does not mean that you can't have radiant heat installed. It is going to take some re-working of some things and your home will be a construction site for a few days. In the end though, the floor heat is something that you will enjoy and might even become a great selling point should you ever need or want to sell your home later on.
Even though there is a lot more planning that generally goes into the installation of floor heat than anything else, the benefits that you will receive are worth it. When that first cold night comes, you will be glad that you took the time and installed floor heating.
Floor Heat: Pros and Cons
If you have been thinking about bringing the floor heat into your home, you may be wondering if it is truly a good idea. As with anything, there are going to be some good things and some bad things about a floor heater system. Overall, radiant floor heating seems to be a much better option than any other type of heating.
Just to start with, the heated floor is much more comfortable to walk on than a cold floor. Imagine stepping out of the tub during the cold winter months. Wouldn't a nice warm floor feel so much better than a cold icy floor? Even just walking around the rest of the house will feel so much better.
The heated floor will provide level heating throughout the house, instead of a stream of forced air heat that shoots out of one or two vents in a room. As you can see, there are many benefits to having floor heat. But of course, there is a small downside to going with floor heater. In order to make sure that you make the right decision, you need to review everything you can find about radiant floor heating.
If the floor heat is not for a new construction, you will find that installing radiant floor heating is going to take a lot of work. You either are installing it in a concrete slab, under a sub-floor, on top of a sub-floor, or wedged in between two layers of sub floor.
This will involve doing a lot on your home. Is the mess worth it? Is the time it will take worth it? Well, if you are looking for a way to decrease heat loss and your heating bills then yes, it is worth it. If you would like to be able to jump out of bed in the middle of the night and have a heated floor for your feet instead of having the feeling of ice then yes, it is worth it.
You will simply have to weigh out the pros and cons and decide if it is the right option for you. At the very least, it is an upgrade that will be an added selling feature should you ever have to sell your home. The floor heat is not something you will later regret and you will wonder what you what you ever did without the floor heat. |