How to install underfloor heating

• Underfloor heating - the essential guide
• Why underfloor heating?
• Types of underfloor heating
• Where to use underfloor heating
• How to install underfloor heating
• Flooring considerations
• Underfloor heating directory

For your underfloor heating to be most cost and energy efficient, your property needs to be adequately insulated. To prevent heat loss, and to ensure that the heat is directed upwards, there needs to be room for insulation to be installed beneath the system.

With wet systems, make sure you have a space for the controls to be situated (a cupboard will do). Like a radiator, each room heated with UFH has its own valve, but they can all be sited in one spot, along with the timer controls. Most of the plastic water pipes installed in today's systems are continuous, so there is no danger of leaks as there are no joints - and the system is generally considered to be maintenance-free.

Whilst a condensing boiler will offer the greatest potential savings on running costs, any boiler can be used with UFH, as long as it has a sufficient capacity.

The firm fitting the underfloor heating will plan the installation for you. If you plan to add a wet UFH system to an existing room, you will need to seek professional advice. Necessary calculations include the desired temperatures, the ceiling height, the potential heat loss and the type of flooring required.

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