Radiant floors heat the ground below you and provide comfort in the cool mornings of spring and fall or coldest months of winter. They give a luxurious feel to any room, and can also provide a smart, cost effective alternative when heating the entire house is necessary. Here are a few details that can help you decide when, where and how to add radiant heating to your home.
In-floor heating takes advantage of the fact that hot air tends to rise in a space. When heat is emitted from the floors in your East Toronto home, it rises into the air and warms the room. Since the air flow up is gradual, the room is more comfortably heated when compared to using a conventional system that rushes hot air into the room. This means you’ll spend less on the cost of electricity or gas to heat your home while staying more comfortable, even in the coldest months of winter.
While radiant heat does save East Toronto homeowners money on their heating costs, is popular and adds value to a home, it comes at a price. To install it often costs up to $6 per square foot, and that’s on top of the cost for labor and materials for the flooring you’re installing. It also doesn’t work well under carpeting, an often used flooring material in bedrooms, living rooms and family rooms. If you’re not installing hardwoods or tile throughout your entire home, then it might only be a good choice for certain rooms and spaces.
If you’re renovating a bathroom in East Toronto, radiant floors can make a lot of sense. Since most homeowners finish their bathroom floors with ceramic or stone tile, heated floors are quite effective, and they can reduce the chilly feeling under your feet that walking on these materials barefoot often causes.
If you’re set on adding radiant heat to your bedroom, it’s a good idea to go with something other than carpeting. Consider hardwoods or bamboo which works well with the heat transfer under the floors. If you must have some carpeting, simply lay a small area rug at the foot of your bed so that only a small portion of the floor doesn’t benefit from the heat transfer.
After you’ve decided where to install radiant heat floors in your East Toronto home, it’s time to consider which heated floors you’ll use. There are three types – forced-air, hydronic-based and electrical.
Forced-air flooring carries hot air through channels in the floor. This is the method least often used in residential spaces.
Hydronic-based systems use hot water through a network of tubing. It’s often considered by professionals to be the most effective, and that makes it a popular choice for homeowners.
Electrical heated floors aren’t as popular as hydronic-based systems because of cost, but it can be the right option for some. If you live in an area where electricity prices are low during off-peak hours, these floors can be turned on overnight so the warmth slowly radiates through daylight hours, keeping your home comfortable while helping you to avoid the high costs involved with heating it.
If radiant heating appeals to you but you’re on a tighter budget, consider installing it in pockets, in certain rooms of the home. For instance, you might add radiant heating right around the toilet and just outside the shower. It could also be a good choice directly beneath your feet at the kitchen sink.
Regardless of how or where you decide to install it, call on a East Toronto construction professional to assist. While self-installation of radiant floors is possible, it’s quite difficult if you’re a novice, and getting it wrong can result in unwanted expenses and damage to your home.