Radiant Floor Heating Buying Guide

Winter months can be particularly cold when your home has bare tile floors, or even wood plank. Accent rugs can add comfort but if your home needs a little extra warmth to get your toes through until spring, radiant floor heating is the answer. Not only can radiant heating warm the floors, it warms the air above it, saving on the energy bills by replacing forced-air heating with a more effective heat distribution.

There are a few important things to keep in mind when considering installing heated floor systems anywhere in your home, from the kitchen to the back bedrooms. From choosing the type of radiant floor heating that is best for your home layout, to balancing the heated floor costs, we break it all down for you in this guide.

What Is Radiant Floor Heating?

Also called in-floor heating, or underfloor heating, radiant floor heating provides a safe method of warming the floors and walls of the home rather than circulating air. The novel notion of heated floors warming a building has been in use in one form or another for thousands of years, but modern design technology has made it more reliable, safer, and affordable in the last century.

Today's heated floor systems can be installed under carpeted floors, wood or laminate planks, or the classic tile to make every room in the house comfortable, year-round. The different types of heated floor installation methods and power sources make a heated floor an affordable home improvement project that can boost the resale value at the same time. 

Whether a heated tile floor or a heated concrete floor, a heated floor system transfers heat through the floor and up into anything it touches, as well as gradually into the air. Heat naturally rises so when a floor tile or laminate board is heated, the heat that doesn't transfer into another object will warm the air above it continually and consistently. 

Unlike with forced air heating, a radiant floor heating system makes no noise and is completely invisible under the flooring with no need for extra venting. A heated floor can be added in a remodel to any room of the house or built-in on a new design to save money on the electric bill over time. 

Advantages of Radiant Floor Heating

Whether you live in a colder area, or would like to add seasonal comfort under the cold tile or cement floors, an upgraded radiant floor heating system can simplify and improve your daily routine in many surprising ways.

Radiant heat flooring removes the surface chill by setting the floor to the same temperature as the human body. Warmer floors are particularly in demand for those facing problems with chronic ailments such as arthritis or diabetes, and are a worthwhile investment when remodeling with aging in place in mind. Because the floor can be kept at such a specific temperature with no visible or accessible burners, broilers, or hot air, it is even safe for kids and pets, too.

A heated tile floor is allergy friendly and easily maintained, and it keeps the room warm without requiring the use of dust-ridden, forced-air heating systems blowing allergens into and around the room. The energy is used to most efficiently heat the room from the ground up rather than allow the heat to be lost in the ductwork where the air has had a chance to cool.

Electric floor heating is easy to operate, using programmable thermostats with all the same features as the controls of any other heating or cooling system. Syncing the underfloor heating system to the off-peak hours of your energy provider can even save you money on energy bills over time. Set the floor to heat during the local power company’s low-demand hours and turn it off during the day; the residual heat will cut the surface chill long after the system has gone idle.

These and the many other advantages to adding in-floor heating to the home add up to a cozy, welcoming home experience every day. Adding an underfloor heating system during a remodel is a good way to boost the home’s resale value, whether you’re planning to sell soon or will still be living in the home for many years to come.

How Does Radiant Floor Heating Work?

Radiant floor heating works by transferring warmth through surrounding objects, moving and radiating the heat through the floor. This happens utilizing a location-appropriate heating source that can reach between 85 degrees and 145 degrees Fahrenheit safely enough to transfer warmth through the surrounding floor material - such as concrete - against the underside of the floor to radiate up to the surface and into the room.

Electric floor heating allows you to set the ideal floor temperature using a thermostat, similar to the thermostat of a whole house, forced-air heating system. The in-floor heating systems can be installed in different configurations so you can choose the type that works best with your home’s layout and your project budget.

Staple-up emitters attach to the underside of the floor or subfloor and transfer the heat into the boards or other flooring above. They may require construction of a secondary subfloor to attach to, and they work well in homes where the floor can be accessed via basements or raised crawl spaces. Mount them to the underside of the floor between the joists and connect them to zone thermostats.

Tubing installed in channels chiseled out of concrete floors can utilize either hot water or hot air to radiate enough heat to warm the surrounding concrete and help evenly disperse the heat into the floor above.

The types of tubing can include:

• Copper tubing
• Polyethylene (PEX) rubber
• Rubber tubing

The tubing can be installed flush over flat concrete under a subfloor to the same effect if your project budget or timeline doesn’t allow for drilling channels into a concrete slab. For new builds, the channels can be planned ahead of time to make the heated floor installation even easier.

Floor mats and cable installation membrane allow the sheathed wire heat sources to be routed across the subfloor to be covered with the final floor surface. Rather than installing them to the underside of the floorboards, the electric wiring over the mats or installation membrane allows you to determine your own zones according to the layout of the space.

When looking at how to install heated floors, it’s clear that there are many different ways to make the flooring fit the demands of your floor, but all of them perform essentially the same functions. It’s all about customizing your project to fit your home.

Types of Radiant Floor Heating

The oldest forms of heated floors used hot water running under buildings to warm the floors, though it was very costly to use for private homes. With the different modern methods used to heat floors, every home heating solution is customizable and affordable. There are three common types of radiant floor heating to choose from.

Heating mats utilize sheathed copper or nichrome wires woven into and throughout heat-conducting plastic webbing, creating a mat that can then be connected to a thermostat to best control the heat they produce. These floor heaters can be installed over any subflooring. A thin layer of cement over the subfloor will help to distribute the heat more consistently over the whole floor and radiate warmth across the final flooring surface, whether it is tile floor, planks, or carpeted.

Hydronic heat circulates water through a water broiler and along the floor through tubes. The channels the tubes are installed in radiate heat out into the floor, up to the surface. This type does require access to the plumbing and the installation of a broiler.

Radiant air flow forces hot air through the channels in the floor, similar to how hydronic heat works. It requires very hot temperatures and the air doesn’t escape the channels under the floor. Air-based systems work best when they are embedded in concrete slab flooring to allow the cement to absorb the heat and help retain a consistent temperature across the floor surface.

While the materials used to prepare the floor help protect the different technologies from malfunctioning over time, it is important to ensure secure and proper installation. These can all be installed as do-it-yourself projects, or enlist the help of a contractor or electrician for the wiring.

All of these floor heating options can also utilize reflective insulation and aluminum heat diffuser plates to help direct and retain the heat. Infrared panels and other developing technologies can be used to augment the flooring or provide other heat sources in the room. Look for the heating solutions that best fit your home.

Types of Radiant Floor Compatible Floor Coverings

There are many kinds of flooring that can be used with effective radiant floor heating systems. You can even use outdoor floor heating under stone to help keep the walkways safe around the outside of the home in freezing weather. Certain flooring types transfer the heat better than others, so keep in mind that flooring can either block the heat or transfer it. The most common flooring materials can be broken down into three main categories.

Tile flooring encompasses both ceramic and porcelain tile types. Tile floors consistently retain the heat and spread it across the floor surface most effectively. Both are very reactive to external heat sources, but the kiln process of making porcelain tiles can help porcelain hold the warmth of an underfloor heating system longer and allows the thermostat to be set a little lower for best results.

Wood flooring can also be used with radiant floor heating, though it is recommended to use laminate flooring to avoid problems with the planks shrinking as they dry out from the regular heat exposure. Plank flooring, whether wood or laminate, transfers the heat without distributing it quite as well across the entire surface, due to the variance in the grain and materials. It absorbs and retains the heat well and the entire floor will be comfortable to touch, though some areas may be warmer than others.

The other common type of flooring used is carpet. Thinner carpet with a dense padding is better to transfer heat to the surface. Carpet easily traps the heat in the floor, with more layers of air built in between the touchable surface of the carpet and the heat source under the floor. It transfers the heat as effectively as the other floor types, but the heating source under the floor may need to be set at a higher temperature in order to be felt as strongly on the surface.

Sizing Radiant Floor Heating Systems

The size of the room is only one piece of the puzzle when determining the size of the underfloor heating system. It requires starting with the square footage of the room, and then determining the placement of the permanent features in the room. The underfloor heating system wiring can then be planned to work around the areas that will be most easily accessible and used more often.

Avoid placing radiant floor systems under inaccessible areas to save money on the installation up front costs. The permanent features to avoid can include any cabinetry or semi-permanent furniture or walls, such as a kitchen island. These features will trap heat rather than transfer it to an exposed surface and effectively waste the energy spent to heat it. 

The size of the room and the size of the system that is ultimately planned out will determine the power capacity required for the floor heater. One way of minimizing the power consumption is to separate the floor to be wired into smaller sections, or system zones, which can be one uniform heating type or can rely on multiple types of radiant heat as needed. 

These zones can be controlled by a single thermostat, which sets a single system temperature for the entire floor. Especially when controlling multiple heating types, the underfloor heating can also be wired as a two-temperature system by connecting the different zones to multiple thermostats. This provides greater temperature control from room to room and can better monitor the home’s energy consumption over time.

Costs, Energy Savings, and Compatible Power Sources

When budgeting for a radiant floor project, the three upfront factors to consider are:

• The cost of the radiant heat system.
• The cost of the installation labor.
• The cost of the appropriate flooring material.

While the costs of the heating and flooring materials will depend on the coverage area, the labor costs for installation will depend on the amount of time spent preparing the project. Building a new home allows for the radiant heating system to be planned into the floor installation from the start, while drilling and creating channels in an existing concrete slab floor as part of a remodel can present complications and time delays along the way. It’s important to match the type of system to the requirements of the location so that the project can be handled efficiently and result in the best possible heating system for your floor.

Another consideration when planning and budgeting for radiant floor heating costs is the cost to operate the system in your home. This is largely dependent on the amount of energy your current heating system uses and the type of power system that runs the larger appliances in your home. In-floor heating systems can entirely replace the regular, daily use of a central heating, forced-air system, especially in homes with standard ceilings. 

Radiant floor heating systems can be utilized with all home power systems to best meet the usage demands of your home. Whether your home runs on natural gas or electric, look for a heated floor system that works with your home appliances’ primary power source. If your current heating system is powered by natural gas, it’s easy to find a complementary floor heating system, so that you can simply switch the heating options. 

As the heat rises from the floor, it heats the air more effectively at the exact height where people occupying the room can experience the benefit. The heated air isn’t cooled by circulation up to the cold air at the ceiling and then back down, as it is with a forced-air system. The heat is dispensed and spread more efficiently across the entire floor, with fewer cold spots to make up for, saving on energy usage. It results in less energy use, at a lower cost. 

Anything blocking the floor surface can either transfer the heat provided by a radiant floor heating system, or it can block it. Plan the floor layout carefully to be sure that the heating system will be installed in the locations where it will be accessible, because when the heat is trapped rather than allowed to radiate out, it can create hot and cold spots, which could result in using more energy than needed.