Radiant floor insulation, radiant floor heating systems, radiant floor heating costs

Radiant floor insulation and heating systems have enjoyed a surge in popularity in recent years; this is mainly due to their financial and heat saving benefits being widely publicized. Of course it’s easy to get conned into jumping on board a passing fad to realise that there wasn’t much substance to the claim. Yes, floor insulation and heating is definitely worth having, but this article is going to provide you with several critically argued points stating why this is the case. The following paragraphs are going to tell you everything you need to know about the benefits, types and cost of radiant floor heating and insulation.

Reflective radiant floor insulation is by far the most effective form of floor insulation on the market today. First of all, unlike foam board insulation, this form is very quick to install and yet is much more durable and is less likely to corrode than the latter. Additionally, foam insulation would lose a lot of the heat created by the under floor heating system, meaning your money was quite literally going out the window. Radiant floor boasts a very impressive reflective capacity, over 95% of all the rays of heat being produced are directed to the flooring.

Radiant floor heating systems provide several advantages to the home owner; first of all they are very energy efficient, which means you get more heat for your buck. This is mainly attributed to the fact that unlike conventional heaters or radiators, these systems aren’t attempting to heat up the air around them; air isn’t as good a conductor as wood or concrete and therefore much of the energy fails to reach the inhabitants of the home in the form of heat. Because more heat is generated by less energy you won’t need to have your central heating on for as long as you normally would so you can save on your heating bill.

There are several different types of radiant floor heating, which are as follows;

Air-heated radiant floor heating
These are often regarded as the most ineffective solution because the cost of heating air to an adequate temperature for extended periods of time is very high in relation to the amount of heat it provides.

Electric radiant floors
Much like the latter type, this form of floor heating is also very inefficient, electricity is an expensive fuel when compared to many of the alternatives. If a floor uses wood or carpet which has a small thermal mass then you’re almost certainly going to be losing money because the floor will only remain warm when the heating elements are turned on. The whole point of under floor heating systems is that they retain heat even after several hours of them being switched off.

Hydro Radiant flooring
Heating systems which use liquid as a means of heating up floors are by far the best choice because they are much cheaper to run. These systems work by sending heated water through a series of pipes, the heat is passed through the piping and transferred to the floor relatively easily. This is far more efficient than using electricity because it costs less and the floor stays warm for much longer when the system is switched off.

All readers are advised to look into hydronic heating systems before investing in any other form of under floor heating. If you intended to make a purchase you should bear in mind that for each square ft of hydronic flooring you should be prepared to pay $10 on average, prices vary $5 either way between different brands.

As a final note you should also realise that radiant floor insulation and under floor heating systems are two very different things, people often get them mixed up.