Radianat Heat??

Does anyone have radiant heat? My husband and I are renovating the entire house and are debating on whether or not to do radiant heat. We def want to get rid of the baseboards. We would run heat through the existing central air vents if we chose not to do radiant. I've never been in a house that had their entire house heated by radiant floors. Does it provide enough heat? And if you have radiant which floor do you have? Tile...wood...or that new tile that looks just like wood. Please help!! lol

Re: Radianat Heat??

My ILs have it in their lakehome. They have tile because they were told that the wood would contract with the heating and cooling off. This was 6-7 years ago, not sure if they have another wood product that's compatible now. Their choices were tile or carpet and because it's a lakehome, they went with tile.

They just had forced air installed because the radiant heat was not enough. Their home is in MN with a wall of windows facing the lake and the cold North winter wind. I'd say if you don't have those factors stacked against you, it may be a good option.

Re: Radianat Heat??

We just put radient heat in our kitch and bathrooms

these floors are both tile- we did the water piping in mud floors - this works for us because the bathrooms can be warmer then the bedrooms

it also works because we have a great room and the fireplace and kitchen floor can help heat the room durign the day and keep bedrooms cooler (i like it cold to sleep) - and we only have one heating zone upstairs (high ranch) besides floors

if i was doing a new construction i would have done entirely - friend is doing that

as far retrofiting - they have metal plates that go under wood floors that help spread the heat and piping snaps in -

a lot of new homes in Colorado are built with all floors radiant - supposedly it is the most efficient method of heating

Re: Radianat Heat??

we have radiant heat on our 1st level (baseboards on 2nd level)

if you go w/ wood, you need engineered wood so the heat doesn't warp the wood. that's what we put down in our LR.

thick carpets are a waste b/c the heat doesn't come up through the thick carpet as well.

Re: Radianat Heat??

We have radiant heat under tile and floating wood floor on our main level.

You can't put a regular wood floor over radiant heat, but you can put a floating engineered wood over it because it is able to expand and contract.

However, the floating floor is more easily damaged than regular wood. If you drop something at the wrong angle it gashes the wood.

We also have the heat through the AC vents in the rooms with radiant heat and I hate it. It is so drying that we have to run humidifiers all the time in those rooms. The upside is the floor is always warm when my DC plays on it.

IMHO, I very much prefer the baseboard heat that we have upstairs as well as having regular hardwood floors.

After living with it, the only places I'd consider adding the radiant heat is in the tiled bathrooms.

Re: Radianat Heat??

I have radiant heat on the first floor of my house. I am on a concrete slab and it is a hydronic system that was put in when the house was built. We have engineered wood floors through the main part of the first floor and tile in the kitchen and bath and carpet in our den. Our house is toasty. We moved in last winter and it is by far the warmest house I have ever lived in. I don't suggest carpet in a large area of the house because it doesnt conduct the heat as well. They suggest tile as the best flooring material. If you want the look of wood I'd suggest the tile that looks like wood. It is the same price as I paid for my engineered wood floors and looks amazing. i wish I had it done instead of the wood. The only problem with the hydronic radiant system is when there is a leak.....its hard to find and repair.

Re: Radianat Heat??

We also have radiant heat under all our tiled floors, so for us that is the kitchen and entry, bathrooms and laundry rooms. For us those rooms are just as warm as we need them to be, but we also have 11 zones in the house so we can play so that all areas in the house meet our needs. In the rooms that have wood floors or carpet we have baseboard, and our baseboards are very small. I feel the radiant if very efficient, our home also is extremely well insulated which helps tremendously as well. I am really not a fan of forced hot air at all and that was never an option for us.

Re: Radianat Heat??

Nothing is better then a warm floor

in the bathroom when you step out

of the shower on a cold winter morning.

love my floor heating!!!

Re: Radianat Heat??

I have it but only in my kitchen and family room that is tiled. Honestly, I am not to crazy about it. The floor is definitely warm but I don't think the room temperature is at warm as my other rooms.

Re: Radianat Heat??

Definitely do it!!!!!!!! One of our biggest regrets!

Re: Radianat Heat??

We just did this in our kitchen and are so glad we did. It is nice to walk on.
We went with Nufeet or Nuheat..it is the one that mike holmes uses on his show.

Re: Radianat Heat??

I have radiant heat WITH oak hardwood floor (not engineered).


I have a cement slab on my 1st floor and we gutted the floors in the kitchen/hallway/dining room.

In the kitchen, we ran the tubing to chicken wire in a specific pattern then floated a cement floor over it. We then tiled it.

In the dining room & hallway, we ran 'sleepers' (long 2x4's) in rows. We used a hammer drill to drill holes into the cement slab then used redhead nails to attach the sleepers to the cement. We ran the radiant in between the sleepers on reflective pex foil then filled the space with cement. We then attached the oak floors to the sleepers.

DH, our friend & I did the work ourselves (except for the cement, we hired someone). It was hardwork, but doable and after almost 2 years I have NO issues of warping, or extreme expanding or contracting. In the winter you can see some contracting, but I see that in my already existing HW floors upstairs too where there is radiators and not radiant heat. We acclimated the wood to the house for a while (a month I think).

As for the heat itself, my house is an icebox and those areas are the only ones that are 'warm' on even the coldest days.

Message edited 10/14/2010 8:31:48 AM.

Re: Radianat Heat??

We have radiant heat in the kitchen and it definitely gets the place warm. We lost a radiator when we renovated. I wear slippers but. everyone else loves the feel of it in the winter especially the cat. We have tile floor.

Re: Radianat Heat??

we just put radiant heat in under our wood (not engineered - real wood) floors. we haven't turned it on yet so i can't tell you how it is but i'm super excited about it! you can put it under wood floor you just have to get these silver plates like a pp said... the tubing snaps into them and spreads the heat so it doesn't directly touch the wood

Re: Radianat Heat??