Retrofit underfloor heating....

kaizersoze

My house was flooded last november. ATM it's gutted out and dry and the builder is starting next week.

All the central heating system is being replaced except for the pipe work. I was wondering is it possible to convert to UFCH. I know concrete floors will have to be ripped up but I've no idea what other costs would be involved or what the system would cost.

It's a 1000sqf, 3 bed bungalow.
Would it be worth it or even possible?

Ta.

Outkast_IRE

To get the maximum benefit from underfloor you should ideally have a very well insulated and relatively draft free house , the whole idea of underfloor is to create a very nice constant ambient tempreature ........... to maintain that temp and keep costs of running reasonable requires you to have the house well insulated etc ............. and would requires the people living in the house to understand that you want to hit a perfect temp by use of room/area theremostats and anytime you feel too hot and open a window this will dump a lot of that heat out the window etc .... so for me in a retrofit ask yourself
Is the house well insulated enough to help maintain the ambient temps you aim for . if its not it will cost you more to run.
Will the people living in the house use the system correctly cause it is a totally differnt type of heat to rads and requires patience to get it right.

That being said i like the type of heat underfloor produces its a very comfortable warmth , some people prefer rads.

freddyuk

When i built an extention to my bungalow i self installed underfloor to the conservatory /bedroom and bathroom. You need 100mm of insulation under the screed. On top of the insulation you need some wire reinforcing mesh and zip tie your heating pipe to the mesh and lay the screed over.
The system works great.
Trying to train the other members of the household in the art of zoning is a nightmare.Keepng doors closed is very important but does not always happen.
I did consider digging up the rest of the house floor to retrofit u/f but the mess would have been too much so i have a hybrid system.
I love the u/f and would highly recommend it but as said above it is best to insulate everything first if you are trying to save money.
U/F runs a t a lower temperature from the heating source so should be cheaper to run. It is easy to self install.

deepspeed

I am thinking of doing the same - retro-fitting our (circa 1980) bungalow with underfloor heating. Our radiator circuit pipes burst recently, and have to get the lot re-plumbed, so I'm thinking to kill two birds with one stone!!

This website:

http://www.nu-heat.co.uk/s.nl/it.I/id.453/.f

shows how underfloor is retro fitted. First you need to put down some really good quality insulation (Kingspan etc) and then the underfloor mechanism is fitted on top, with the pipes, and then you lay your floor covering on top.

It will mean raising your floor height closer to the ceiling, but I'm hoping this will be acceptable.

Also - this brochure:

http://www.euroheat.co.uk/images/product_images/1314686061Biomass%20Guide%20Spreads%20Low%20Res.pdf

shows many different options, and depending on cost, I'm investigating as much as I can.

This idea of a Thermal Store or Accumulator looks like a good idea but I'm not sure of the cost or value it will bring. There are just two of us living in the house right now, so i'm not sure of the return on investment. With Solar, Ive gone off the idea right now, as most calculations say you need 3 - 4 people to get a good return.

But I'm certainly going to have the system designed so that adding solar in the future is just a matter of putting up the panels etc. (I Hope!!!)

Cheers,