How heated floors can take your home from cold to cozy

There’s nothing worse than rolling out of bed on an icy winter morning and feeling the chill of cold tile beneath your feet. Of course, the luxury of warm floorboards underfoot is not the only reason to consider underfloor heating.

Radiant heating can be a cozy and energy-efficient solution that offers homeowners extra space, as there are no heaters or vents to clutter up your floors or walls. There’s also less noise than with traditional forced-air heating systems.

If you’re considering underfloor heating, it pays to understand how it works. Radiant heating relies on a heat source set beneath your floors, which naturally and evenly warms your home from below, across a specified area.

There are two types of radiant floor systems used in residential homes, hydronic and electric systems. Hydronic systems, which circulate warm water through underfloor tubes, tend to be the most cost-effective and popular systems. They rely on water pumped from your boiler or water heater, and most systems allow you to isolate different rooms. This means you can choose, for instance, to heat your kitchen floor in the morning and bedroom floor later in the night.

Due to the cost of electricity, electric systems are usually only cost-effective if your electric provider offers good off-peak pricing. In those cases, you might consider installing an electric system with a concrete slab. Most slabs can hold heat for a good 10 to 12 hours. This will allow you to heat the slab at night, when electric prices are low, and enjoy the warmth put off during the day.

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Because retrofitting a house or room with radiant floor heating comes with the added costs of removing and replacing the floors, most people opt for radiant heating when they are building or adding on to their home.

When looking at heated floors, another important consideration is the type of flooring you want on top of your radiant heat system. In bathrooms and kitchens, ceramic tile is a good choice, as it conducts heat well. Linoleum and vinyl are also sometimes used.

Even hardwood flooring and carpet can be used with radiant heat systems. However, experts recommend using laminated wood flooring rather than hardwood, as laminated wood is less likely to shrink, crack, or otherwise be damaged by the heat.

Laying carpet over a heated floor can decrease the heat transfer, as carpets can act as insulators, keeping more of the heat within the floor. If you decide to go with carpeting, consider a thin carpet.

You may not be dreaming of warm floors just yet, but fall is upon us. If you’re looking to add on or are planning a new build in the near future, it’s worth looking into radiant underfloor heating. There’s no more luxurious way to keep the cold at bay.

Ann Hoke leads the REAL Trends Top 250 real estate team at Ann Hoke & Associates with Keller Williams.

This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: How heated floors can take your home from cold to cozy