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Choosing the Right Flooring for Underfloor Heating
Selecting the right floor finish for your underfloor heating system is essential, as its thermal resistance (insulation properties) directly impacts the system’s heat output. Underfloor heating is a versatile solution that works well with most flooring types, though some perform better than others. To ensure compatibility and optimal performance, we recommend consulting your flooring manufacturer or installer. They can confirm whether your desired floor finish is suitable for underfloor heating and provide specific installation instructions. Some finishes have temperature thresholds, so it’s important that your system is designed to respect these limits.
Typically, underfloor heating maintains a comfortable floor temperature of around 26°C. However, in buildings with higher heat loss, the temperature may need to reach up to 29°C. The thickness of your floor finish also plays a role, as thicker materials can increase warm-up and cool-down times. This is especially important for high-mass systems, which require more time to heat up and should be factored into the system design.
Our underfloor heating systems are designed to suit a wide range of scenarios, but our Projects Team is always available to assist with questions about how different floor finishes affect performance. As a general guideline, our systems are designed for floor finishes with a thermal resistance of up to 1.5 Tog. However, it’s crucial to always follow the manufacturer’s and installer’s guidelines to ensure the best results for your underfloor heating system.
Floor Finishes
Underfloor
that overperforms
Warm-upUnderfloor heating systems can be designed to react very quickly to heating demands. The warm-up time of the system depends upon several factors:
ProductThe time taken for the underfloor heating system to emit heat is
dependent on the underfloor heating
product and system. Underfloor heating with pipe embedded in a thick concrete slab will have a longer warm-up time than dry construction systems, such as TorFloor 2 ® or LowBoard 2® in suspended, batten or floating floors. This is recognised in SAP on ground floors with timber floor underfloor heating having a better overall SAP rating than concrete underfloor heating.
Heat LossThe room warm-up time is also dependent on the heat loss of the building. The underfloor heating system must be sized to overcome the heat losses of the building but also have additional capacity to ensure a good response time from cold.
Heat OutputThe underfloor heating output is based on a number of variables:
Floor FinishFloor finishes have different thermal resistances. Tiles, for example, are very conductive whilst a combination of carpet and underlay is less conductive. Also, the thicker the material, the lower the heat output will be.
Water TemperatureThe higher the water temperature used in underfloor heating, the higher the heat output. However, a balance is needed as using low water temperatures reduces running costs.
The underfloor heating product and the constructionUFH products are designed to have a good conductive pathway from pipe to the floor surface. Some competitor products have an air gap which reduces the heat output.
Underfloor Heating
Cut down on heating costs, manage your comfort, and future-proof your home.