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What makes a home healthy? Is it the sun beaming through every floor to ceiling glass panel? Is it the lemon tree growing outside to give you the citrus boost…
Floor coverings such as carpet, timber, polished concrete etc have a varied impact on the output of your underfloor heating system. Thicker floor covering such as carpet with an underlay make it difficult for the heat to travel through, where as polished concrete provides comfort more efficiently.
It's important to consider the finish you have on your floor when considering underfloor central heating. The information below will guide you through the different flooring options.
Carpet Flooring
Carpet with underlay floor coverings are used extensively with hydronic underfloor heating throughout Europe, Asia, USA and New Zealand without problems provided the system is designed correctly and simple guidelines are followed.
Most carpet suppliers encourage the use of thicker underlays and carpets to provide increased levels of comfort underfoot. However, the thicker the underlay and carpet the harder it is for the heat to pass through from the heated slab to the room above.
For optimum underfloor heating performance it is better to use a thinner underlay, 7mm is suggested, and to use a typical thickness carpet of around 10mm.
Timber Flooring
Most wood floor suppliers in New Zealand have an aversion to heated floors that is unfounded. However, there are some suppliers that embrace the technology and offer assistance to customers with heated floor requirements. The fact is that wood floors have movement whether there is underfloor heating or not. Also, the sun coming through windows heats wood floors to a higher temperature than underfloor heating.
There are two main issues to be aware of:
- How much heat will get through the floor?
- Will the timber floor crack or deform when heated?
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