Sunday, August 16, 2009

Radiant Heat Is A Great Choice For Some Rooms

By Sully Johnsen

Especially when it is cold in the house, it is nice to wake up to warm bathroom floors. Most bathrooms have floors made of some hare and cold material such as tile and by installing radiant heat underneath the floor, you can turn that freezing tile into something that is not such a shock to wake up to.

People commonly choose to install radiant heat in their bathrooms and kitchens and this is because those floors are usually not carpeted and having warm floors is nice in those rooms. In years past many homes were built with radiant heat throughout the house and it was the common heating system. You might remember your Grandmas house that had metal radiators somewhere in every room and they didn't have any forced air systems that today's houses are built with.

While that type of heating has been abandoned in modern times, it doesn't mean you cant have radiant floor heat installed in your bathrooms and kitchens. If you add floor heat to those two rooms, you will be giving them a luxurious touch that you will enjoy for many years.

Of the two kinds of radiant heat, electric radiant heat is the easiest and cheapest to install. Electric radiant heat works similarly to a toaster in that electricity heats up metal coils and transmits heat. This type of heat is easier to install in existing homes than the other kind of hydronic radiant heat. In hydronic heat, hot water is pushed through pipes under the house which heats the floors. Putting in pipes that will safely carry hot water throughout the house is much more expensive and usually only done in houses that are being built.

Radiant heat is totally silent and it is much better for your skin that the forced air that is pumped through most houses today. If you are looking into how much it will cost to install heat pads under your floors, you should realize that radiant heat is best if it is installed while a house is being built. That doesn't mean you can't have it installed later but it is cheaper and easier to have it put in up front. Because it is so much harder to install in an older house, most people choose just to do a room or two rather than the whole house.

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