Warm Floors For A More Comfortable Home

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If you live in an area of the country where cold weather is normal for part of the year, you probably have to heat your home with some form of heating system. While there are many whole house systems available when temperatures dictate, having an underfloor heating system for tiled or concrete base floors can give just the right amount of heat in a room to be enough for mild climates and some warm floor systems will heat basement floors to provide a comfortable temperature in an otherwise uncomfortably cool area of the house.

Concrete floors in garages and basements can be uncomfortable to stand and work on for any length of time when the ground is cold. Homes where people will be using such spaces in the winter for work or recreation can benefit greatly from warm floor systems that will deliver gentle, radiant underfloor heating that will make such spaces endurable. These systems can be either electrical elements that are installed under the floor or piping that allows heated water to fluid to flow through and heat the floor. Whatever system is chosen, it is necessary to install it when initially building the house due to it's location under an unmovable floor.

Underfloor heating systems can be thermostatically controlled either from the whole house heating or boiler system or have individual thermostatically controlled zones specific to the warm floor systems installed in the house at the time of construction. This is a better option for houses where the room with the heated floor will not be used all the time, as it will save on heating costs to only run the system when needed.

There are underfloor heating systems that can be used under wood or other types of floors and can be added after a home is already built as a remodeling project. These kinds of warm floor systems are easy to install by do-it-yourselfers as the mats can be installed under the floor between floor joists or under a new floor that may be installed. Whatever system is chosen, having warm floors not only adds comfort underfoot, but can help in keeping overall heating costs down as heat radiating from the floor up will make the whole room feel warmer, enabling the thermostat to be set lower. During the Spring or Fall when temperatures are only really cold at night in some areas, having heated floors may be the only thing that is necessary to keep the house at a comfortable temperature without turning on the furnace.


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