Beautiful Heat - Radiant floor heating can create an ideal living environment in your home. Visit www.beautifulheat.com today and find out how you can save money on your energy bills.

1. What is Radiant Floor Heating?

2. Cost-Effective Radiant Floor Heating
Keeps You Warmer
Radiant floor heating systems supply heat directly to the floor of a
building. The heat emanates from the floor, warming the air in the
room. Think of the way the sun warms a sidewalk: You can feel the
heat rising off the concrete. This is radiant heating.

3. Cost-Effective Radiant Floor Heating
Keeps You Warmer
Radiant heat systems are especially useful in
homes with high ceilings and large rooms,
since the heat from traditional forced-air
systems rises and leaves the lower portion of
the room chilly. Radiant heat, by contrast,
rises from the floor and warms any solid
object it comes into contact with, from
furniture to people. There are three types of
radiant heating systems for floors: Hydronic,
electric and air.

4. Air-Heated Radiant Systems
Air-heated radiant floor systems pump hot air through
ducts beneath the floor, warming the floor as it passes.
Since air doesn't hold much heat, air-heated radiant floor
systems are not generally used in residential buildings.

5. Electric Radiant Systems
Electric radiant floor systems use electric heating cables
or conductive plastic mats built into the floor. They are best
used with floors that have a large thermal mass, such as
concrete, due to the potential high cost of the electricity
required to heat floors with smaller thermal masses.
However, for those who live in an area where time-of-use
rates are offered by the electric company, electric systems
are fairly cost-effective. The user can "charge" the floor
during off-peak hours and turn the system off during the
peak hours.

6. Hydronic Radiant Systems
Hydronic radiant systems
pump boiler-heated water
through tubes lying just below
the surface of the floor. The
most cost-effective of the three
types of systems, hydronic
radiant floor heaters can be
installed in zones and
controlled by a thermostat,
allowing the homeowner to
control the heat room by room.

7. Installation of Radiant Floor Heating
The two types of installation for radiant floor systems
are wet installation and dry installation. Wet installation
involves embedding the cables, mats or tubing into a thick
concrete slab or a thin concrete subfloor. For dry
installation, the cables, mats or tubing are installed in the
pocket of air under the floor. While dry installation is less
expensive than wet installation, the system needs to be run
at a higher temperature in order to effectively heat the air
surrounding the conduit.

8. Floor Coverings
Virtually any type of floor can be installed over a radiant
floor heating system. Ceramic tile is the best option for
optimal heat due to its excellent heat conducting
capabilities. Carpet is the least desirable covering because
it insulates the floor from the room and requires more
energy to heat. Thin carpets are more effective with this
kind of system than thick ones; the padding should be as
dense as possible. Wood floors conduct the heat fairly well,
but laminate wood flooring is preferable over solid wood,
which can dry out from the heat and shrink or crack.

9. Benefits of Radiant Floor Heat
-Radiant floors are ideal for those with allergies or asthma.
Since there's no air blowing allergens from the ducts into the
room, the air quality is better with radiant heating.
-Energy costs are lower with radiant heat. Because the heat is
concentrated in the lower half of the room, you can set the
thermostat up to 4 degrees lower, saving 10 to 30 percent on
your heating bill.
-Radiant floor heaters keep you warmer. The cold spots found
with forced-air furnaces are virtually nonexistent with radiant
heating.