Underfloor heating for tiles in lounge, dining room and kitchen

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Satch

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#182621 23-Oct-2015 12:49

Hi all,

In the not too distant future I will be replacing the existing (well beat up) wooden flooring with wood grain patterned tiles on the top floor of my house (lounge, dining room and kitchen - all open plan). Now I bet some of you will be wondering why I'd tile these areas instead of replacing the wood with new wood. Our neighbours laid tiles in similar areas recently and they are pretty amazing. Plus I want something a lot more hard wearing, therefore my decision is made already :-).

What I am considering though is whether or not it is advisable to lay underfloor heating first in all or some of these rooms/areas? I would never use the heating myself (we have underfloor heating in our ensuite that we never use, and would always have some sort of footwear on in the areas we wish to tile.

I'd like to hear from opinions from people here on what they would expect if buying a house that had tiling in the areas I specified? Are there any real estate agents on GZ who could give their opinion too? Or has anyone recently undertaken a similar project?

Cheers.

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#1411783 23-Oct-2015 13:05

Whereabouts in the country do you live?

Personally, I'd not consider buying a house with tiles in the living areas where the floors weren't heated, if the house was in a location where cooler temperatures made the floor cold to the touch.

Living spaces, in my view, need to be liveable - and that includes being comfy and cosy. For me, cold floors kill such 'liveability'. I'd imagine any heating located above the tiles would need to run all the time to have a significant dent on the coldness of tiles?

Bathrooms are a different matter - we too have underfloor heating in our bathroom which we never use, but bathrooms are not a living space nor a space where we spend much time.

timmmay

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#1411785 23-Oct-2015 13:06

I would *not* have concrete tiles without underfloor heating. They feel really cold to bare feet (and bear feet) because heat transfer between them and the foot is really quick. The cost adds up, though I don't know what the costs are - my 2x4m bathroom has 600w heating element but I don't know how often it's on. My old controller told me but it couldn't keep the temperature constant so I got one that could but that had less features. From memory $0.50 - $1 per day or so for 2x4m, so a large area could cost you $3-5 per day : $1800/year. Don't trust my cost estimate though.

Lino tiles transfer heat much less quickly and so may not need under floor heating.

Satch

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#1411786 23-Oct-2015 13:08

jonathan18: Whereabouts in the country do you live?

Personally, I'd not consider buying a house with tiles in the living areas where the floors weren't heated, if the house was in a location where cooler temperatures made the floor cold to the touch.

Living spaces, in my view, need to be liveable - and that includes being comfy and cosy. For me, cold floors kill such 'liveability'. I'd imagine any heating located above the tiles would need to run all the time to have a significant dent on the coldness of tiles?

Bathrooms are a different matter - we too have underfloor heating in our bathroom which we never use, but bathrooms are not a living space nor a space where we spend much time.

Cheers for your input and very good question about location. I am in Auckland which I guess does make a little difference to the equation.

Satch

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#1411792 23-Oct-2015 13:12

timmmay: I would *not* have concrete tiles without underfloor heating. They feel really cold to bare feet (and bear feet) because heat transfer between them and the foot is really quick. The cost adds up, though I don't know what the costs are - my 2x4m bathroom has 600w heating element but I don't know how often it's on. My old controller told me but it couldn't keep the temperature constant so I got one that could but that had less features. From memory $0.50 - $1 per day or so for 2x4m, so a large area could cost you $3-5 per day : $1800/year. Don't trust my cost estimate though.

Lino tiles transfer heat much less quickly and so may not need under floor heating.

Thanks for your thoughts. I would never ever get lino installed in my house though. I cannot stand the stuff or the budget look it gives. I live in St Marys Bay, Auckland, so to keep the value of my place I need to ensure I keep up the standard of the fittings and fixtures to a reasonable standard. Now that I read that last sentence it comes across as very pretentious. But you'll get what I mean ;-)

mattwnz

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#1411800 23-Oct-2015 13:26

Depends on the underfloor system you are using. Water filled hot water pipes heated by piped gas or water Heatpump is one of the most efficient, and will probably be more efficient than your current heating system. Depends though if you have piped gas. But installing it will be costly. The cheapest option is the electric coils under the tiles, but that is expensive to run and many people don't use it due to this. So potentially a waste of money if not used much. Are the tiles near a window, because you may benefit from passive solar hearing on the tiles.

timmmay

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#1411801 23-Oct-2015 13:30

You can get nice tiles that look like tiles but aren't concrete. I forget what they're called.

andrew027

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#1412824 23-Oct-2015 14:17

I don't mind tiles in the kitchen and dining room - you're not in those rooms for huge amounts of time (unless you cook and eat big elaborate meals) so the colder feel of tiles is not too bad and they're very functional, e.g. it's easy to clean up spills, etc. In Auckland I wouldn't bother with underfloor heating either - I personally don't think it gets cold enough and if you disagree (which is fine) you can get these things called "slippers" now...

But I would reconsider your plan to tile the lounge. You'll likely spend more time sitting in the lounge and the extra comfort and warmth will be appreciated and may reduce your overall heating bill and, quite aside from the cozy factor, the carpeted floor will generally be better for any sound system.

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1eStar

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#1412887 23-Oct-2015 15:40

Seriously? I would never recommend tiles to anyone, they're lovely in a hot climate, ghastly in a cooler climate. Heating is imperative. Timber is the premium floor for liveability. I'd recommend reconsidering a hardwood floor replacement. Anything that falls on tiles, breaks. Crockery, children, etc.

MikeB4

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#1412888 23-Oct-2015 15:43

1eStar: Seriously? I would never recommend tiles to anyone, they're lovely in a hot climate, ghastly in a cooler climate. Heating is imperative. Timber is the premium floor for liveability. I'd recommend reconsidering a hardwood floor replacement. Anything that falls on tiles, breaks. Crockery, children, etc.

This

I would also add that if you have joint issues they can add additional impact to the joints when walking on them. They do however have a plus, they are very good for wheelchairs.

mattwnz

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#1412893 23-Oct-2015 15:53

Cork tiles are good, and warm on the feet. You can also get different coloured ones now. I looked at those tilesthat look like wood, as they look like a good option. But the application I was going to use them for was over underfloor heating, as timber for boards over underfloor heating is not as good, as timber is as insulator. Timber can also warp or cup when used over concrete over underfloor heating. Also you need to be aware that prints on tiles can wear off in high traffic areas, especially on the cheap tiles.

Aredwood

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#1413061 23-Oct-2015 23:55

Just install the underfloor heating under the tiles. Since you live in St Mary's Bay, Im guessing any potential buyer of your house could easily afford to pay for the power to heat them. But with such a large area. Will the power draw be large enough that you might need a switchboard / mains cable upgrade? Which would push the cost up alot. And to others watching this thread - Piped Natural gas is definitely available in St Mary's bay.

mattwnz

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#1413063 24-Oct-2015 24:00

Aredwood: Just install the underfloor heating under the tiles. Since you live in St Mary's Bay, Im guessing any potential buyer of your house could easily afford to pay for the power to heat them. But with such a large area. Will the power draw be large enough that you might need a switchboard / mains cable upgrade? Which would push the cost up alot. And to others watching this thread - Piped Natural gas is definitely available in St Mary's bay.

3 phase power may help, although most people don't get it installed. It was needed on an underfloor install I was working on, which needed two heat pumps for the underfloor heating. Diesels the other option but quite costly to run, and causes a dirty wall on the house around the exhaust.

scuwp

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#1413092 24-Oct-2015 08:54

Last place we built had tiles everywhere except the hall and bedrooms. Looked cool but absolutely hated it. Noisy (sounded hollow like an empty hall) and cold. Underfloor heating cost a bloody fortune. Carpet definitely creates a warmer cozier environment. It's not like we live in the tropics... Yet.

We have tiles in the kitchen and wet areas in our current place all with electric underfloor heating. Used it for the first winter but never since. Waste of time and money in my opinion. If you are tiling large areas then absolutely underfloor heating will be a must, however I would never buy a house with that flooring, or it would be the first thing I rip out.

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mattwnz

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#1413149 24-Oct-2015 12:36

If you are planning on installing central heating, using underfloor pipesm then tiles or concrete floor is the better option. But if you aren't, and you don't want a cold floor to walk on, then unless you have the tiles installed in front of window or door where the sun will passively heat it, then get carpet or something like cork tiles, which insulate you get from the cold concrete. Even timber floor boards are quite cold to walk on.

Satch

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#1414566 27-Oct-2015 12:23

Wow thanks for all the feedback people. Much appreciated.

Our preference for tiles was because they would be much harder wearing that wooden floors. But given so many negative comments about them in living areas, we are going to rethink our decision and may opt for wood instead. Carpet or lino/cork tiles aren't really our thing though (most of the rest of the house is carpet though.

Cheers again.

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