Underfloor heating under Laminate?

Countcussy · 21 Mar 2018 at 15:54

Anyone have the above?

Long story short, Ordered a new conservatory on the back of a new build house. When I say conservatory, its more like an extension. More brick than glass, with insulated, MetroTile roof.
4.1m x 3.5m external, so approx. 3.5 x 3.2 internal.
Part of the quote is for electric under floor heating. (Can`t do water for various reasons)
So based on the above, would electric under floor be enough to keep the room comfortable in the cooler months. And does it work OK under Laminate? The missus really wants Laminate.
Is it expensive to run?
On a room that size, would I just be better with a portable rad, or wall mounted fan heater?
I want to be sure, because if I understand correctly, Its going to be a bit of a faff to install.
Although supply is there for sockets and lights, I believe UFH needs a dedicated circuit. This means running armoured cable round the outside of the house to the consumer unit at the front, which I would rather not do.

I know the general consensus is that a water system would be better, but its just not a practical option at the moment.

Opinions/experiences would be very helpful.

mrbazmondo · 21 Mar 2018 at 16:20

Good choice on not going with a glass/plastic roof. I had one in my old house - freezing in the winter, made cactus wilt and die in the summer it was so hot.
What I've seen that works well is an aircon unit on the wall of the house inside the conservatory above the door.
I'm not sure about underfloor heating under laminate. Just make sure they don't lay concrete straight to the ground. You want a gap under the concrete and some insulation in there.
I thought underfloor heating was just a case of pegging a wire to wind back and forth over the floor, then burying it in scree. It can't be that hard. People do like to charge more for luxury though. The prev owners of my house put it under tiles in the bathroom. It doesn't have its own feed, but its on a hardwired timer. Can't comment on the running cost as we tend to not use it.

A friend of mine had a cold kitchen floor so installed cork rather than laminate as its more insulating.

Selekt0r · 22 Mar 2018 at 18:52

I would not recommend electric underfloor heating in a conservatory.

I installed some in our conservatory years ago under laminate flooring and a) it was never really warm enough - certainly not to significantly affect the overall temperature in the conservatory in winter and b) it was shockingly expensive to run. It is now permanently switched off and we use a fan heater in short bursts when required in the winter. I admit that our conservatory has a polycarbonate roof so not as well insulated as yours will be, however I can't imagine it would make that much difference.

a1ex2001 · 22 Mar 2018 at 19:20

Electric underfloor heating is great for adding that warm floor feeling but not really suitable to heat a house/room I'd only ever use it in a bathroom where you just want the floor toasty for a few hours a day. Get a radiator added on the central heating circuit or don't bother would be my advice. Poorly thought out conservatories are one of the banes of the uk property market they are so rarely a good idea!

Countcussy · 22 Mar 2018 at 20:11

Thanks for the replies. It kind of backs up my own thoughts. The room will be well insulated, so I'm thinking a fan heater or electric radiator will suffice, in the colder months.

a1ex2001 · 22 Mar 2018 at 23:05

Countcussy said:
Thanks for the replies. It kind of backs up my own thoughts. The room will be well insulated, so I'm thinking a fan heater or electric radiator will suffice, in the colder months.

Both are very expensive to run what do you anticipate using this room for and will it be separated by exterior quality doors from the rest of the house?

Countcussy · 22 Mar 2018 at 23:38

a1ex2001 said:
Both are very expensive to run what do you anticipate using this room for and will it be separated by exterior quality doors from the rest of the house?

It will be separated by the French patio doors that currently lead to the garden. We are also considering changing these to sliding doors, as I am sure they will be open when we are home.
We wanted a dining area that's big enough to have family round. Removing the table and chairs from the kitchen will improve the kitchen area massively, as I enjoy cooking and baking with my 5yo daughter. It's all a bit cramped at the moment.
Thu, until it's built, it's difficult to know how we will use it exactly. I just know the extra floor space will be beneficial.

1pudding1 · 22 Mar 2018 at 23:57

Underfloor heating can be and is absolutely fine to heat a house/conservatory, but it all depends on the insulation and the rate of energy loss vs the underfloor heating and the energy it's adding. If it's poorly insulated and the UFH isn't run at a high enough temp, then it'll be cold, simple equation really. Sounds like you're building something half decent, so you might get away with UFH and not having to run it scorching hot to heat the room, which with laminate would potentially be a problem.

You'd really need to work out some u values of floor/walls/roof and work out what the energy requirement of the room is, and then if UFH can meet it to stand the best chance of being happy.

mattyg · 23 Mar 2018 at 00:05

I have 17Sqm of Electric UFH in our Kitchen and hall area with no radiators and it heats perfectly fine. Set up correctly it doesn't cost that much to run. We have 160W per SqM matting and it gets our "Tiled" floor toasty and can be used as a primary heat source

1pudding1 · 23 Mar 2018 at 00:17

When you say 'set up correctly' what do you mean? The costs are purely dictated by how well insulated your house is, and how hot and how often you want it that hot?

Tiles are better for UFH too as they offer less thermal resistance to the heating so it transmits into the room easier. I guess you could go with LVT as an alternative to laminate, imagine they would be more suited to UFH.

mattyg · 23 Mar 2018 at 01:55

Set up properly Via thermostat control. Obviously insulation makes a big difference not just insulation in the floor but walls and windows etc.. I have mine turn off two hours earlier by checking how quickly it heats up and cools down. It now turns off at 10pm and doesn't come back on until 6am it loses around 2 deg per hour from its hottest. That slows down a little as it cools.

Our stat is wifi controlled too so can turn it off if we end up out all day and forget. Not that I ever remember to do that either.

a1ex2001 · 23 Mar 2018 at 03:33

Countcussy said:
It will be separated by the French patio doors that currently lead to the garden. We are also considering changing these to sliding doors, as I am sure they will be open when we are home.
We wanted a dining area that's big enough to have family round. Removing the table and chairs from the kitchen will improve the kitchen area massively, as I enjoy cooking and baking with my 5yo daughter. It's all a bit cramped at the moment.
Thu, until it's built, it's difficult to know how we will use it exactly. I just know the extra floor space will be beneficial.

You want a bigger kitchen dinner build an extension with proper heating and no divide.