5 Facts About the Underfloor Heating Cost for Your Office

What’s the worst thing about winter? Scraping ice off your windshield? Short days? Your glasses fogging up when you go inside?

None of these things is pleasant, but they’re not the worst. The worst thing about winter is cold feet. Even when your office is nice and warm, you often have cold feet.

Underfloor heating can make sure that you never have cold feet again.

But don’t get too excited and change up your office heating system right away. You should consider underfloor heating cost and decide whether it makes sense for your office or not first.

Here are 5 facts about underfloor heating costs.

1. New or Old Construction

First of all, the cost of installation will vary depending on whether it’s being installed in a new construction or an existing office. It’s much more economical to install the underfloor heating system as the building is being built.

Installing the system in an existing building requires a lot more work. Whatever floor you have already will need to be torn up and replaced after installing the new heating system.

How much underfloor heating installation costs will change depends on your situation. All things being equal, though, you can expect to pay about 2 1/2 times as much.

2. Type of System: Water or Electric

You should also carefully consider which type of system you would like. This can have a huge impact on the cost of your underfloor heating.

There are two types that you can choose from. One involves installing water pipes under the floors. Hot water is then pumped through the system and radiates heat up into the room. You can find more information about this type from Gyvtec Ltd.

This system is more costly for the initial installation. The plus side is that the operating costs are minimal. This system is highly efficient, especially when combined with a heat pump. Once the initial costs are over you’ll enjoy many years of low-cost heating. That can be attractive when you’re looking for ways to lower your business’s overhead.

On the flip side, electric underfloor heating is much less expensive to install. Installation is simpler without all the pipes to worry about. This is an even bigger advantage if you are installing the system on an upper floor. The downside is that is will be more expensive month to month.

3. Type of Flooring

There are some ways that you can help lower your running costs. Let’s talk about a few of those here.

The first is what type of flooring you choose to install. Not all flooring materials are a good choice for underfloor heating. You want to consider how much heat the material can stand and the conductivity of the material.

More conductive materials allow heat to pass through more easily. This will have an effect on your energy bills as it will require less energy to heat a more conductive floor.

For example, tile and stone are excellent choices. They are both good heat conductors and can handle up to 29 degrees C (84 degrees F).

Other types of flooring like vinyl, carpet, or wood are not as good. They’re not as good at conducting heat. Plus, they can only handle temperatures up to 27 degrees C (80 degrees F).

4. Insulation

Another thing that will help lower your running costs considerably is using insulation correctly.

Wait, didn’t we just say that conductive materials are better? Yes, but remember, heat radiates in all directions, not just up.

Thus, you want to install an insulating layer below your underfloor heating system. This will minimize the amount of heat that escapes downwards, making your entire system that much more efficient.

5. Heat Loss

One last thing to consider when considering the cost of underfloor heating is heat loss.

Underfloor heating systems are great at evenly maintaining the temperature of a room. That’s part of what makes them efficient systems.

There is always a certain amount of heat loss in a building. The windows, doors, even the roof, and walls, all allow a certain amount of heat to escape. Insulating these elements cuts down on the amount of heat loss, but can never make it zero.

Help keep the building warm and the bills down by educating your employees. Tell people not to leave the doors or windows open. You can even set the thermostat to turn down automatically at night when no one is working.

Of course, these are considerations that are important regardless of what type of heating your building uses. But, as you anticipate the running costs of an underfloor heating system, you have to take heat loss into consideration.

Underfloor Heating Cost: Worth the Switch?

Take a moment to consider the facts about underfloor heating cost that we’ve gone over here.

Then you can make an educated choice for your office building.

For a new construction, it totally makes sense to go with underfloor heating. It’s more efficient than other heating systems and you’ll save on monthly energy bills. But, you’ll have to have the extra upfront capital to install it so it depends on if you have the cash to spend.

Installing it later can make sense but you’ll take a financial hit. Figure out how long it would take to recoup through lower monthly payments. That will help you decide if underfloor heating is right for you.

Need more expert help and tips for your office building or business? Be sure to check out all the great information that we have available on our blog.