Radiant Floor Heating Offers Tiptoe Comfort
Your better half got up in the middle of the night and straightaway those cold toes are raiding your personal space with the persistence of a heat-seeking projectile. Good for you, the new home will have radiant floor heating - a dependable remedy for meetings with frozen feet at 2 a.m. or a midwinter chill that touches your bone marrow.
Under-floor heat has been around since the Roman Empire when it was in its peak in state-supported buildings and the villas of the affluent. Hot air was dispersed under tile or brick, providing a radiant heat - energy that transmitted warmth through the floor and on to cooler furniture like Roman reclining chairs, statues, marble-topped tables and stoic centurions.
With the coming of elastic PEX pipe to the United States in the 80’s, its use has jumped as more products have been produced for the construction industry - among which have been hydronic systems to supply radiant floor heat. Unlike forced-air furnaces, contemporary hydro floor schemes using PEX plumbing products provide more consistent warmth to a room, are less drying, more cost-effective and a whole lot quieter than past furnaces or metal steam pipes.
PEX tubing is made of cross-linked polyethylene, which contributes to these modern pipes strength, chemical resistance, high mobility, a streamlined installation profile and larger temperature range. This polyethylene tubing can be exposed to water as high as 200 degrees Fahrenheit in heat systems.
There are disparate methods of setting up radiant floor heat. Some use electrical line voltage systems, but easy-to-use PEX tubing products have made hydronic under-floor heat fashionable with both house constructors and home owners. Because the tube is so elastic, its rolls can be utilized in a continuous distance, eradicating the need for multiple joints and fittings.
Several radiant floor heat schemes use oxygen-barrier PEX radiant hosing applied in gypsum concrete. Others comprise low-mass underlay - wood panels with sunken niches for flexible tubing.
Every remodeling or new-construction design is well suited by one application or another, so investigate your hydronic floor heating options fully. Do your homework!
