WHICH TYPE OF FLOORING SHOULD I USE?
Another commonly asked question is ‘What type of flooring can I use?’
The short answer is that all finishes can be used with underfloor heating, it is something we take into consideration at the design stage to make sure your heat output is calculated correctly.
If you choose to change your floor covering in the future, a few considerations should be taken into account in order to ensure that your chosen floor covering does not affect the designed heat output of your UFH system.
In general terms, harder surfaces such as stone and ceramic are best for use with UFH as they have the lowest thermal resistance, providing the best heat output; in contrast to coverings like deep-pile carpets and rugs which have the opposite effect. All floor coverings have a ‘tog’ rating, a measure of resistance – which should not ideally exceed 2.5 tog (including any underlays) when used in conjunction with UFH.
CERAMICS AND NATURAL STONE: These are the best kind of floor covering for use with UFH – due to the density of the material, the thermal conductivity is high, allowing the heat from the pipework to travel quickly through and heat the space above. All stone products can be fitted above UFH including natural products such as slate and limestone.
WOOD FLOORING: Wood is a natural product and therefore can react to changes in the environment. It is essential to check with the flooring manufacturer whether their products are subject to a temperature limit; if this is the case, a floor probe is supplied to limit the heating output to this level. Typically speaking, engineered wood floor is the most robust. Solid wood floors contain a higher content of natural product, and therefore will need a floor probe / sensor as it tends to be more sensitive to heat changes.
LAMINATES AND VINYL: Laminate and vinyl flooring is fine for use with UFH as the coverings are typically thin and high-density, so have a good level of thermal conductivity. We would always recommend checking with the given flooring manufacturer first that the product is suitable for UFH.
CARPETS: There is a common misconception that carpet cannot be used with UFH, which is not true, we just recommend not exceeding a combined resistance of 2.5 tog for the carpet and underlay and using an underlay specifically designed for UFH, to keep the thermal conductivity as high as possible.
RUGS: It is best to consider rugs that are suitable for use with UFH. Tog ratings should sit between 1 and 2, and should not exceed 2.5 and ideally be no thicker than 25mm. Natural materials are better as they allow the heat flow, hessian-backed as opposed to felt-backed would perform better as would natural fibre rugs as opposed to synthetic materials.