On 7 Aug, 19:50, Mike wrote:
HI,

I was wondering about retro-fitting underfloor heating to my house and
am interested to know peoples opinions about the practicality of
this ? *The house was built in 1980 and has a concrete floor
downstairs and normal chipboard on beams for the top floor. *Is it a
practila matter to chip away channels in the concrete and run the
pipes in those then re-screed over the top ? *Any ideas about how much
that might cost for 50 sqm of downstairs floor area ?



No, daft idea. You need a good slab of insulation under the pipes to
minimize heat loss into the ground. Your channel plan would lose heat
sideways and then into the ground.

Also, I've
heard references to the amount of insulation being needed below the
heting pipes, would a 1980s house have been built with enough below
the floor ? How does this apply to the top floor ?

No, probably none at all.

The other problem is the hest output per sq. m. is limited and because
the wall and glazing insulation isn't so good in old houses, you can't
get adequate heat out of UFH without having the floor surface too hot.