We'll be getting an extension to our house soon. This will create a new
L shaped kitchen area of about 35 - 40 square metres. Most of it will
be suspended (we were told this was cheaper than solid, which
appealed), but there will be an area of solid floor from the existing
kitchen.

We had a quote for Karndean vinly tiles which we already have and it
came in at well over two grand. I just can't bring myself to pay that.
A visit to Topps Tiles and we learned we could do it for as little as
about £300 (plus fitting). However, the one thing that puts us off
ceramic and stone is the cold. But they had on dem there an electric
underfloor system by Warmup. Despite the cost (probably about £1000 -
£1500) it appealed, as the total job would still come in less than
Karndean, we'd have toasty warm floor and, we are led to believe, no
nead for further heating.

Can anyone offer any opinion or advice on this approach to both
flooring and heating? Would be much appreciated.

But they had on dem there an electric underfloor system by Warmup.

You could get a cable kit to do this for about 550 quid including VAT.
(FHC3600 on the link below).

http://www.discountedheating.co.uk/s...able_Kits.html

It would cost an absolute bomb to run as the main heating. However, if you
set the floor temp low, (i.e. 21C) and use your central heating to heat the
actual room, it should take the edge off the running cost.

Better would be a wet underfloor system for this size of room. It could be
the primary heat source and efficient to operate. Running this in the new
suspended floor would be easy. The old concrete, however, would be
problematic. It would need insulation and channels for the pipes. Probably
easier to remove the old floor and make it suspended with the rest of the
room.

Christian.

In article .com,
wrote:
Can anyone offer any opinion or advice on this approach to both
flooring and heating? Would be much appreciated.

Depends on your lifestyle. If you use the kitchen as a working dining kitchen
- oven, washer, dishwasher or the like and sit down to eat with the whole
family then I'd say probably OK. If your idea of preparing food is putting a
purchased pre-prepared meal in a microwave and eating elsewhere I'd say the
room would be too cold - but then it wouldn't matter as you'd never be there!
;-)

No experience with fitting/maintaining u'f heating (though they're great to
live with!) but I'd worry about if it goes wrong ...

--
John Cartmell john@ followed by finnybank.com 0845 006 8822
Qercus magazine FAX +44 (0)8700-519-527 www.finnybank.com
Qercus - the best guide to RISC OS computing

keiron99 wrote:
[don't like cold floors, but] they had on dem there an electric
underfloor system by Warmup. Despite the cost (probably about £1000 -
£1500) it appealed, as the total job would still come in less than
Karndean, we'd have toasty warm floor and, we are led to believe, no
nead for further heating.

Can anyone offer any opinion or advice on this approach to both
flooring and heating? Would be much appreciated.

Make sure you really, really like underfloor heating before
you install it. Some people (me included) hate it. You don't
want to have to live with something you dislike, or dig it up.

The only experience I have of it is my sister's conservatory, which I
loved. Maybe it's just the novelty? And maybe I'm imagining that
stone/ceramic floors are colder than they really are? Browsing the
manufacturers' websites, they don't seem to be too keen to come forward
with what the cost of running these systems is. Which makes me
suspicious...

Browsing the manufacturers' websites, they don't seem to be
too keen to come forward with what the cost of running these
systems is.

It can be worked out by the wattage of the system and doing a heat loss
calculation on the room, just like any other form of heating. They can't do
this for you, as it depends on how much insulation you have.

Christian.

The message .com
from contains these words:

Can anyone offer any opinion or advice on this approach to both
flooring and heating?

Buy slippers.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.