Underfloor heating or Rads?

5 years ago

Hi, I’ve had a quote of £4000 for underfloor heating for my new kitchen/living space. As I’m trying to save some pennies I’m wondering if it’s worth it. The builder and plumber have both said that new style upright rads won’t heat the room as it’s too big. I’m limited on wall space especially as the fixed wall to the guest room may end up with some kind of sliding doors to make the most of the living space (closing the doors when we have guests).
Any thoughts?

Featured Answer

PRO

At No 19

4 years ago

You didn’t state whether this is a new build or a refurbishment project; the degree of detail on your plans indicates that it may be the former? If it is, it would be well worth the long term investment to have ‘wet‘ underfloor heating linked to your central heating system. That however would cost much more than £4000. Your current quotation for UFH must be electric? If so, whatever you do don’t go down that route because it would cost a fortune to run. Another option would be to use the highest output vertical radiators you can find in the living end and several plinth heaters in the kitchen end linked to your central heating system including under the island. Their output is not massive which is why you’d need a few in various locations. Only other comment is maybe think twice about sliding doors into the guest room since that would cause furniture placement issues in both spaces. Hope that helps!

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Comments (22)

tamp75
5 years ago
I can see the issue with finding enough wall space but I’m sure they could be fitted in somewhere. If you have the right number of radiators with correctly calculated output, I can’t see why they wouldn’t heat the space. I can’t see the measurements properly as I’m on my phone but it doesn’t look so big that heating it would be a problem.
Lena
5 years ago
We have the same dilemma.

I’ve meant to stick a vertical radiator in a corner of a new dining room/kitchen, and possibly in some corner on the opposite side.

But my husband prefers the option of the underfloor heating, without realising the cost.

I didn’t ask for quotes yet. Theoretically I’d be looking for three quotes in order to compare them...
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PRO
User
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
A couple of things. Looking at the plan I think you have room for two radiators marked in the blue circles. Underfloor heating is costly and probably in your case not necessary.

However, I did notice the lack of walk room. I pinched a measurement out of your plan it's in an orange box marked 1125. Minimum walk room around an island, dining table etc is usually a metre. I don't think you have a metre from your work top on the left to your Island, and you have virtually no walk room around the dining table, in fact the stools by the island are right on top of it.

If you were to allow enough room for the dining table and island it would be something more like this position which then impacts the family area.

Maybe you could get a concept planner on board as I think it would help enormously.

Using your internal measurements you have space for something more like this:-
Blah1
Original Author
4 years ago
Thanks for your comments. This is a refurb project and adding a new side return. I know what you mean about causing furniture placement issues if I add doors to the guest room wall. We need a guest room but I don’t want to under utilise the space and guests aren’t here...

Also the £4000 quote is for the kitchen and family room only.
Blah1
Original Author
4 years ago
Thanks for him comment Hugh. I should have stated that the kitchen plan has been changed slightly..the fridge freezer is going where the hob is and the hob is going to next to the ovens. I was then thinking of facing the island to the ovens and hob. Agreed that the dining table is not in the right place. If we keep the guest wall fixed your layout is how we would have it.

By adding a sliding door to the guest wall it would open up the guest area but as already commented it would cause furniture placement issues. Argh!

Would a rad also be placable by the study area wall adjoining the guest room?
PRO
At No 19
4 years ago
Wow! If you’ve had a quote for £4000 to lay ’wet’ underfloor heating in the kitchen / family area that’s incredible, because so much excavation would need to be done. I think swapping positions of the fridge/freezer and hob will have enhanced the space. If you wanted to keep 2 sofas in the family end you could consider fabricating a dining table off the end of the island like the one in this project I did a few years ago. It may feel too informal for you?
Barton on Sea refurbishment project; open plan kitchen/diner/lounge · More Info

In the same project I used vertical radiators and a kick space plinth heater

Barton on Sea refurbishment project; open plan kitchen/diner/lounge · More Info

Another radiator option for you would be to use corner radiators adjacent to the patio doors which is what I did in another of my projects. Hope this helps

Barton on Sea lounge diner makeover · More Info
PRO
User
4 years ago
You could have pocket doors to the guest room enabling you to use that area for every day use. However, that may compromise the furniture placement in that room you already have two doors in it, which isn't great for furniture, depends what you want in it. You only have around 60cm to squeeze past the end of the bed instead of a metre ( standard ), so unless you just want a sofa bed in there, which is probably better in your case, the doors may be a no no.

Regards the kitchen / diner.................You can put a sofa and a dining table in there and swap them about..........however even if you change the island slightly you can't fit in the configuration in your plan. You could do this:-
Blah1
Original Author
4 years ago
Thanks so much for your comments again!

Val, I had thoughts about the island/table combo (see attached pic). I don’t think it’s too informal for me. I was thinking of butting up a small extendable table against the island for everyday dining. For a larger gathering I could rearrange the furniture and move the table into the family area and extend it which would also leave people to walk around the island.

I will also look at the radiator options you mentioned. Good idea to go next to the sliding door at the back.
Blah1
Original Author
4 years ago
Hugh, you’ve hit the nail on the head. Pocket doors would open up the space but does seriously affect furniture placement. We also wanted a wall hung tv in the family area and it would look better if we had two solid walls with the sofa against one and the tv on the other wall. We don’t get the storage space in the guest room either if we do this..

I’m getting to the stage where we are spending a lot of money on the build and the guest room is going to be un-used most of the time. My husband thought it would be good to put the kids toys in there with a sofa bed and wardrobe - but then I won’t get to see them when I’m in the kitchen/family area - and most likely they will want to be where I am. So we thought if we opened up the doors it would help us use the space - but it may not do!!

Perhaps adding a small table next to the original island which is (island I’ve chose is 1800cm across)and then putting a TV on the wall furthest away from the guest room may work? I could put a sofa in front of the tv - midway though the room? But that leaves a big gap at the back of the room by the guest room doors, not sure if this would look
odd.
PRO
User
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
I don't think you'll get enough seating on a table attached to the island, plus it actually wastes space in the dining / living. To spend all that money and not have a proper dining table does seem a little silly. I think the obvious answer is to have a dining table with the t.v over it. This is not the main living room after all, it's supposed to be a kitchen / diner with a sofa in it.

You can push it up against the wall for more room, or as you say, when people come round, pull it out.

In an ideal world, i agree with your husband, the guest room makes a good playroom, and putting a sofa bed in it makes great use of space. However i understand the problem with the furniture placement and actually I think when you boil it all down, it's the T.V that's the compromise.

The space makes and excellent kitchen / diner, but by trying to put a sofa and a T.V in it, it's got knock on effects with the guest / playroom and the size of the dining table.

Putting it simply, there's not really enough space in the kitchen / diner for the sofa and T.V with eh layout you have, and the guest room makes a great extended space for all the family.

Maybe a Concept planner would be worth they're weight in saved pennies at this stage before you go with something that's not really going to work as well as you had hoped.
tamp75
4 years ago
Given the difficult space, I don’t think I’d have a guest room at all. Could you just have a sofa bed in the living room at the front? I guess it depends on who the guests are, how often they stay & for how long. However, that would give you more space for a ‘family room’ with the kitchen & dining space where you could fit the sofas & have space for children to play which is what you seem to be trying to squeeze in. You’ve said the guest room would be unused most of the time so make the build work for you & your family rather than occasional guests.
Lena
4 years ago
It’s very practical to have a guest bedroom. We have a spare room, which ended up as a play/music room/spare bedroom.

We store a ton of kids’s board games, but they never play there on their own, only when they have friends over.

I would have rather lost one sofa out of two in the family space, but not the guest bedroom.
PRO
User
4 years ago
I had a little re-jig and made the Guest / Living area larger, it made the dining area smaller, but it keeps it as a dining room and allows for all round use of the living area. Although segregated, it has pocket doors to open up and leave open when you want. You can fit a T.V in there and a wardrobe / storage cupboard with ample room for a Sofa Bed. It's a great area for the kids out of the way of the kitchen but within ear shot!

I wouldn't have black column rads as they stand out too much, but for illustration purposes so you can see them i used these. White would be better, or alternatively in my opinion as ( and don't shoot me ), i'd use standard ones.
mii2
4 years ago
When we moved into our house we turned off the monumentally expensive electric UFH that the previous owner had running 24/7/365 in our large open plan kitchen,dining living. British Gas demanded an engineer be sent to view our meter within a month as they had decided that we, the new owners, must have broken or bypassed the electric meter to get free power as the meter was no longer spinning like a top! We now have good old central heating radiators installed - when we put these in we found the foam insulation for the electric UFH was burnt in some areas where the previous owners had sofas and furniture that sat close to the floor! We love the warmth in the room now, the fact that you can warm yourself by a radiator after a cold trip outside and the slowly turning electric meter!
PRO
User
4 years ago
I think you're right Lena. The space has to work for every day living. The compromise is exactly as you say............lose a sofa and have the dining space, although the T.V will need to go above the dining table, but that's fine.........keep the guest room.

The second render I did, keeps the room as is, but the use for the main part is the second lounge t.v area and then turns it in to the guest room for the odd occasion.

So you could use either of the above ideas. I still think the kids should be using the guest area as a playroom if you choose the first option.

Either of the options above are just down to personal choice, but definitely the plan doesn't work as is.
Blah1
Original Author
4 years ago
Thank you all so much for your comments. I was in a real conundrum and you’ve helped me enormously. I talked it all through with my other half and we’ve agreed to keep the solid wall to the guest room. The kids won’t be small for much longer so hopefully toy storage will reduce in the next few years and I won’t need to keep an eye on them. We have regular guests and family helping with childcare so the guest room is important as is storage.

We’ve also gone back to the idea of rads - thanks for all the placement ideas! That should save us some £££.

Hugh, thanks for all the drawings and plans. I wouldn’t know how to do it myself! You’ve been a great help!
PRO
Ikonografik Design
4 years ago
What about underfloor heating in the kitchen / utility part and rads in the glazed sitting / guest parts? Half and half. What underfloor heating system are you using? Have used Omnie TorFloor for retro fit existing timber floors. Do you know where you are putting the underfloor heating manifold and cupboard? This needs to be considered. Good luck!
Danny Jay
4 years ago
Electric underfloor heating is definitely the way to go. You can heat just the kitchen without heating the whole house and it can be thermostatically controlled and set to a constant temperature. Probably cheeper in the long term.
GJ Dee
4 years ago
Electric underfloor heating is very expensive to run. I have friends who have it and can't afford to run it. My builders and other half wanted me to go for it. I stuck to my guns and put in water. We dug up the floors ourselves which saved a lot of money. We hired a concrete breaker and got the job done in less than a day. Now, when asked, my other half says the best thing about our renovation is the underfloor heating. We absolutely love it.
PRO
Feature Radiators
4 years ago
I have to disagree with the comments made by the builder and plumber. Many years ago, this may have been the case, but nowadays there is a huge range of tall radiators with high heat outputs. Underfloor can be great if put in the right setting, but once ceilings are over 2.3m high it can struggle to heat the space. Here are some examples of fab vertical radiators with high heat outputs:

Radiators in narrow spaces · More Info

Radiators in narrow spaces · More Info

Radiators in narrow spaces · More Info

Radiators in narrow spaces · More Info

Feel free to call our non-commission based sales team on 01274 567789 if you want a free, no-obligation quote for comparison. Warm regards:)
Blah1
Original Author
4 years ago
Thank you. I think we’ve decided not to go with the underfloor heating as we wouldn’t be able to do the whole of the ground floor - just our kitchen and diner. I’m not sure I want to go from a colder floor to warmer floor etc. Thanks for your advice - it’s good to hear other perspectives.