If you are planning a construction project in Bristol, whether that is a single-family home or a larger building, you should seriously consider installing underfloor heating as a part of the project. This is because it has so many advantages over and above a radiator system.
It used to be thought that underfloor heating was only for high-end properties, but today, with the advent of liquid floor screeds over the last 20 years or so, it can be used for affordable housing as well. Quite a number of people who carry out a refurbishment project on their homes include underfloor heating also.
Underfloor heating provides even heat across the room, or at least it should do. That will depend to some extent on the type of screed that is used. It also costs a lot less to run than a radiator system, as long as you use a water based underfloor heating system and not electric. (Electric underfloor heating is still available but is normally only used in small rooms such as a bathroom, because the cost of electricity is bad enough now, and is set to skyrocket).
Underfloor heating can be provided by a boiler of course, but the water in the system can also be heated using a ground-source or air-source heat pump, or solar panels, which cost nothing to run.
Liquid Screed Is A Far Better Option
It is still possible to cover the heating pipes using a traditional sand and cement screed, but a liquid screed is the far better option. When you use a liquid floor screed in Bristol, you do not have to lay it as thickly as sand and cement because it does not curl like sand and cement and is not subject to cracking. Shrinkage is absolutely minimal. The depth of liquid screed only has to be 45mm overall, compared with 75mm or more for sand and cement, so you use less material.
In turn, that means that the liquid screed will heat more quickly, so you use less energy to achieve the desired temperature in the room. But the liquid anhydrite screeds that we provide at UK Screeds also have nearly double the thermal conductivity of sand and cement. Again, this means even faster heating, and lower energy bills.
There are other benefits of using a liquid screed in conjunction with underfloor heating. When you use a traditional screed, it is very difficult to fully cover the heating pipes, so there will be gaps and voids in places, which means that the heat transfer into the room will not be even. With a liquid screed, that cannot happen because it will totally envelop the pipes so heat transfer will always be even across the floor.
