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Our last house had bitumen floors throughout downstairs. Built in the 1980's, about ½" thick, bit bumpy in places especially near the skirting!
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Blackish layer on floor
- Thread starter williamp
- Start date
UFH on an old floor is a very silly idea IMO. Good on well insulated newbuild, forget it for retrofit.
Of course the companies selling the stuff will tell you it's great. I've heard ideas about installing it with a thin layer of some miracle wonder material. Obviously it works, but it's not going to be efficient. If these magic thin insulation materials really worked then I'm sure newbuilds would be using it. But they don't, they put a thick slab of foam under the floor.
Just because it's popular and everyone else is doing it doesn't mean it's a good idea.
We've just had a new heating system installed from scratch, with a heat pump. Big fat radiators. Not pretty but sensible. Obviously we're losing some heat from the floor but vastly less than we would if the heat source was embedded in it.
Of course the companies selling the stuff will tell you it's great. I've heard ideas about installing it with a thin layer of some miracle wonder material. Obviously it works, but it's not going to be efficient. If these magic thin insulation materials really worked then I'm sure newbuilds would be using it. But they don't, they put a thick slab of foam under the floor.
Just because it's popular and everyone else is doing it doesn't mean it's a good idea.
We've just had a new heating system installed from scratch, with a heat pump. Big fat radiators. Not pretty but sensible. Obviously we're losing some heat from the floor but vastly less than we would if the heat source was embedded in it.
Oh, also UFH would probably turn the bitumen into a sticky liquid swamp!
My mid-1950's is the same, except for the bumps. Heavy clay, the house is built on a slab, then the slab covered with a thick coat of bitumen. I've never found it particularly cold, under foot. I can understand people adding under floor, to a bathroom, but not something I would consider doing here - much of the heating and hot water pipework, is under the bathroom floor, so the floor is always warmed in winter.
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