Clueless about Underfloor Heating - Help please!

[Psyclist]

Hi all, I recently moved into my new house and have a bathroom and separate shower room, both of which are currently carpeted and stink!

I have already bought the tiles I'm going to put down, but I would also like to put some underfloor heating down too. The bathroom isn't too bad and is generally reasonably warm, but our shower room always feels cold even though only one of it's walls are external and as soon as you start the shower the condensation just runs down the walls but there's no room for a larger radiator than the one that's already in there.

The house is only 8 years old so cabling in the walls is easy enough to deal with so I'm thinking electric is the best option but just wondered if the more experienced of you could tell me what I need to take into consideration or what the best options are?

The shower room is 2m x 1.5m (including beneath the shower) and the bathroom is 3m x 1.5m.

Cheers all!

 

[RigidRaider]

Having recently done it in a cold bedroom in an extension, my strong advice would be to grasp the nettle and dry-line the external walls. While doing that, fit extractor fans. You will lose a couple of inches in dimension but with a layer of Kingspan topped off with foam-backed plasterboard, skimmed and redecorated you will get no more condensation and toasty warm shower and bath rooms.

The under floor heating is a luxury especially if you're having ceramic tiles but in my opinion dry-lining is better value for money

 

[Psyclist]

The condensation runs down the internal walls too, so not just the external wall which as it happens is already insulated and there is already an extractor fan.

Like I said, the radiator is not effective enough and there is no room to fit a bigger one, therefore the only other option I can think of is to use underfloor heating.

 

[texasholden]

You could fit electric UFH but the highest output units are only 200w/sqm so you'll probably be adding 800w or so to the room.

Normally electric UFH is used to make the tiles bearable to walk on in the morning - so it's run with a timer.

However, if your problem is lack of heating in the room then electric UFH is a very expensive method of heating the room.

It'd make more sense to me to address the cause (the undersized rad). Given your house is 7 years old the room shouldn't need a huge amount of heating anyway.

Are you sure your current rad is a high output type (i.e. is it a double panel convector). Also, you could look at increasing your central heating water temp - if you're only running at 60 deg, then increasing this to 75 deg alone would increase the rad output by at least 25%.

 

[TheVictorian]

I've just put a warmup electric underfloor heating system in an ensuite (1.6x1.6m) and it makes it lovely to walk on.

I can't comment about how much heat it adds to the actual room as it is warm anyway with it being off a warm bedroom and all external solid walls insulated with 50mm of Kingspan.

I don't have a condensation problem but the fan is always on when the room is in use.

 

[Psyclist]

To be honest as long as it just takes the chill off the room that would be enough.

The radiator itself is a double panel radiator with a cover on it with a towel rail on the top but I want to change it for a heated towel rail anyway, so hopefully the combination of a towel rail and a little bit of underfloor heating to warm from the floor up would be enough to do it.

 

[Agile]

An electric fan heater is the cheapest to fit and to run!

 

[GavThePlumber]

Check and top up, if necessary, loft insulation in room above. Have spot lights been put in?

Fan that would have been installed is likely useless, check, it probably won't even hold a single piece if tissue. Install a quality unit.

Contrary to what has been said above, you can use electric as a price heat source, with 150 + watts/m² being perfectly fine, just depends on the spacing and insulation. Ditch the rad as you suggest and fit towel rail.

 

[GavThePlumber]

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[dhutch]

Underfloor electric 'tile warmers' up the wall anyone?

 

[Psyclist]

Ok just to clarify, while I appreciate the time taken for everybody's suggestions, I really am not looking for alternatives to heat the room. I have been advised by three different builders to use underfloor heating for my situation, I just don't really want to chase them for advice when I'm not likely to use them to do the installation if you see what I mean.

I am looking to put some underfloor heating in while I have the opportunity so I'm looking for advice as to what kind I need or what I need to take into consideration when installing so that I can at least try and make an informed decision before shelling out for anything. Thank you all for your input and thank you in advance to anyone for any following advice.

 

[Agile]

My view is that underfloor heating is unlikely to give enough heat output for the room.

Its good for large areas like libraries, hospitals which are heated 24/7 but not small rooms!

Tony

 

[GavThePlumber]

I do loads of electric underfloor heating and it is perfectly fine to heat any size room, if installed correctly, it heats the tiles up with 15 minutes no problem and maintains a nice even temperature, if anything you can can them to overheat quite easily.

But you do not want a builder carrying out this work op, get a heating engineer who knows what he/she is doing.