Radiant Floor Heat Provides Tippy-Toe Comfort
Your partner got up in the dead of the night and right away those frozen toes are invading your territory with the persistency of a heat-seeking projectile. Fortuitous for you, the new house will have radiant floor heating - a dependable remedy for meetings with frozen feet at 2 a.m. or a midwinter chill that gets hold of your bone marrow.
Under-floor heat has been used since the Roman Empire when it existed in its peak in public constructions and the villas of the rich. Hot air was distributed below tile or brick, supplying a radiant heat - energy that transferred warmth through the flooring and on to cooler furniture like Roman reclining chairs, statues, marble-topped tables and cold centurions.
With the advent of elastic PEX pipe in the United States in the 80’s, its use has jumped as new products have been produced for the construction industry - among those have been hydro systems to furnish radiant floor heating. Unlike forced-air furnaces, state-of-the-art hydronic floor systems using PEX plumbing products furnish more consistent heat to a room, are less drying, more economic and a whole lot quieter than aging furnaces or metal steam pipes.
PEX tubing is made of cross-linked polyethylene, which gives these space-age pipes strength, chemical resistance, high mobility, a streamlined installation profile and larger temperature adaptability. This polyethylene tubing can be used with water as high as 200° Fahrenheit in heat systems.
There are several methods of setting up radiant floor heating. Many use electric line voltage arrangements, but easy-to-use PEX tubing products have made hydronic under-floor heat popular with both home builders and home owners. Because the piping is so flexible, its coils can be utilized in a sustained distance, eliminating the need for multiple junctions and fittings.
Several radiant floor heating schemes employ oxygen-barrier PEX radiant hosing utilized in gypsum concrete. Others contain low-mass underlay - wood boards with recessed niches for flexible tubing.
Each remodeling or new-construction project is better suited by one application or another, so investigate your hydronic floor heating choices fully. Do your due dilligence!
