A Hot Remodeling Trend: 5 Reasons to Add Radiant Flooring to Your Home

Are you ready to upgrade your home on multiple levels?

A lot of people assume that home remodeling involves adding rooms, rearranging furniture, or replacing appliances. But one of the biggest remodeling trends right now involves heated floors.

Radiant heating enables you to heat your home from the ground up. No more toggling the thermostats or bringing in space heaters!

But radiant heating is more than a mere luxury. It can also be great for the environment and easy to implement.

Read on to learn more about the benefits of radiant flooring!

1. Radiant Heating Promotes Energy Efficiency

Radiant heating supplies heat to your home, just like any other heating system. However, radiant heating promotes far greater energy efficiency, meaning that your overall energy dependency will be lower.

Unlike forced-air or baseboard heating systems, radiant heating provides direct heat to floors, walls, and ceilings. This is called radiant heat transfer.

There are three kinds of radiant heated floors that you can install, depending on how you want to transfer heat. These include air, hydronic, and electric radiant floors.

Hydronic radiant floors are the most popular, given the fact that they are the most cost-effective. These often involve pumping heated water through tubes in your floor. The heat remains trapped via insulation and/or liquid screed.

Learn more about liquid screed types by visiting Gyvtec Ltd.

Each one of these requires a different installation, but in general, the principle is the same. A radiant floor accumulates heat via a heat source–such as a boiler or electric charge–and distributes this heat to all exposed surfaces.

Radiant heating virtually eliminates heat loss, making it far more energy efficient than other heating methods. Hydronic floors also use very little electricity, making these ideal for off-grid homes.

2. It’s Easy to Run and Safe to Use

Some older heating systems can be dangerous to use, particularly if they are in need of an update. Radiators and space heaters can ignite, putting you and your family in danger.

Radiant flooring is easy to operate and safe to use, making it ideal for every homeowner in need of an effective remodel. What’s more, once you heat up your radiant floor, this heat will often stay trapped for longer, keeping your home warmer for greater periods of time.

There is virtually no fire danger associated with radiant heating, particularly if you are mindful of boiler maintenance and electrical monitoring. If your flooring is fire-resistant–like concrete–you’ll be at an even greater advantage.

We do recommend that you hire professionals to install your radiant floor because there are a lot of components involved. An amateur installation can actually lead to ineffective heating or safety hazards down the road.

3. Save Money and Reduce Allergies

The typical U.S. family spends at least $3,000 on energy costs per year. At least half of this cost goes to heating and cooling of residences.

These energy costs can be prohibitive for some people, particularly with utility costs on the rise.

Luckily, you can cut your energy costs in half (or much more) by installing a radiant floor. Most radiant floors are cost-effective, particularly hydronic ones, which use very little electricity.

What’s more, if you supplement your radiant floor with a solar heater, you can reduce your energy costs by almost 100%.

If you don’t want to go to the trouble of installing a radiant floor, you can implement radiant wall panels. With these, you don’t even have to line your entire wall–you can choose the areas you’d like to heat, limiting the materials you need.

Lastly, a lot of people suffer from allergies. Whether you struggle with seasonal or dust-related allergies, a forced-air heating system could be making your allergies worse.

Invest in a radiant floor to virtually eliminate indoor allergens. After all, you’ll be getting your heat from a hidden source, rather than having to breathe in toxins in the air pumped through your home.

4. Boost Buyer’s Appeal

If you are considering selling your home in the next few years, a radiant floor can significantly boost buyer’s appeal. This can be invaluable if you are looking for a way to rake in a little more on your investment.

A lot of homebuyers are looking for greener homes, and radiant floors are a key aspect of sustainable, energy-efficient houses. Some homebuyers are willing to pay more for a home likely to leave a smaller footprint overall.

Radiant floors can also be attractive quite simply because they are inconspicuous. They supply heat while being nearly entirely invisible. This is certainly an aspect of luxury!

They can also afford the feeling of luxurious living–who doesn’t want to wake up to a heated floor? If you install a radiant floor in your master bathroom, you’ll be especially boosting buyer’s appeal.

5. Free Up Wall and Floor Space

A radiant floor can actually free up wall and floor space. Because it consists of an underground heating system, you don’t have to worry about making room for radiators or baseboards.

In this sense, installing a radiant floor can increase your home’s available square footage. You’ll have room for that new sofa, for example, or an excellent new rug. You can bring in bookshelves without having to worry about those baseboards.

This can be vital if you feel as if your current home is already cramped for space.

If you are adding onto your home and installing a radiant floor, this new addition is likely to offer you maximum space.

The Benefits of Radiant Flooring

A radiant floor may just be exactly what your home needs. Whether you are looking for a great remodeling project, a way to boost buyer’s appeal, or a means of reducing energy dependency, radiant flooring is the way to go.

A radiant floor is far more energy-efficient than traditional heating methods. Plus, it’s safe to use and easy to operate.

Radiant heating gives you the luxury of walking across heated floors in the dead of winter. This can elevate your home’s selling price and free up wall space.

At Futurist Architecture, you can find all the inspiration you need to transform your home. Check out our ideas for interiors here!