Preferred floor coverings

Most floor coverings in general use are suitable for use with underfloor heating. As part of our service, Nu-Heat designers use the company’s unique Optimiser™ software program to consider the thermal resistance of the floor coverings chosen to establish the quantity and spacing of heating tube required within each room. As a result, Nu-Heat can always be confident that our system will fully heat the house.



Stone, slate and ceramic tiles



Materials such as stone, marble, ceramic tiles and polished screed are ideally suited to underfloor heating as they conduct heat well and place little barrier on warmth reaching the room.



Traditionally laid in ‘wet’ rooms such as bathrooms and kitchens, tiled floors are increasingly being used in general living areas because underfloor heating allows surfaces to be easily cleaned whilst providing the level of comfort underfoot expected by today’s discerning customers.



Timber products



The low surface temperature of underfloor heating presents no problems with timber floors provided that the timber is well seasoned or kiln-dried and sensible procedures are followed to prevent the wood from absorbing moisture from the building before the heating is switched on.



Engineered boards with layers of cross-bonded ply faced with a thick layer of timber are inherently more stable than solid wood boards. However, the gentle warmth of Nu-Heat underfloor heating means that most solid timbers can be used with equal success.



Carpet



Carpet can easily be used with underfloor heating provided very thick carpet and felt underlays are avoided. Most manufacturers can provide the tog value of their products which the Nu-Heat designer will use to calculate the amount of floor heating tube needed to heat the room.



Other overlays such as Amtico, vinyl, cork, bamboo, coir, rubber, marmoleum and laminate tiles can also be used as they are typically too thin to affect the performance of the underfloor heating.