More and more people are deciding to do away with their old radiators in favour of something a little more sophisticated: underfloor heating. Whereas radiators are just located one part of the room, floor heating is distributed evenly under your flooring so that the whole room heats up evenly to keep you feeling warm in the chilly winter months. But deciding that you want underfloor hearting is not the end of the road – you will also have to decide which type of heating solution will suit you the best. You can either choose water or electric underfloor heating, and each solution has its benefits.

Electric underfloor heating

The greatest benefit of electric floor heating is that it's easier to install than a water-based system. To heat underneath your floors with water, you have to get deep underneath the floor and install pipes, but with an electrical solution, this is not the case. By avoiding this process, you can save on labour costs, so this solution can be ideal for people who want to install underfloor heating but have a limited budget to do so.

Another benefit of electric heating is that it doesn't have to be your one and only heating solution in your house. If you still wish to keep your radiators but want to add some underfloor heating too, an electric system is the best option for you. By heating your home with electric cables instead of water pipes, you can also guarantee that your heating system won't leak, which could be attractive from a maintenance point of view.

Water underfloor heating

With a water based underfloor heating solution, more space is required underneath the floor for the installation of the pipes. For this reason, some existing properties might not be able to accommodate water pipes, but for a new build property, it can be a great choice to have this integrated into the build specifications.

In general, the temperature of water in underfloor heating needs to be much lower than that of radiators in order to heat a room adequately. This means that you will spend less money on heating the water, it will be more energy efficient, and you may even be able to use renewable heat sources to warm up the water. An energy efficient heat pump would not be able to provide the temperatures required for a radiator, but for underfloor pipes that just need to be a couple of degrees above room temperature, they work perfectly.

Enjoy your underfloor heating system, whichever option you choose.