There’s nothing quite like the warmth and cosiness of underfloor heating. If you’re thinking of installing it in your home, make sure you’ve looked into the type of flooring you can lay on top. All our flooring products are suitable for fitting on top of an underfloor heating system – talk to your retailer or, if you are a commercial contractor, contact us for details.
Here are our top things to think about:
Some carpets have TOG ratings that are too high for underfloor heating. Simply put, they are too heavy for the heating to get through. The recommended TOG level for carpet is 2.5 or less – and that includes the underlay. All the carpets on our website show their TOG rating, so just check out our product pages to find the perfect flooring for your needs.
Depending on what type of flooring you choose, you’ll need to consider the fitting products and any underlay requirements. You’ll need to be sure that these are compatible with the heating system you have and won’t be damaged by heat. Your supplier or retailer can help you with this. It’s important to remember that your underlay will also need to have an appropriate TOG rating and be suitable to lay on top of a heating system. Again, your retailer or your commercial rep can help you choose the right option.
All wood floors need to acclimatise to the property before they are fitted. This will help to prevent the timber contracting or expanding once it’s down. This also applies to vinyl, laminate and LVT – we recommend a minimum of 24 hours. We also recommend that you follow the guidelines for the flooring once it is fitted, so that you ensure that the floor warms up slowly and isn’t subjected to immediate high heat. Your fitter should always check the flooring’s specific guidance to make sure the flooring is suitably prepared for fitting, and we’d advise you to check the care and maintenance information that comes with your flooring to ensure you are looking after it day-to-day.
All our carpet, laminate, LVT, vinyl and wood flooring types are great for underfloor heating. They are easy to fit, conduct the heat from your underfloor heating well and look fantastic. Hard wood flooring is probably the best conductor of heat, but all these floorings will need to be properly cared for and not overheated or mistreated. We recommend a maximum temperature of 27°C at floor level.
Good quality underfloor heating systems use floor sensors to regulate temperature that makes this easy to manage and keeps heating costs under control. Please refer to your heating instructions or speak to your supplier for more information.