Radiant heat is of interest to many homeowners because it is a better kind of heat than the forced air that is in so many houses. Unfortunately, if you have a house that is already built, it will be expensive to install a radiant heat system. Many people get around this by installing radiant heat in just a couple of rooms, usually the master bathroom and sometimes the kitchen.
Radiant heat is great but if it is not installed right when the house is built, it becomes difficult to tear up all the floors and have it put in. Builders usually only put radiant heat into homes they are building as a luxury item and usually only in expensive home.
If you have radiant heat installed in a single room, the easiest and least expensive method is the electric variety. Electric pads can be bought and installed with relative ease and the desired effect of warm floors for that room or rooms can be accomplished. Installing radiant heat will also raise the value of your home as it is the preferred method of heating of most people and not many homes have it.
Occasionally you will find a home with radiant ceiling heat. The reason this is rare is that heat rises and having your heat come from the ceiling doesn’t work as well as the floor. Most times radiant heat is installed in the floors either by electric pads or tubes full of hot water. This way, the heat starts down low in a room and rises to fill the whole room. If you want to get radiant heat for some rooms in your house, make sure a contractor does not talk you into getting ceiling heat. If he suggests ceiling heat, find out why before you proceed
Most people prefer radiant heat over the more common forced air because it is silent, doesnt blow all over the rooms, and is better for your skin. Anyone who lives in a cold dry climate knows how dry their skin gets and the forced air heat just makes things worse. Radiant heat is sort of like the silent heat that comes from the sun and it is so much nicer to have in your home than dry heat blowing everywhere.
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