Heated Floors in Bathrooms (Heaven) – Not Expensive if Installed During the Build

Heated Floors in Bathrooms (Heaven) – Not Expensive if Installed During the Build


There is a general assumption among homeowners that heated floors are too expensive to make them worth considering. While there is a grain of truth in that, homeowners are not getting the whole story. When the heated floor is installed has a significant impact on cost, for a number of reasons.

Installation Requirements for Heated Floors

First of all, if you are planning to install a heated floor in your bathroom, it is going to mean taking up the existing flooring. The collateral damage caused to your bathroom, alone, adds significant cost to the project. When you consider that you haven’t even reached the point of installing the heating system, it begins to become clear where the added cost comes in.

Then there is the issue of existing plumbing systems. Installing a heated floor in your bathroom will require integration with those systems. There are two major cost factors associated with this. You may be restricted to more expensive systems which are designed to integrate with existing plumbing systems. Or, your installer will charge you more for the additional work of implementing the integration.

Piped heated flooring systems typically take up more room than their traditional counterparts. That means additional renovations are required to modify existing structures to make room for the new system. With each of these modifications, comes the added cost of repairing cosmetic damage from the installation.

Renovations

If you are already planning a renovation in your bathroom, however, all the additional costs of floor heating can be offset with careful planning. By integrating your chosen floor heating system into your renovation plans, the only additional costs are for the heating system itself. As you are already paying to renovate the bathroom, installing floor heating does not carry the same perceived additional cost.

Similarly, you don’t need to worry about the cost of cosmetic damage caused from making the system fit. So long as you included the dimensions needed to accommodate the floor heating system in your renovation plans, you are simply purchasing the floor heating system and paying for installation.

New Builds

The cost of having floor heating installed in your bathroom is even further reduced during a new build. Installing floor heating during the course of a renovation, still has potential costs associated with the installation process. A builder will cite the added labour of integrating a system as a necessary qualifier for increased cost. However, when a floor heating system is being installed in a new build, any such additional cost is no longer a factor.

When considering any cost, it is always worth thinking in terms of investment. When you plan your heating systems in such a way that they are operating at maximum energy efficiency, you are going to save money in the long term. There are minimal savings associated with having heated floors installed in existing bathrooms, due to the cost of installation and integration. However, when those same systems are installed in a new build, the projected savings are considerably higher.

Heat Distribution

Generally, planning floor heating systems as part of a new build is always the preferable option. When installing heating systems in a new build, the focus is on distributing heat in the most effective way possible. The same principle applies to floor heating systems in bathrooms. When your building plans include maximizing the heat distribution afforded from your heated bathroom floor, your reward is savings on your overall future energy bills.

When it comes to heating systems, smart planning is essential regardless of whether you are dealing with a fresh installation, renovations, or a new build. Building inspections can help you make the right decisions for you, so that your home is efficiently heated and offers you savings through reduced energy bills.