I know it’s very comfortable but is it worth the expense considering it is not in cold climate. It get below freezing from time to time.
We’re in the south, not coastal but where winter temps briefly dip below freezing no more than a couple dozen times per winter. Radiant heat was installed in our master bathroom when we remodeled and we love it. We leave the furnace thermostat for the master suite at 64 or lower since we prefer a cool bedroom. The heated bathroom floor feels great and makes that entire space toasty. It has a programmable thermostat that turns up the heat about an hour before we usually get up, but even over night we keep it warm enough to feel a difference. Dh loves it even more than I do.
My dream house would feature universal design/wheelchair accessibility and have radiant floor heat throughout. It’s supposed to be healthier than force air furnaces as well as more comfortable.
Can you cost justify the expense based on reducing use of your oil or gas furnace? Probably not. Is it worth it anyway? For us it is - absolutely.
Radiant heat is pretty efficient. You can feel warmer without having to warm up the air as much, but you would have to ask a heating engineer what the real numbers are. I haven’t had a useful class in heating since 1981.
My husband says it’s efficient because you don’t use as much fuel to heat up that radiant floor.
We will get it in our next house.
It’s quite expensive, 15-20K. I could just put a heat mat. That should cost less. We will have a furnace anyway since we need A/C. Radiant heat can be secondary heat.
Initial costs are more, but what is the payback period? Often radiant heat can be combined with solar as well.
FWIW, I love, love LOVE my radiant bathroom floor. I have to confess I am a bit hesitant to mess with the thermostat, as I am not sure what the contractor set the temps to be an at what times of the day, so admittedly it sometimes kicks on when the A/C is on in the summer and it isn’t necessary, but for that minor inconvenience, I’ll take the toasty floors anyday!!!
@mathmom Payback time will be long very long. It doesn’t make economic sense, just comfort sense.
@jym626 Is yours a heat mat or water pipe? I have heat mats on all stone floors.
Radiant Pex tubing heat is great until those in floor tubes break and leak… if this is a slab, some serious concrete cutting work is usually involved.
@igloo- its a wire heat mat. Installed in 2009.
@jym626 That’s what I have. I think I will stick to that in the new build.
@BunsenBurner Yes, it’s on slab.
@Iglooo - Its been reliable. Some contractor said the tiles would crack but that has not happened.
Our MB heat mat was installed in 1999 or so based on the age of the thermostat and the public records showing when the house was remodeled. I replaced the ugly dial thermostat with a new programmable one when we moved in. The system still works, and one tile did crack, but they are natural stone tiles, so the crack is not noticeable.