Which Floor Finish is Best for Underfloor Heating: Carpets or Wood?

If you’re thinking about laying down new flooring as part of your upcoming home renovation, then it’s the perfect time to consider installing underfloor heating as part of the project. In this guide, we’ll answer a frequently asked question: which floor finish is better to use with a floor heating system, carpets or wood? We’ll explore:

• · The different qualities of carpeting and wood flooring
• · Whether floor heaters are suitable for use with soft floor coverings
• · How to choose the best heating system for carpets and wooden floors
• · The best way to control temperature limits
• · How to purchase underfloor heating for your home

The difference between soft and hard floors in ‘dry’ rooms

Carpets and wooden floors are typically used as floor finishes in larger, ‘dry’ rooms. A dry room is a room that doesn’t feature water sources and plumbing fixtures such as those found in bathrooms and kitchens. These types of ‘wet’ rooms are more suited to a wipeable floor finish such as ceramic tiles, stone and vinyl. So, if you’re renovating your living areas, bedrooms or hallways, then carpeting or wooden floors are a perfect choice – bringing a more natural, tactile feeling to the space.

The main difference between carpets and wood floors are that carpets are a soft floor covering whereas wooden floors are a hard finish. This difference can impact on the floor build-up, such as what kind of insulation you’ll use and more specifically, what kind of heating system is best for your home. Want to find out more about tiled and vinyl floor finishes for wet rooms? Read our expert article to find out everything you need to know.

Want to find out more about tiled and vinyl floor finishes for wet rooms? Read our expert article to find out everything you need to know.

We offer a range of electric floor heaters that are compatible with both wooden and carpeted floors.

Floor heating is a much more energy-efficient process than traditional heating solutions, helping to reduce energy usage by up to 35%. This kind of efficiency not only helps to lower your home’s carbon footprint but can also save you significant amounts of money on your bills. You’ll also enjoy the benefits of a discreet heating method – with no visible pipe work, UFH will improve your home’s interior design and many of our systems are designed for home renovation projects, so they won’t impact on existing floor levels. It’s also a good idea to make sure that whatever carpet or wood finish you’ve chosen is approved for installation with underfloor heating.

Underfloor heating is ideal to use with carpeted flooring. These flooring types are a great way to make your home feel warm and cosy all year round and underfloor heating will enhance this feeling of coziness. As a soft floor finish, carpeting can be affected by load-bearing weight – think about the indentations left by a heavy bookshelf or table legs on a carpet’s surface – so the most important thing to bear in mind when choosing a heating system for carpets is selecting one that will be suitably protected so that it won’t be damaged by these kinds of weights.

You’ll also need to be aware of the tog value of your selected carpet. The total tog of all materials used with your floor heating system should not exceed 1.5 tog to ensure that the system will provide a sufficient level of heat for the space.

Wood floor coverings are a sophisticated choice for both modern and more traditional homes. There are many different types of wooden floor finishes – from natural wooden floorboards in a period home to new engineered wood and parquet to bamboo – but we offer floor heating systems suitable for almost all of these flooring types. Engineered wood is a great conductor of the radiant warmth produced by a floor heating system whereas solid wood finishes may need a greater level of insulation. It’s also important to note that the slimmer and denser the wood then the quicker the heat-up time of the UFH system will be, which will greatly improve its efficiency.

Absolutely. Whilst laminate flooring has a different construction to natural and engineered woods, we offer a selection of systems that are compatible with laminate floor finishes. For both wood and laminate floor finishes, we recommended that the floor’s thickness should be no more than 18mm to ensure optimal heat performance.

Warmup’s Foil Heater is a great electric underfloor heating solution for rooms with carpeting, wood and laminate floor finishes. It is available in prepared rolls of different sizes and because it offers a ‘dry’ installation, with no need for adhesives or screed, it can be fitted by your installer quickly and cleanly.

Floor heating is always recommended to be installed with sufficient accompanying insulation to improve the performance of the system and installing our Insulated Underlay underneath the Foil Heater will reduce the heat-up time by at least 50%, resulting in even more cost-savings.

When using floor heating with wooden or carpeted floors, you should ensure the floor surface temperature must not exceed 27°C. You can control these temperature limits using a system-dedicated thermostat.

Our 6iE Smart WiFi Thermostat is the perfect controller to use with the Foil Heater. It is the world’s first UFH control to utilize a Smartphone touchscreen and offers automatic heating, meaning you’ll be able to enjoy the right temperature, at the right time, without the need to set up a program.

Feeling inspired about installing underfloor heating with your new carpet or wooden floors? You can use our easy online quoting tool to instantly find out which heating system is the best for your project’s needs and discover exactly how much it will cost.