While the soil doesn't freeze in warm sunny Western Australia, winter is still seriously chilly. Thanks to single pane windows facing the shade, drafty gaps, floorboards not holding any heat and various other factors every house built in that era face over here, it's usually colder insider than outside.
One of the reasons behind doing this extension is to have a sunny warm room to sit in, as the cottage currently is pretty cold and dark in the hanging out areas (kitchen/lounge), and one of my favourite ways to spend a weekend morning is sitting on the floor in the sun, with a newspaper and coffee, in winter.
Using floor heating was always the only choice for me, for a few reasons. I have solar panels, which help offset the cost, i'm using double glazed windows, a polystyrene Solarspan roof and lots of other fun ways to keep the heat in and and reduce the energy cost, and to keep wall space available - i didn't want a gas heater.
The room is also quite long (3900*9700) which also means that putting an individual heater in any one place would only heat up one part of the room, while floor heating will heat the whole space... Theoretically.
I investigate several quotes & suppliers and have ended up using Elite Floor Heating - and a pretty basic floor heating set up with thermostats in each new bathroom and the grand room (my mothers nickname for the kitchen/living/dining main room).
The two bathrooms are small enough that the floor heating will installing 'in scree' right under the tiling while the the main room, i discovered later down the road... Must be installed into the slab, much earlier in the build process.
My builder, Peter, is managing installing and organising the floor heating - i was planning to arrange it myself, but because of this in slab circus, im handing it on :)
The in slab floor heating means that thermal mass is much great, and the floor really heats up and stays warm for longer, rather than loosing the heat quickly through thin tiles...
Looking forward to a warm and toasty winter! (next year most likely!)
One of the reasons behind doing this extension is to have a sunny warm room to sit in, as the cottage currently is pretty cold and dark in the hanging out areas (kitchen/lounge), and one of my favourite ways to spend a weekend morning is sitting on the floor in the sun, with a newspaper and coffee, in winter.
Using floor heating was always the only choice for me, for a few reasons. I have solar panels, which help offset the cost, i'm using double glazed windows, a polystyrene Solarspan roof and lots of other fun ways to keep the heat in and and reduce the energy cost, and to keep wall space available - i didn't want a gas heater.
The room is also quite long (3900*9700) which also means that putting an individual heater in any one place would only heat up one part of the room, while floor heating will heat the whole space... Theoretically.
I investigate several quotes & suppliers and have ended up using Elite Floor Heating - and a pretty basic floor heating set up with thermostats in each new bathroom and the grand room (my mothers nickname for the kitchen/living/dining main room).
The two bathrooms are small enough that the floor heating will installing 'in scree' right under the tiling while the the main room, i discovered later down the road... Must be installed into the slab, much earlier in the build process.
My builder, Peter, is managing installing and organising the floor heating - i was planning to arrange it myself, but because of this in slab circus, im handing it on :)
The in slab floor heating means that thermal mass is much great, and the floor really heats up and stays warm for longer, rather than loosing the heat quickly through thin tiles...
Looking forward to a warm and toasty winter! (next year most likely!)
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