Radiant floor heating can be called the silent hero of home heating. Since the heat emanates from the floor, it is efficient and quiet, without blowing allergens throughout a home’s air. It’s not drafty, without duct work, registers, and returns involved. Radiant floor heating has the feel of standing in a window on a sunny cold day with the sun warming you, without the sun needing to warm the outside air. As the waves of thermal radiation rise from below, they warm any objects they touch in the room, which then in turn radiate that heat. Even though the air temperature remains the same, these objects are warmed and, therefore, do not steal heat from your body. There are a number of homes in the West Chicago, IL, area enjoying the benefits of radiant floor heating.
Subfloor heating has been around from the ancient Romans and Turks to Frank Lloyd Wright. The ancients used it in their homes and bath houses, heating their marble and tile floors, while Frank Lloyd Wright used copper piping in his homes, with a few postwar subdivisions implementing it as well. It fell out of use during that time due to the copper-pipe corrosion and the cost of breaking through floors for replacement. However, technology has brought PEX (cross-linked polyethylene) tubing onto the scene, eradicating the need for metal and corroding piping, and making radiant floor heating an efficient and favorable choice for heating homes.
