ᐅ Underfloor heating in a concrete slab – advantages and disadvantages?

At the moment, I mainly think of disadvantages:
- Repairs and similar work are quite complex
- Cables, etc., cannot be installed above the concrete slab
- Heating the rooms is slower

Perhaps one advantage is that installing underfloor heating in the concrete slab might be somewhat cheaper?
It is reportedly quite popular in Scandinavia, partly because of lower residual moisture since there is no screed layer. But otherwise, does anyone know of clear benefits? Or do you even have practical experience with this?

Take a look here
https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/Doppelhaus-welches-ist-am-besten-wer-hat-da-Erfahrungen.28998/page-11#post-286453

That was also a topic there

Cost savings aren’t everything. Apart from the fact that a lot of energy is unnecessarily lost through the concrete slab to the space below. What happens if there is a problem with the underfloor heating and you need access to the pipes? Breaking up the concrete slab?

In our current home, a developer-built terraced house from 2001, we chose underfloor heating. On the ground floor, there are tiles, and in the upper floors, a type of sisal carpet is glued down. These are the pros and cons we experienced:

- We don’t like the indoor climate – we prefer radiant heat, whether the dust comes from the heating system or settles on us...
+ no visible radiators
+ about 20% lower heating costs compared to neighbors with the same house – of course, regardless of differences in heating habits
+ pleasantly warm tiles for walking barefoot or in socks
- slow-reacting heating system that repeatedly overheats unnecessarily after quick airing – this can be prevented by using a container around the sensor or “remembering” to lower the room temperature during ventilation, but it is annoying. Are newer systems smarter?
- occasionally, the heating in individual rooms doesn’t work well. The pipes get clogged even when filling with "suitable" water. Then flushing is necessary. We have had this happen twice.
+ apart from that, technically reliable – we didn’t have to access the floor at all.

Conclusion: No underfloor heating in the new house (hopefully moving in June 2019).

Was your underfloor heating installed in the screed or in the slab?

We also don’t have underfloor heating. We have two small radiators in the overflow rooms that turn on at around -5°C (23°F) outside temperature, and one in the bathroom. The rest is handled by the ventilation system.

hampshire schrieb:
- We don’t like the indoor climate – we prefer radiant heat, whether the dust is mostly on the heater or on us...

A surface heating system, which includes underfloor heating, primarily provides heat through radiation.

hampshire schrieb:
- slow-reacting heating system that repeatedly heats up unnecessarily after quick ventilation – you can prevent this by covering the sensor with a container or "remembering" to lower the room temperature during airing, but it’s inconvenient. Are newer systems smarter?

Simply avoid this by properly dimensioning and setting up the heating system.

hampshire schrieb:
- from time to time the heating in individual rooms doesn’t work well. The pipes get clogged even when using "suitable" water. Then flushing is necessary. We have had to do this twice already.

This is due to poor installation of the system. There’s nothing more to add.

hampshire schrieb:
Conclusion: No underfloor heating in the new house (move-in hopefully June 2019)

Well, to each their own. Nowadays, I wouldn’t want anything else. Possibly wall heating in addition to underfloor heating.