ᐅ Retrofitting Underfloor Heating in a Basement Room

Hello, our house has a gas boiler that supplies two heating circuits: radiators in the basement and underfloor heating on the ground floor and first floor. I have a converted office room in the basement (about 18m2 (194 square feet)) — the basement is about 50% below ground level. There is a radiator installed in this room. The room gets warm, but the tiled floor remains quite cold. My question: would it be possible (or advisable) to install underfloor heating here afterward? Or are there other suggestions for dealing with cold floors in the basement? Thanks and best regards, ashley

Retrofitting grooves is generally possible as long as there is more than 4cm (1.5 inches) of screed and the screed is suitable for this purpose. More important, especially in the basement, is whether the floor is sufficiently insulated against the ground. Alternatively, you could consider an electric heating system under the floor covering for additional support. Replacing tiles with carpet or vinyl flooring, for example, would also help.

johnmanfred schrieb:

Retrofitting by milling is generally possible if there is more than 4 cm (1.6 inches) of screed and the screed is suitable for it.
What is much more important, especially in basements, is whether the floor is sufficiently insulated against the ground.
Alternatively, you could consider electric underfloor heating beneath the floor covering as additional support.
Replacing the tiles with carpet or vinyl flooring, etc., could also help.

Thanks for the assessment. I would need to have the floor inspected first since I don’t know its condition.
I’ve also considered electric heating, but it probably increases electricity costs.
At home, I still have real wood click-lock parquet flooring left over. Do you think installing such a layer over the tiles (possibly with additional insulation in between) would noticeably improve the situation? I’m not familiar with this, and I don’t want to lay the parquet if it won’t have any effect...
Thanks and best regards

There is ultra-thin insulation material, and you could lay parquet flooring on top of that.
If you still need additional heating, you could install an infrared panel, for example on the ceiling; this would then warm the floor. I think in that case, the radiator might become unnecessary since it also consumes energy.
Expanding the underfloor heating system is definitely a major and costly undertaking, and if you cannot insulate underneath as well, energy will just be lost.

ashley schrieb:

It probably just increases electricity costs.

I would be interested in a comparative calculation, including effort, costs, and consumption over, for example, 10 years for heating this single room. In my opinion, the version with underfloor heating would never be cost-effective in this case.

pagoni2020 schrieb:

I would be interested in a comparative calculation, including effort, costs, and consumption over, for example, 10 years for using that one room. In my opinion, the version with underfloor heating would never be worthwhile in this case.

That is always important to consider.
I thought about replacing the storage heater underfloor heating with a water-based system.
Since we are talking about over 200 sqm (about 2,150 sq ft) here, I would take almost 13 years to reach break-even by heating with electricity.

I would also try insulation from underneath combined with a warming floor covering, such as carpet or cork, possibly also hardwood flooring.

I once read about a very thin but highly insulating material.
Okay, 200 square meters (2,150 square feet) is quite a large area, but as mentioned, a regular radiator or a future underfloor heating system still requires a significant amount of energy. An infrared solution mounted on the ceiling might make sense because these rays warm solid objects—in this case, the floor—when coming from above. You can also apply it individually and selectively, which is not possible with underfloor heating.
However, I believe that the parquet with some insulation underneath would already make a big difference.