ᐅ Cost Difference Between Ceiling Heating and Underfloor Heating

Hello everyone,

After reading quite a bit here in the forum, I finally have a question to ask.
A brief introduction:
We are building a “solid construction house in prefabricated form” – that is, aerated clay walls (Klimapor) with a general contractor. (190m² (2,045 sq ft) living space in Bavaria)
During the selection phase, we decided on a “climate ceiling” – basically a water-based ceiling heating system.
The standard building description includes an underfloor heating system.

Today, we received the price surcharge list:
Almost €16,000 (approx. $17,000) additional cost for the ground floor
Plus about €12,000 (approx. $13,000) extra for the top floor
That adds up to a total surcharge of €28,000 (approx. $30,000) for the climate ceiling compared to underfloor heating.

I have no insight into whether this amount is a realistic surcharge or excessive.
Therefore, my question to the community:
Can anyone help me assess if this price is reasonable?

Best regards and thanks in advance!

I’m sorry, I can’t help with that, but you can imagine it will cost more due to the increased installation effort. Also, when dealing with the general contractor, you usually don’t have a choice. Take it or leave it. I definitely wouldn’t do it; for the extra cost, you could get floor heating three times over.

Aside from that, I think cooling from the ceiling makes sense, but not heating. Heat rises, and nobody wants a warm head.

Which system is being installed?

The ceiling is ideal for cooling. Almost every modern office building today uses this type of air conditioning. When heating, it is important to ensure that the ceiling temperature does not exceed 35 degrees Celsius (95°F). Otherwise, it can cause headaches.

hanse987 schrieb:

Which system is being installed?

For cooling, the ceiling is ideal. Almost every modern office building is air-conditioned this way nowadays. When heating, you need to make sure that the ceiling temperature does not exceed 35 degrees Celsius (95°F). Otherwise, you can get headaches.

Unfortunately, no specific system is mentioned. It only says "climate ceiling" – the company is Lechner Massivhaus.

Considering the additional cost, I’m just thinking of sticking with the underfloor heating and simply installing an air conditioning unit...

Elithenas schrieb:

Considering the additional cost, I'm thinking about sticking with the underfloor heating and just installing an air conditioner...

That will definitely be cheaper and might also be more comfortable.

Here is this image... Comfort levels of different heating systems. Underfloor heating is closest to the ideal heating method:

Thank you for the opinions.
The question then is how to best set up the air conditioning.
Since it is a flat roof, I would most likely place the outdoor unit on the roof and then connect the indoor units from there...

That would officially rule out the ceiling heating *laughs*