Hello,
we are planning to build a house but have some questions about building services that we have not yet been able to find solid answers for.
1. Many modern houses tend to feel uncomfortably warm all the time. Why is that?
In our case, the comfortable temperature is around 20-22°C (68-72°F), but some friends of my wife who built houses with underfloor heating in recent years, as well as the experience visiting the Viebrockhaus model home park, report temperatures that feel closer to 24-25°C (75-77°F). What causes this? The answers so far have been: it is normal with underfloor heating; underfloor heating is very difficult to adjust; that is a thing of the past when only one heating circuit was installed for the entire house; it is due to the insulation in modern houses… I don’t think the underfloor heating can be entirely blamed, since it also gets hot in summer (when the heating is presumably off), definitely more than in our rental flat (built in 1997, gas heating with radiators). What are your thoughts?
Personally, I suspect it is more due to the lack of a basement and the large glazing areas combined with the absence of roof overhangs.
2. Is it still common to build houses with radiators today? Radiators seem to have disappeared from catalogs and websites. I understand that heating with radiators nowadays will likely struggle to meet energy-saving regulations. And is it unavoidable to have a mechanical ventilation system? We air out often, so we don’t really see the reason for such a system…
3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of having no basement?
Okay, less storage space, more noise (because heating and other systems are closer to living areas), probably less cooling effect in summer, and of course it is also a cost issue. But are there any other effects one should keep in mind?
Thank you very much for reading and for your answers.
I am happy to answer any follow-up questions.
we are planning to build a house but have some questions about building services that we have not yet been able to find solid answers for.
1. Many modern houses tend to feel uncomfortably warm all the time. Why is that?
In our case, the comfortable temperature is around 20-22°C (68-72°F), but some friends of my wife who built houses with underfloor heating in recent years, as well as the experience visiting the Viebrockhaus model home park, report temperatures that feel closer to 24-25°C (75-77°F). What causes this? The answers so far have been: it is normal with underfloor heating; underfloor heating is very difficult to adjust; that is a thing of the past when only one heating circuit was installed for the entire house; it is due to the insulation in modern houses… I don’t think the underfloor heating can be entirely blamed, since it also gets hot in summer (when the heating is presumably off), definitely more than in our rental flat (built in 1997, gas heating with radiators). What are your thoughts?
Personally, I suspect it is more due to the lack of a basement and the large glazing areas combined with the absence of roof overhangs.
2. Is it still common to build houses with radiators today? Radiators seem to have disappeared from catalogs and websites. I understand that heating with radiators nowadays will likely struggle to meet energy-saving regulations. And is it unavoidable to have a mechanical ventilation system? We air out often, so we don’t really see the reason for such a system…
3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of having no basement?
Okay, less storage space, more noise (because heating and other systems are closer to living areas), probably less cooling effect in summer, and of course it is also a cost issue. But are there any other effects one should keep in mind?
Thank you very much for reading and for your answers.
I am happy to answer any follow-up questions.
T21150 schrieb:
There are people – including my wife and me – who are familiar with underfloor heating and therefore don’t like it. We were glad to finally get rid of it when we moved into the house.Hi,
can you explain why you are glad to have gotten rid of the underfloor heating?
Galaxie schrieb:
Hi,
can you explain why you are glad to have gotten rid of the underfloor heating?Hi!
Yes. As is often the case with a proper disaster, there were several reasons.
1. In general, I find this type of heating too slow to respond – although this has improved with more modern technology by now.
2. My wife experiences circulation problems because of it.
3. Both of us simply feel uncomfortable with this kind of heating and the resulting indoor climate. This is purely a personal feeling and not an objective judgment.
4. I personally like going barefoot (or wearing socks in winter). But I find the feeling with underfloor heating somewhat strange...
(I’m not alone in this; I know many people who feel the same.)
5. It was noticeably cheaper... I’m not wealthy, so every euro saved was important to me, especially since this saving was possible here for purely personal reasons (see above).
Cons:
1. Underfloor heating in the bathroom: a nice feature I could have had (at low cost), but back then I was under pressure because of the double load on the screed. The necessary screed drying would have delayed moving in further. I/we had to move into the house.
2. Underfloor heating has an advantage regarding the efficiency of a gas condensing boiler. Lower supply temperature. Lower return temperature.
3. Radiators take up space (I placed them where no furniture could have been put in this small house anyway, so they were secondary).
4. Radiator appearance: can be seen as a disadvantage. It is one. Radiators are not decorative.
Best regards,
Thorsten
EveundGerd25 Jan 2016 22:01We know a family among our friends who also consciously chose hydronic heating when they built again five years ago.
Apart from the financial aspects, Thorsten’s arguments seem familiar to me.
When choosing flooring, you are not as limited either.
Apart from the financial aspects, Thorsten’s arguments seem familiar to me.
When choosing flooring, you are not as limited either.
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