radiant heat?

[boysarecool]

has anyone installed/had someone install radiant heat?
is it really great?
was it really expensive?
do you need to do it through a contractor or can the homeowner work directly with the radiant heating installer?
my house is super dry (i mean so bad we all get bloody noses DAILY) with forced hot air
and i love the idea of warm floors but not sure if it's a huge undertaking
we do plan on staying in this house for years...
any advice would be greatly appreciated-thanks!

[magpie mamma]

we installed it ourselves in our basement bathroom. We are do-it-ourselves types. It is a small mat that was laid down before the ceramic tile was laid. The floor in the basement would be cold and this is great to have, we still have heat in the room, a small baseboard hot water radiator, but it is wonderfull to get out of the shower and step on a warm floor. It is working great. I think the main issue with installing it in an existing space is what the existing floor surface that you have; wood, carpet, tile, etc. Will you need to remove the existing flooring or go over (this comes with it's own set of issues). Also there are different kinds of radiant heat; electric, water, etc and you will want the one that works best for your house. You may need an electrical or plumbing contractor so you would need to cooridate them or this might be a reason to use a general contractor. Good Luck!

[Mama2-4]

We will be installing it ourselves in the next couple of days with a new tile floor over it in our kitchen. We are using water and taping into our existing system. We had to special order the materials from this place in Colorado. We have a really crappy wood floor down in the kitchen now and I guess the plan is we are going to cut out a very large area of the floor, and lay the boards that will house the tubing for the radient heat down then you hook that all in to the current system. I sure hope it all works out okay, I am looking forward to having a toasty kitchen this winter! If all goes well we will put it in a bathroom we are creating in our upstairs.

[magpie mamma]

sounds good, let us know how it works. Good Luck!

[ASusan]

We had a type of radiant heat in the house I grew up in . (It wasn't under the floor - it was on the wall.)

My parents had it installed in 1977. I still remember that one of the contractors was Russian.

My mom called it the Cadillac of heating, with a Rolls Royce price, and a Tin Lizzy appearance. (appearance is great now)

It was very warm. No more dry air, either.