Floor finish for UFH

[ab12]

What is everyone's go to floor finish for UFH on a solid slab- LVT or tiles or something else.

 

My main considerations are longevity of the floor finish and also one which gives the best heat outcome for UFH- basically which one will feel the warmest to walk on.

 

Had a little google research LVT can last about 10-20 years wheres tiles can last a lot longer upto 50 years.

 

I've got experience with neither floor finish.

 

So floors in question are for living room, bathroom and a kitchen.

 

 

 

[JohnMo]

Wet rooms have tiles, main living space oak, bedrooms carpet (it's rubbish with UFH)

[saveasteading]

Tiles will be best overall in cost/performance terms.

[Dreadnaught]

I have a thick concrete raft foundation with wet UFH. 

 

I am choosing stick-down LVT for mine, atop 3mm smoothing compound. This is my preference of thermal performance, comfort, cost and aesthetics.

 

Plank design everywhere (with borders and thresholds; living room and corridor in running plank; bedrooms in herring bone) except for marble tile design in bathrooms with grout lines (LVT). 

 

All to be laid professionally after painting the ceilings but before everything else (including skirtings and decorating).

 

Ai was very helpful for me in thinking through all the design details.

[Indy]

1 hour ago, Dreadnaught said:

I have a thick concrete raft foundation with wet UFH. 

 

I am choosing stick-down LVT for mine, atop 3mm smoothing compound. This is my preference of thermal performance, comfort, cost and aesthetics.

 

Plank design everywhere (with borders and thresholds; living room and corridor in running plank; bedrooms in herring bone) except for marble tile design in bathrooms with grout lines (LVT). 

 

All to be laid professionally after painting the ceilings but before everything else (including skirtings and decorating).

 

Ai was very helpful for me in thinking through all the design details.

 

Very similar to what we have. Raft foundation with wet UFH on GF and we have a low profile UFH on the FF above posi joists as well.

 

Glue down LVT everywhere - herringbone downstairs, planks upstairs. Includes the kitchen and utility areas. 

 

Tiles in the bathrooms only (on top of wet UFH). No carpets anywhere in the house - including the staircase. 

 

A lot of back and forth with the builder, aided by ChatGPT!

[Conor]

You can use anything over ufh. We've a range of carpet, lvt, tiles, and thick laminate. They all work, once flow rates set correctly.

[JohnMo]

16 hours ago, Indy said:

aided by ChatGPT

Don't take anything as gospel, you need to ask the right question several different ways to get a correct answer sometimes.

 

First it's your house, choose floor coverings based on how you want the house to look and feel first, not because an algorithm says that's what you need. We chose large format ceramic tiles for looks, and being bullet proof, the oak floor, if required we can sand it back to restore the finish.  Carpets in bedrooms because that's what my wife wanted.

[saveasteading]

7 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

Carpets in bedrooms because that's what my wife wanted.

And AI might not find that crucial information.

I guess the likeliest problem would be that trawling could as equally find outdated or false information, as factual.

Yesterday planning a complex journey,  AI told me to change trains to platform 1, (stairs and a bridge) instead of platform 3 which was 5m away. But fortunately we asked a person.

 

A useful lesson. Somewhere there was a totally wrong bit of info it found.

 

Now to find what material and colour of carpet she wants, given the reduced choice when considering open textures.

AI response:

"Your wife will ' know it when she sees it', and this may involve visits and repeat visits,  to many retailers".

 

51 minutes ago, Conor said:

You can use anything over ufh

 Well yes, but thick carpet over underlay will reduce the effect dramatically.