There are two different methods of heating your home. Conventional forced air heating and radiant heating.
The first type is conventional warm air heating. With this type of heating, the air in your home is circulated by your furnace past its heat exchanger. As air passes the heat exchanger, it is warmed to about 110 degrees and
distributed to each room by the ductwork and register system. This is the most common way to heat homes but there are some drawbacks if the system is not properly sized and installed. Things like drafts or lukewarm air from your registers, noise and varying room temperatures. If properly designed though, we can make your home quite comfortable with this system.
The second type of heat is termed radiant heat. Radiant heat can feel very different and more comfortable than forced air heating. Radiant heat heats objects directly rather than the air around them. The objects then, because of their warmth, heat the air. One example of radiant heat is the way the sunshine feels as you walk outside on a sunny day. The sun is actually heating you directly. That’s why you can feel so warm on a 55 degree day with the sun shining. With radiant heat we do not have a blower or registers so these systems are typically very quiet. Most radiant systems use a boiler as a source of heat.
If you have a boiler, one really comfortable radiant heat option is to heat the floor directly. This of course is called radiant floor heat. A home with this system will have the floors warmed to around 90-100 degrees which is the perfect temperature for barefoot living in the winter months.
Radiant floor heating can be installed in a number of ways and can even be applied if you currently have forced air heat. Electric panels or hydronic tubing can be installed beneath the floor if there is a basement or, on top of the floor during a new home build or remodel. You can then floor over the piping with tile, hardwood or carpet. You can have radiant heat installed in just one room like a master bathroom, kitchen or any main living area. Or, have all of the floors in your entire home upgraded to this system.