Home & Garden Improvements

Underfloor heating is not a new idea; in fact the earliest examples of underfloor heating systems can be traced back to Roman times. Although it did not operate in the same way as it is does today, with our more modern technology, we definitely stole the idea from them.

When the Romans built their stone houses they left voids in the floors, which would be heated by warm air. Obviously this did not come from the electricity supply, but simply the fire in the hearth, which was kept burning by the servants. This allowed the warm air into the voids, pushing it around the house and keeping it warm. It is suspected that this central heating system would have been reserved for the powerful and wealthy members of society, but you would certainly have been living in a lovely warm home if you had been a member of such a family.

In more recent times, various water and electric underfloor heating systems began to be developed, although many of these simply involved burying heating elements in the floor. While this was a good idea in theory, it would have made temperature control difficult and wouldn’t have been very effective, as the house would become too hot and there would have been no way of cooling it quickly. It was, however, seen as a cheap form of heating, as the system was switched on at night, using the night rate electricity supply, which is still cheaper than the day rate.