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Know Your Green Home Technologies is a Planet Green Series that helps you get to know some of the most popular and cutting edge green technologies out there, so you can make informed eco decisions when it's time to update, remodel or build with green in mind.
When your floor is hot, you usually think "Uh oh, volcano!" and then drive away to stay with your in-laws until someone can tell you that there are no volcanoes in Iowa and that your floor was just hot for no reason and that maybe you shouldn't watch Dante's Peak, like, twelve times before you go to bed. That sounds like you.
But seriously, radiant floor heating is a comfortable way of putting warmth into your home. Forced-air heating shoots air at you from vents in your walls and floors, losing so much heat and energy, traveling through all those ducts. Radiant floors can heat the home with less wasted energy in some cases.
There are two main types of radiant floor heating. The first is electric heating. Basically, wires are installed in the floors, and these wires become heated and send that heat on up through the floor. This type of radiant floor heating is most often used to retrofit a single room in an old building.
The other, more energy-efficient form of radiant floor heating is the hydronic system. This system forces heated water through tubes that are distributed throughout your floors.
Radiant floor heating isn‘t the greenest choice in all situations. If your roofs are low and your home is small and snug, radiant floor heating may improve your energy efficiency. In some scenarios it can be less energy efficient than forced-air heating. Before you have it installed, consult a contractor and see if radiant floor heating is right for you.
Read more about green building:
Know Your Green Home Technologies: Install a Natural Earthen Floor
Know Your Green Technology: Consider a Prefab Eco-Home
Know Your Green Building Materials: 3 Cutting Edge Insulations
3 Reasons Building a House of Stone is Eco Friendly
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