Home Design Articles

Heating the home during the winter months is certainly an expensive business. Without the correct sort of heating in the home, not only will you struggle to keep the house warm but you’ll also waste a lot of money.

Probably the hardest part of the house to keep warm is the attic – there is usually no central heating here. You might wonder why you need to keep the attic warm anyway, but the main reason is to stop the pipes from freezing.

The most efficient way to heat the pipes in the attic is to use trace heating. This means that you won’t have to heat the entire loft space, instead you just heat the pipes themselves and forget about the rest of the room. As long as you don’t plan on using the room for anything in particular other than storage some heat trace cable will be more than enough.

How do you install trace heating cable though? The simple way to do it is to hire someone. Anyone who sells trace cable will be able to advise you on what the deal is regarding getting the cable installed. Usually installation of the cable is just a matter of laying it along the end of the pipe – it’s the installation of the temperature controller that you need to think carefully about.

Of course, this may all be overkill for your time. If you don’t want to spend a lot of money then you could also think about installing some insulation. Insulating both the pipes themselves and the whole attic will reduce the risk of the pipe freezing. Insulation of the attic can also help to heat the whole home and lower the amount of heat energy that escapes. This increases your energy efficiency and lowers heating costs considerably over the course of a year.

If you’re researching your varied options for warming up a smaller room, try taking some free time to explore the discrepancies between convective and radiant home heating strategies. These two forms of electric heater heat a room in alternative ways. One strategy to simplify the idea is to say that convection warms the room and radiant warms a target. This short article covers this idea in additional details.

Convection Heating Systems
The commonly known rule in which hot air goes up is considered the essential principle on which convective heaters work. Slim metallic plates make up a heater element. Heat from these fins is then given to air touching them. Cooler air swiftly moves to take the place of all the heated air once it floats up. This explains the reasoning associated with placing baseboard heating elements somewhere down along the floor.

This convective procedure continues till the room temperatures are warmed to the point preset at the thermostat – at which point the heater is powered down. The heating unit will be switched back on when the rooms cool beneath the preset position. Even though the aim is continuous area heat, the fact is a thermostat is going to sustain the area to inside a small band of temperatures.

Styles of convection heater units differ widely. They may be found in many prices. Other varieties of convective heater units have got ceramic plates or can be filled with oil to be able to retain heat and provides it added time to get absorbed by the air flow.

Radiant Heaters
An electric fireplace or even a traditional propane fireplace is a great example of a radiant heater. While a radiant heater may warm an area, it’s best at warming up a target – for example a person. By concentrating the heat power within a specific direction, they can produce greater heating on that particular target even though using a lot less energy over-all. Safety issues were definitely common in earlier radiant heaters. For those who have a radiant unit more than ten years, it is best to do some searching online for possible safety problems for that model.

When it comes to electric underfloor heating many people wonder what types of floors you need to install this heating system. I think many people are put off from using this very efficient and advantages heating system due to the lack of knowledge about the high compatibility of this system with almost any flooring they have in place at their homes.

The good thing about electric underfloor heating systems is it can be used with most types of floors found in modern homes and buildings. But it works best with floors that don’t expand and contract too much due to temperature and floors that are good conductors of heat. These types of floors include natural stone flooring and ceramic floor tiles. Since these hard surface floors are more often used in kitchens, bathrooms, toilets and conservatories, it is very efficient to install electric underfloor heating systems in them so that you can get the maximum heat from the least amount of electricity.

Today in United Kingdom covering floors with carpets are the most popular type of flooring. Luckily underfloor electric heating can be used with carpets too, provided the carpets are not very thick. To use a underfloor heating system you have to make sure the carpets TOG value is less than 2.0. Where there is a underlay carpet the combined TOG value should be less than TOG 2.0.

Regrettably electric under floor heating systems are not as universally compatible with the floor types we got today as we would like. It is not recommended for use with some popular wooden flooring such as beech wood and maple wood floors. If you want to install underfloor heating a under a wooden floor you should consult with your floor and heating system suppliers before you do it.

The same applies for Marmoleum, PVC, Lenolium and cushion floor surfaces. Before you install electric floor heating you need to check with both suppliers to make sure they are suitable.

Fireplaces are having a second wind and more and more people are installing them at home. You will see fireplaces in new homes built in places where the climate means they will never need a fire.

A fireplace can be very useful. Through the cold, long winter nights they are able to provide light. You are not going to freeze to death if your gas or electricity goes out if you have a working fireplace at home. You are even able to cook over them. You can show off your collectables or photographs on the mantle, or hanging your Christmas stocks there too.

Fireplaces can be hard work sometimes too. Firewood will need to be bought or cut. You have got to store this wood as well. Before you can think of starting a fire you have got to ensure that your flue is working correctly and also that the chimney is swept and clean, making sure it is free from birds or other animals nests. You also have to clear the hearth and pit of ashes after you have used the fire. When you have the fire lit it is always a good idea to have a fire guard around it, this is going to stop hot embers from coming out of the fire and landing on your carpet or furniture, these embers can cause fires.

During summer, when it is warmer and the fire is not in use fireplace candle holders are a nice addition. Fireplace candle holders can be bought at almost any department store and also at small candle stores. These candle holders are a wonderful decorating idea, the candles add a lovely glow to the fireplace while giving off minimal heat. This is a simple way to have your fireplace looking its best and without the trouble of having a real fire burning.

Electric underfloor heating is a common feature in homes today. Before you buy a home with this feature and especially before you go through and have it installed in the home you live in now, there are a few pointers you may want to consider. There are many advantages offered by the electric underfloor heating but also certain drawbacks you should be aware of. Take time to weigh out both sides before deciding whether or not it is right for you.

Of course, the main benefit of the heated floors is you never have to worry about stepping on and walking around on cold floors again. Especially after getting out of the shower or bath, your body temperature is lower and it can be uncomfortable to step out onto an ice-cold floor. With the heated floors, they are always preset and warm for you to step out on. You do not need to worry about wearing slippers around the house all the time just to keep your feet toasty warm. Imagine waking up in the morning and getting out of your nice, warm bed onto a warm cozy floor.

Heated floors are nice if you have children in the home, as kids tend to have a lower body temperature to start with and who can therefore get much colder than adults can, especially at nighttime. This can help prevent them from getting sick, particularly from the common colds and flu. Heated floors also help with energy costs because they keep your house warmer so you spend less on paying the heat your house as a result.

There are a few drawbacks, namely the cost of having heated floors installed. Whether you want them installed in your current home or plan to buy a house with preinstalled heated floors, you are pretty much going to be paying more either way. Heated floors also tend to have a relatively slow response time, so it can take a fair bit of time for the floors to heat up and you may end up needing to keep them turned on all the time just to avoid having to constantly wait for them to heat up. These are some important pros and cons to consider, but it is certainly not hard to see why electric underfloor heating is so popular today.