Benefits of Underfloor Heating
So you live on the Costa del Sol, one of the sunniest places in Spain, one of the sunniest countries in the world. Is installing underfloor heating in your new, architect-designed home or villa worth the effort and expense? As a professional architect and residential and commercial building designer based in the south of Spain, we at McLundie Architects say yes. Here’s why:
Underfloor Heating Provides Better Heating Distribution. Marbella, Sotogrande, Gibraltar, and the rest of the Costa del Sol may be well known for its warm weather, and rightly so, but winter is still winter and heating your home is still a necessity in Spain, no matter where you live. After all, even if the average temperature during the coldest months of December and January is just 15 degrees, that can be quite the change when you’ve gotten accustomed to average 32+ degree temperature summers!
Underfloor heating is a great heating option for homes and villas in Spain because they distribute heat evenly across your home, meaning you don’t need much to take the edge off a cooler autumn evening or chillier winter day. Better heat distribution means that you can accomplish a comfortable temperature across your entire home, too. No more pockets of warmth and cold to navigate while living your best life in Spain, letting you do whatever you love best all year, without interruption.
And because heat travels upward, underfloor heating means you’ll not only have barefoot-worthy warm floors no matter what the outside temperature, the surrounding air, all the way up to the ceiling, will be heated comfortably, too -something other heating methods in Spain can’t accomplish.
Underfloor Heating Can Improve Your Interior Design. Choosing to install underfloor heating at your home or villa in Spain is an effective way of ensuring the exact interior design aesthetic you’re looking for because underfloor heating is completely invisible. Your home will be free of any bulky heaters or air con devices that block views or distract attention away from your show home worthy interior design look and feel.
This lack of wall-mounted air con installation also means you can also free up valuable wall space, letting your architect use it to install additional windows or built-in storage, or allowing you to place furniture, wallpaper, or artwork in any arrangement you prefer without worry about visual clutter or air flow. You can also install an underfloor heating system with practically any flooring, giving you free reign to include whichever floor style you prefer in your interior design, including stone, tile, and marble flooring, popular in Spain and Gibraltar for their ability to keep your home cool in summer.
Underfloor Heating Lowers Your Long-Term Heating Costs. Believe it or not, stone, tile, and marble floors are actually ideal for winter temperatures on the Costa del Sol, too, if you have underfloor heating installed as these materials offer some of the best thermodynamic properties of any flooring type, and making them exceptionally suited for effectively -and cost efficiently, cooling and heating your home no matter what season you’re in.
Despite the luxury of having it installed in your home, opting for underfloor heating also happens to be less expensive than you may think, especially if installed during the initial building of your new home, making it an ideal touch of luxury to include when planning your villa’s design with your architect. Exact costs will always depend on the size and layout of your home, but with significantly lower installation costs plus wholesale pricing that construction companies are offered on parts, getting underfloor heating in your new build villa on the Costa del Sol can be very affordable.
Maintenance costs on your underfloor heating are also quite low as they require almost no up-keep, especially if you opt for an electric underfloor heating system. Wet underfloor heating systems do require periodic servicing, which can fractionally increase costs, but are also less expensive to use on a daily basis, so make sure your architect provides an estimated cost analysis for each type based on your home’s design so you can make an informed decision on which underfloor heating system is right for you.
On-going costs are further reduced and sustainability is improved with the knowledge that underfloor heating has been shown to reduce your home’s energy use by up to 40%. Plus, should you ever decide to sell your home, having underfloor heating installed is a major asset: 74% of homebuyers say they’re willing to pay more for a home that includes an underfloor heating system.
When Not To Install Underfloor Heating
While we generally recommend including underfloor heating in the design of any home, there are two areas in your home you can expect any architect to recommend that it not be installed: directly under a refrigerator and directly under large, heavy furniture. This is because the heat provided could make food go off faster or create host spots which could damage the floor or the furniture on top. Even this, though, can be avoided by installing underfloor heating in combination with marble, stone, or tile flooring which evenly distributes heat -another reason why underfloor heating and Costa del Sol homes are perfectly suited for each other!
In short, if you’re looking to build a home or villa in Spain, don’t forget to speak to your architect about including underfloor heating in its design. It’s well worth it for a variety of reasons.
McLundie Architects are experts at residential home and commercial building design in southern Spain and Gibraltar who specialise in end-to-end bespoke design that meets your lifestyle and your budget with a strong customer charter that puts you at the heart of everything we do.
We are advocates for innovation, sustainability, and quality in every building we design and build and would love the opportunity to discuss your up-coming project and how we can implement it to your vision and the highest of standards.
+34 956 796 651 (Sotogrande, Spain)
+350 200 71913 (Gibraltar) colin@mclundie.com