Radiant heat is always a favorite type of heat but it is now only installed in higher priced homes. Homebuilders love to put in forced air heat because that is a cheaper type of heat and they try to keep their costs low. If you have a house with forced air and are hoping to put in radiant heat instead, it can get quite expensive and difficult in a preexisting home.

Radiant heat is great but if it is not installed right when the house is built, it becomes difficult to tear up all the floors and have it put in. Builders usually only put radiant heat into homes they are building as a luxury item and usually only in expensive home.

If you choose to have radiant heat installed in just one room or a couple of rooms, your best choice is probably electric radiant heat. This is because electric pads can be brought in and installed under the floors with a fair amount of ease and at a reasonable cost. The other common type of radiant heat is the hydronic variety that involves putting pipes of heated running water under the floors. This is a much bigger undertaking that the electric pads and can be much more expensive.

Occasionally you will find a home with radiant ceiling heat. The reason this is rare is that heat rises and having your heat come from the ceiling doesn’t work as well as the floor. Most times radiant heat is installed in the floors either by electric pads or tubes full of hot water. This way, the heat starts down low in a room and rises to fill the whole room. If you want to get radiant heat for some rooms in your house, make sure a contractor does not talk you into getting ceiling heat. If he suggests ceiling heat, find out why before you proceed

People love radiant heat because it is silent and heats a room efficiently. Unlike forced air, you never really know it is there because it is not blowing all over the place. It heats rooms evenly and it is much better for your skin than the dry air that gets pushed around your house with a forced air system. Radiant heat is the best choice if you are building a house and it will raise the value of your home if you are lucky enough to have it.