Listed buildings
Underfloor heating history
The challenge of heating a historic property without impacting on its character is one that has taxed heating engineers for many years. Recently, underfloor heating has been providing an excellent solution, either used alone or in combination with complementary types of heating product, as Michelle Taylor, product manager for Myson underfloor heating, explains
insulation, windows and doors, room sizes and ceiling heights, performing a heat loss calculation to determine the output required to provide comfortable warmth. In historic buildings, however, there may be other important challenges and considerations, such as wood panelling and original decorations, which are integral to the period of the property. When Battle Abbey School in Sussex, situated on the site of the famous 1066 Battle of Hastings, purchased a Tudor period property across the road from its historic main campus, the building had clearly had its own battle with the cold over many generations. Not surprisingly, former owners of the Grade 1 listed property had been afraid of spoiling the character of the building and, as a result, 70% of the building had always been unheated. To add to the challenge, the rooms varied greatly
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in size, they were erratic shapes, and the floors sloped considerably – up to 30° in some places. The building also featured beamed ceilings which needed to be left undisturbed. This needed careful thought from an unbiased viewpoint, so we were approached as a manufacturer of a wide range of heating solutions, about the best approach to take. Disrupting the panelling was not an option, so our
advice was to install a specially tailored underfloor heating system, which our experts then helped to design. To follow the undulations of the floor, our team designed a unique batten system which could be adaptable to differing floor gradients, unusual wall angles and widely varying room sizes. By calculating the heat output required room by room, the installer was able to assess the length of pipe needed to heat each one, and then tailor the batten system accordingly. Once the battens had been laid, insulation was added and aluminium diffuser plates were cut to exact shapes before installation, creating a truly made-to-measure system for the required pipe to be laid into and secured. This was used on every floor of the building. Because durability and longevity are even more important in a historic property than they are in a modern one, our five-layered hydronic PEXcellent
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s with any other building, when designing a heating system for a historic building, you should first consider its construction, levels of
pipe was used to keep water securely contained. With the system installed, new flooring and carpeting could then be laid throughout, completing the comfort for the students while preserving the historic character intact. Underfloor heating can also be used to great effect in combination with other types of heating solutions. The 12th Century church St Helena’s in South Scarle, Newark, had never had a central heating system before; what meagre warmth it had was provided by a few gas heaters installed on the underside of some of the pews. These were patchy and ineffective in heating a large space with inherently cold stone floor and walls. The Parish was embarking on a complete
renovation of the church, broadening its purpose to create a community centre for the village, with chairs instead of pews, to host activities such as quiz nights, theatre groups, yoga classes and toddler groups, as well as Sunday services. This provided a clean sheet for designing a new heating system, so our experts were able to take an objective view of the project before recommending a solution. With the pews being removed, it was decided that the floor could be dug up to accommodate a new state of the art Myson Floortec underfloor heating system, this time used in combination with ULOW E2 radiators. The stone walls of St Helena’s are smooth and white, so the flat panel appearance of the white ULOW E2s allowed them to complement their surroundings, adding a subtle modern touch which matches the new décor and re-purpose of the building. ULOW E2 radiators provide a vital part of the total solution. Although they deliver reliable ambient warmth in static mode, in dynamic mode they can also offer a rapid response and an additional burst of heat when required. This is supplied by a bank of small fans, housed inside the radiator casing, which will kick in when the temperature drops below a pre-set level or when desired by the end user. This perfectly solved the Parish Council’s wish that the heating system might be unusually responsive, so that short notice events can be held with ease, and that the many diverse groups, with varying ages and degrees of mobility, can all be kept comfortable and warm, despite the changing weather outside.
In order to install the underfloor system, the old stone floor was taken up and several tons of underlying dirt were excavated. In this new space, a tailored framework of joists and battens was installed, completely re-engineering the floor. Insulation was then added and aluminium diffuser pates installed to carry Myson PEXcellent pipe. Using five-layered pipe has helped to give the new underfloor system a lengthy lifespan, making it a reliable resource for future generations. With this in place, a new wooden floor was laid in place of stone, providing a more comfortable floor covering. As the centre of village activity, St Helena’s has a busy timetable, and the new total heating solution is a blessing for the community seven days a week. Through finding solutions for more challenging historic projects, as an industry, we have learned a lot of lessons which can be applied in a wide range of more modern commercial settings. So many commercial properties now present a mixture of large and small areas, that we should be thinking about the possibilities of more than one product as routine. Many clearly are, as 30% of the enquiries that we receive about assistance with system design now concern combined systems with more than one type of heating product. Larger, open, public-facing spaces are often perfect for underfloor heating, while smaller back office spaces may benefit more from radiators or fan convectors. In areas in which it is not practical to lay a hydronic system, electric heating can offer a very effective solution. It no longer needs to be one or the other; it can often, more practically, be more than one solution. We must be sure that all the products work effectively. Sourcing them from the same manufacturer not only ensures that they have been manufactured to the same high quality, it also means that system guarantees are available because the various component are designed to work efficiently together, and it gives you access to product and system design advice from the experts too. Underfloor heating has proved its value time and time again in commercial settings on its own; now it is also gaining a very impressive track record in working in combination with other products such as radiators. You could say it’s making history.
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