Bringing UFH luxury to a compact flat

The British public loves a home renovation. For decades, we’ve been glued to our screens watching a succession of TV programmes from Changing Rooms to Grand Designs, usually showing houses being transformed into beautiful homes for families across the UK.

Most of these renovations involve extensions to larger houses, but what if you live in a flat? Flat owners also want to add value to their homes and transform their living spaces into aspirational properties that they will love to come home to.

When a compact 63m² flat in Oxfordshire was being renovated and modernised, the homeowners wanted underfloor heating (UFH) installed to maximise their precious room space with a striking, modern tiled floor and efficient heating.

Briarpath Properties was the company in charge of the renovation, and they contacted Continal Underfloor Heating to see whether it would be possible to install an UFH system across the whole of the ground-floor property.

Because the system was being installed in a flat, maximising space was vitally important both across the floor and floor to ceiling. The UFH system would need to be installed on top of the existing floor, leaving space for tiles to be laid on top of the UFH without significantly adding to the build-up height.

After discussing the project in detail with our Technical Sales Adviser, Harry King, the customer chose our TileFix®-18 system, alongside our SUPERflex™-12 pipe and Quantum digital thermostats for advanced, easy-to-use heating controls.

TileFix® is the only UFH system you can tile directly onto with no need for special treatments. The high-compressive-strength composite panel is typically installed over existing solid or timber deck floors, with a low-profile from just 18mm. This means the UFH can be installed without significant height build up causing problems with existing doors or making the ceilings feel low.

Once the TileFix® panels are in place, ceramic, porcelain, marble and stone tiles can be bonded directly onto them using a suitable tile adhesive. The universal TileFix® panels provide pipe routing for return loops and distribution, ensuring simple installation of the heating pipe.

Here, we recommended Continal’s SUPERflex™-12 pipe, which is designed to be extremely flexible, with a minimum bend radius of 60mm. This increased flexibility makes it easy to install and far less likely to kink than standard plumbing pipe. It is also particularly suitable for low-temperature heating systems, helping to maximise the efficiency of the heating system.

Time was of the essence with this project, and the client was very pleased with the prompt response and service that Continal was able to provide. We were able to turn around the quote very quickly, supporting them through specifying the best system for the job, which was then delivered on time to keep the project moving smoothly.