My favorite feature of my house is the radiant heated floors.
Living in the northeastern part of the country, the winters are long and brutal.
The heating system runs for the majority of the year. We experience months of temperatures below freezing and expect them to drop all the way down into the negative twenties. The only real drawback of radiant heating is the lack of a centralized cooling option. The summers in this area are short enough that whole-home cooling isn’t really necessary. There are numerous unique benefits provided by heated floors. It starts with a boiler installed in the basement that heats water and sends it through a network of pipes installed beneath the floors. Because the equipment is entirely concealed, it doesn’t negatively impact the decor. I don’t need to arrange furniture to accommodate supply and return vents. The heating system doesn’t take up valuable living space. Because the system uses water to convey heat energy, it doesn’t create problems with insufficient humidity. The closed loop system doesn’t draw in or introduce any contaminants into the breathing air. The operation is silent and especially clean. Radiant flooring spreads the heat evenly across the floor and it rises slowly. There are no drafts, no cold spots and the temperature from floor to ceiling never wavers more than a few degrees from the thermostat. The system is amazingly energy efficient, keeping running costs low. The heat is wonderfully gentle. Stepping out of bed in the morning or getting out of the shower and standing on a warm floor is such a luxury.