Climate blanket vs. underfloor heating

Hello, You write about variant 5 regarding the drywall installation. Do you already have experience with this? Although we are building with bricks, we do not want to do without wood in the roof structure, due to exposed beams, etc..

Hi, no, I have no experience with that myself, it was briefly a topic during our planning phase because we didn’t yet know whether the upper floor should also have a solid ceiling, but that was settled after this decision. There was a few years ago a segment in the third channel production "Simply Genius." Maybe the segment can still be found online somewhere. It was (also) about the drywall thing. It’s actually not rocket science; there are special drywall profiles with a groove into which the heating pipes can be clipped.

In the bathroom, we would also have underfloor heating installed. In the other rooms, we would like a KD.

KD = cooling ceiling?

Is the feeling of warmth different when the rooms are especially high?? It is said that hot air always rises, and we won’t be putting any walls above the first floor, so we will have partial room heights of almost 4 meters

So – the feeling is certainly different, because as the distance to the "radiator" increases, the absorbed radiant energy will decrease further, I think. We have about 2.55 m ceiling height on the ground floor and 2.42 m in the upper floor. That works well as mentioned. Whether you can possibly build higher by increasing the supply temperature, I can’t say. A neighbor has this ceiling variant with "pipes embedded in bricks," and due to a worse insulation standard of his house, he used higher supply temperatures anyway, but his upper floor has very high ceilings (basically a shed roof but with brick ceilings), and nobody "froze" in winter. But – I have no personal experience with that.

Can you also install the KD yourself, is it as easy as underfloor heating??

I really can’t tell you that; it also depends on your skills. I always think there’s a good reason why most tradespeople spend 3-3.5 years learning their profession. You can certainly do things wrong, and I would want to avoid that in my own home. And whether “clicking in” the heating pipes saves that much money, I find questionable.

What distinguishes all the providers? Is there anything special to pay attention to??? What material should the pipes be made of?? Plastic? Aluminum??

No idea. At the time, I didn’t do a market analysis of the suppliers. The ceilings came from the same brickworks that supplied the insulating bricks – that was just a bit easier for the shell builder to organize...

We won’t have a heat pump; is there still any way to use the cooling function??

Surely you can have a cooling circuit installed easily with a small split air conditioner connected. It’s important that you have this conceptually done by a professional and don’t just hire a craftsman like “just do heating.” For this, there are building services planners... but of course, they only work for money. It all starts with a heating load calculation that will also provide cooling load data with which the system can then be designed.

Is the system even economical without the cooling function, or are there extra costs compared to underfloor heating???

What do you understand by economical? You invest something and get a warm house. You get that anyway – no matter which variant you choose. Whether one or the other option burdens you with extra costs... and whether these are worth it to you, you have to decide yourself or calculate or find out through tenders. In your case, because of your heating choice, you have to add a cooling function with an air conditioning unit. That won’t be cheap – including piping. I’d naively guess maybe 3-4k at minimum for the system technology – plus about 20-30 €/m² of ceiling cooling surface installed. How that all fits with your idea of exposed beams in the upper floor... uff. But you can also use the cooling function in the underfloor heating; the efficiency is a bit different there because you also have to ensure some convection; otherwise, you only get “cold pools” and heat accumulates under the ceiling in summer. regards karliseppel

hello karliseppel,

i have another question ...
with underfloor heating at 35° supply temperature, the floor is relatively warm so that children can comfortably play on it. with a climate ceiling, the floor will probably only be around 23° - 25° warm (right?!?). of course, that is not so optimal for children because they might be sick all the time ...!?!?
do you have any experience with this or what is your opinion?

thanks again in advance
best regards
graebsch

I'll ask:
what heating system did the house have in your childhood (presumably high-temperature convectors)
and how warm was the floor and how often were you sick there... ?

... and how warm is the air in which you move...

And: The 35° flow temperature in underfloor heating is the design temperature - that is, for the
lowest expected outdoor temperatures... normally, in a currently
well-insulated house, underfloor heating rarely runs above 30° flow temperature anyway.
How much of that then actually reaches the surface is another matter.

But regarding your concern about the "too cold" floor - this is not entirely unfounded with especially
well heat-conducting substrates. With tile floors, would tend (additionally) to underfloor heating.

thanks for your quick reply!!!
yes you're right, of course we had the classic radiators under the window back then.
the difference was that somehow there used to be more carpets around. and playing on the carpet is of course never a problem.
however, we will have parquet in the living room and dining room, on which we will not lay any carpets.
so there is indeed a difference between then and now.
we will probably install underfloor heating on the natural stone floor in the hallway, bathroom, between the kitchen units and island, etc. the question is whether the climate ceiling in the living room, bedroom, children's room, etc., where we have parquet, will be sufficient, or if we should also install underfloor heating there...!?
best regards, graebsch

Hi, well, whether "it's enough" is decided by the design and the heating demand of the building. Both are calculated accordingly. We have parquet in all children's rooms and bedrooms and the heat only from above - I've never felt cold on the floor. Not even last winter with outside temperatures below -20°C. Do you have the possibility to "test feel" it somewhere first? If necessary, the ceiling manufacturer can name a builder from the area.

Our architect is arranging an appointment for me at a house with a climate ceiling near us. By the way, it would be a brick climate ceiling from Staudacher Ziegel ... by any chance the same?