Underfloor heating is not a modern discovery. The practice was popular in ancient Rome, where architects used an elaborate duct system under specially designed floors. There were, basically, two separate floors, with space in between, through which, using an array of ducts, heated steam or water used to be passed. The heat or steam heated up the floor by convection, which then radiated heat into the room, bottom up, making the room warm all the way to the ceiling. Unlike fireplaces and radiators, which produce heat by radiation, convection heat lasted longer, and since it came from the floor, it was much more warming.

The practice was lost to European history, and only recently have archeologists digging in Roman sites realized how widely it was practiced. But the same practice, in another name, went on in Korea, too. People here used very similar technology to heat up their homes, and from Korea, the practice spread to Japan and elsewhere. The great American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, decided to use the same technology when he was building the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo.

Underfloor heating saves money for you by making room heating more efficient. As mentioned, underfloor heating first heats up the floor of your room. The heated floor retains heat much longer, and more efficiently, than heated air. So underfloor heating is more efficient than fireplaces and radiators, which heat up the air in your room to keep it warm.

If you want to make your room have underfloor heating, you can order special flooring material that creates the necessary structure for underfloor heating. The setup will involve some sort of a steam or water boiler outside or under the house, which will pass warm water or air through the ducts and vents in the floor. Using this, you will be able to save a great deal of energy expenses.

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