Underfloor heating in Gwent

What does bathroom underfloor heating cost in Gwent?

Our guide range in Gwent is £650–£2,300 including VAT. Prices in Gwent run at about 7% below the UK guide, based on Wales labour rates.

Guide prices for Gwent including VAT. Your itemised written quote after the free survey is the price that counts.

Which towns do we cover in Gwent?

• Newport
• Cwmbran
• Pontypool
• Ebbw Vale
• Caerphilly
• Risca
• Gelligaer
• Blackwood

Water hardness varies across Gwent: some supplies are soft, others moderately hard or hard. Mid-tone grout and matt tiles hide the odd water mark better than dark grout and high gloss. Hardness varies street by street, so check the figure for your postcode with your water supplier. We check door thresholds in Newport homes at the survey, because underfloor heating and new tiles raise the floor slightly.

What the job includes

• Resistance and insulation tests on the mat before, during and after tiling, with the readings recorded
• A dial, programmable or smart thermostat, with the supply RCD protected, tested and certified by a qualified electrician
• The electric mat or cable laid to the open floor, kept clear of where the WC, bath and fixed furniture will sit
• Insulation boards over the subfloor, so heat goes up into the tiles rather than down into the joists or screed
• A check of the floor construction, the room's heat loss and where the thermostat and supply will go
• For wet systems, pipes in low-profile boards or screed connected to a manifold or single-zone kit, with any boiler work done by a Gas Safe registered engineer

Decisions to make first

Floor heating and towel rail

Underfloor heating warms the room; a towel rail dries towels. Many bathrooms have both, and a dual-fuel rail keeps working in summer when the boiler is off.

Electric or wet

Electric is cheaper to install and quick to lay in one room. Wet costs more upfront but is usually cheaper to run where it is fed by a gas boiler or heat pump.

Insulation board thickness

Thicker boards warm up faster and lose less heat downwards, but raise the floor; the right choice depends on the door threshold and the next room.

Floor finish

Tiles and stone pass heat through well. LVT and vinyl can work, but check the maximum floor temperature the flooring maker allows.

Rules that apply in Wales

Electric underfloor heating in a bathroom must be on a circuit with 30 mA RCD protection under BS 7671, and the thermostat is positioned to suit the bathroom zones. There is no separate approval for the heating itself, but it should have its own thermostat and timer so it only runs when needed, and the electrical work must meet BS 7671 — in England and Wales it is notifiable as bathroom electrical work. Any work on a gas boiler for a wet system must be done by a Gas Safe registered engineer.

In Wales, the Welsh Part P also makes a new underfloor heating circuit notifiable, and it covers more bathroom electrical work than the English version. A registered electrician handles the notification.