Share Your Story: Reclaiming the Family Room with Radiant Heat

We truly value our customers, and love to hear their feedback about our products and services. We are always seeking to learn how we can serve the customer better! To provide a forum to share their own story and to tell it in their own words, we have the “Share Your Story” program. This program invites our customers to share their stories, photos, videos, and drawings with us.

Upon reading Robert Van Gent’s story about finding his own radiant heat solution for his home, and then installing it in his son-in-law and daughter’s home in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, using our Environ II radiant floor heating system under laminate floors, we knew that his story must be told!

A family room that was too cold for the family of 11 to enjoy during the winter months, now a place where they can gather and the children can play freely. We are so glad that we were a part of their home comfort solution!

Without further ado, we are pleased to crown, Robert Van Gent, this month’s, “Share Your Story” winner!

Take a look at his story!

My son-in-law and daughter live with their 9 children in a large split level home. The family room (located in the lower level) is on a concrete slab that was covered with linoleum tiles and topped off with carpeting. Much time is spent in that room, but when wintertime arrives - the floor is much too cold to be comfortable. Since I had purchased floor heating for my own home, I suggested we do the same in their home.

Shortly after Christmas 2009, we decided to take action. One of my grandsons and I disposed of the old carpeting, installed a vinyl moisture barrier, and topped it off with quarter-inch 2x2 cork underlayment squares. With the assistance of WarmlyYours, we came up with a smart installation plan to lay 2 separate 6x10 Environ II floor heating rolls, each with its own comfort regulator in the areas most frequented by the children. Installation was simple and straightforward!

With the heating rolls ordered and the old floor disposed, we then purchased DuPont® RealTouch™ Elite Laminate as the floor covering in lieu of the carpeting. One drawback, which I had not considered, was that the laminate arrived with an attached rubberized underlayment. With the help of WarmlyYours technicians, they directed me to remove this underlayment over the heating elements, so as not to obstruct the radiant effect. This was not a difficult or demanding assignment, and we were able to do it in short order. Running the electrical wiring was made easier by utilizing the cork.

After installing the baseboards, we were ready to give the units their “shakedown run.” The floor heating rolls performed better than anticipated! Not only were we happy with the "softer" floor but also the warmth that radiated through the flooring, allowing us to be comfortable even in bare feet in the middle of winter! The long winters have become a pleasure in a room that had previously been shunned due to the cold floor. And, the cost of operating this system and its electrical usage is very minimal. My family now loves their floor again.

Thank you!

Robert Van Gent

Special Note:

Robert’s family, Jeff and Karen Smith loved the family room radiant floor heating so much that they added our ValueMat™ electric floor heating system in two of their bathrooms and anticipate including radiant heat when they renovate their sunroom.

If you enjoyed this story, you may enjoy reading about last month's Share Your Story winner, "Electric Floor Heating: The Best of All Worlds"

We’d love to hear your story! Share it with us!

Pictured: A Custom SmartPlan example, and 4 of the 9 Smith children, Seth, Josiah, Emma, and Leah (Ages 12 to 5).