In-floor heating & hydronic systems
Most of your heat is at the ceiling.
Radiant in-floor heating puts it where you actually live — warm underfoot, even across the whole room, completely silent. Serving Barrie & Simcoe County.
What’s under the floor
Five layers between you and a cold morning
A radiant floor isn’t a product you buy — it’s a system we build into your home. Here’s what actually goes in, from the floor you walk on down to the ground.
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- 1Finished floorEngineered wood, tile or polished concrete over an underlayment.
- 2Concrete slabPoured over the loops — it stores their warmth and radiates it evenly.
- 3Heating loopsContinuous oxygen-barrier PEX, tied over the insulation and pressure-tested before the pour.
- 4InsulationRigid foam under the loops — drives heat up into your room, not down.
- 5Compacted baseAn engineered, compacted sub-base — a stable foundation.
See how the whole warm-water system connects on the Radiant & Hydronics page →
See where the heat goes
The same room, two ways to heat it
Drag to compare. Forced air pushes warm air to the ceiling and leaves your floor cold. Radiant warms the floor itself, so the heat rises evenly from where you actually stand.
Radiant in-floor
Forced air
What we install
Heating and plumbing, done by specialists
Radiant in-floor heating
Warm, even floors for new builds and retrofits — whole-home or a single bathroom. Works under tile, hardwood, vinyl and engineered floors.
Hydronic systems
High-efficiency boilers, baseboards, towel warmers and snow-melt driveways — all run from the same warm-water heart of your home.
Plumbing
Repairs, renovations, fixtures and water heaters — the everyday plumbing your home needs, done right the first time.
Go deeper on the Radiant & Hydronics page →
How it works
From first visit to warm floors
Every install starts with the math, not the sales pitch. Here’s what working with us looks like.
Site visit & heat-loss design
We walk your home or plans, run the heat-loss calculations, and design the loop layout and water temperatures your space actually needs.
Rough-in & pressure test
Insulation goes down, loops are tied and manifolded, and everything is pressure-tested and inspected before a single drop of concrete covers it.
Commission & warm-up
After the pour, we connect the boiler or heat source, balance every zone, and bring your floors up to temperature — then show you how it all works.
For builders & GCs
A heating partner your schedule can count on
We work alongside custom-home builders and general contractors across Simcoe County, from rough-in to commissioning — with one trade handling both heating and plumbing so your trades calendar stays simple.
- Radiant design and heat-loss calculations
- Rough-ins delivered on schedule
- TSSA-certified installs that pass inspection
- Heating and plumbing under one trade
Why True North
Licensed, insured, and radiant to the core
TSSA licensed
Gas and hydronic work certified to Ontario code.
WSIB covered
Fully covered crews on every job site.
Fully insured
Liability coverage that protects your home.
Radiant specialists
In-floor heating is what we do, not a sideline.
Where we work
Serving Barrie & Simcoe County
New build or retrofit, we cover Barrie and the towns across Simcoe County and the southern Georgian Bay region.
Planning a project? Get in touch →
What could you save?
Estimate your radiant savings
Enter what you spend on heating now and tell us what you’re heating with today. We’ll estimate what radiant in-floor heating could save you each year.
Enter your heating cost and choose your current system to see your estimate.
Estimates are based on U.S. DOE, ENERGY STAR, and NRCan data. Actual savings depend on your home and heating setup.
Common questions
Radiant heating, answered
Can radiant in-floor heating be added to an existing home?
Yes. Retrofits are a big part of what we do — depending on your home, loops can go into a thin overpour, under the subfloor between joists, or into new construction like an addition or finished basement. A site visit tells us which route fits your space — or see how the whole system goes together.
What flooring works over radiant heat?
Tile, stone, polished concrete, engineered hardwood and luxury vinyl all perform well over radiant. Even carpet works with the right underpad. We design the system around your finished floor, not the other way around.
Does radiant heat the whole house, or just the floors?
A properly designed hydronic radiant system is whole-home heating — the floor is simply the radiator. We size it with a room-by-room heat-loss calculation. It also works beautifully for single spaces like bathrooms, basements and garages.
Is radiant in-floor heating expensive to run?
Hydronic radiant runs on lower water temperatures than traditional radiators and eliminates the duct losses that come with forced air — which is where the “up to 30%” figure on this page comes from. Your actual costs depend on your home, fuel and insulation, and we’ll walk through that at your consultation.
How long does an installation take?
For a new build, the rough-in typically fits within your existing construction schedule. Retrofit timelines depend on the approach — we’ll give you a clear schedule at the site visit, and as one trade handling both heating and plumbing, we keep it simple.
Do I still need ductwork or air conditioning?
Radiant handles heating, not cooling or ventilation. Many of our clients pair radiant floors with a small ducted or ductless system for summer cooling — we’ll coordinate with your other trades so everything works together.
Feel the difference
Warm floors, in your own home
Book a free consultation and we’ll tell you exactly what radiant would take in your space — new build or retrofit.
