Radiant retrofits · Basements & bathrooms
Warm floors for the home you already have.
Retrofits are a big part of what we do. One bathroom, a basement or an addition: depending on your home, loops go into a thin overpour, under the subfloor between joists, or into new construction, and a site visit tells us which route fits.
Three routes in
How radiant goes into an existing home
Which one fits depends on your floors, your framing and the room. That’s what the site visit is for.
On top of the subfloor
Loops are laid over the existing subfloor and covered with a thin pour, then your finished floor goes on top. A common route for bathrooms and main floors being redone.
Under the subfloor
Loops run under the subfloor, between the joists, with insulation below to drive the heat up into the room. The floor above stays as it is.
In new construction
A finished basement or an addition gets loops over rigid insulation in the new slab, built the same way as a new home: tested before the pour, even warmth after.
Where people start
The rooms that feel it most
Warm floors in one room, a whole level, or everything the renovation touches.
Basements
Basements are where floors feel coldest. Loops over insulation drive the heat up into the room instead of down into the ground, and the whole floor becomes one big, quiet radiator. See a full-basement project
Bathrooms
Tile and stone stay warm underfoot all winter, and the bathroom can hold its own temperature on its own zone.
Additions
An addition is new construction, so it gets radiant designed from the slab up, on its own zone or tied into the house.
Any finished floor
Tile, stone, polished concrete, engineered hardwood and luxury vinyl all perform well over radiant. Even carpet works with the right underpad.
The heat source
Usually no separate boiler. A properly sized combi or system boiler can handle radiant and hot water together. About boilers
One trade, one schedule
Retrofit timelines depend on the approach, and you get a clear schedule at the site visit. With heating and plumbing under one trade, there’s one number to call.
How it works
From first visit to warm floors
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Step one
Site visit
We look at the room, the floors, the framing and your mechanical room, and tell you which route fits your home.
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Step two
Heat loss & design
A room-by-room heat-loss calculation to the CSA F280-12 methodology, then the loop layout, zoning and water temperatures the space actually needs. How our designs work
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Step three
Installation & testing
Loops laid exactly to the design and pressure-tested, and wherever there’s a pour, tested before and during it, so nothing gets covered untested.
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Step four
Commissioned & documented
Every zone commissioned and balanced, the paperwork in your file, and a walkthrough of how it all works before we leave.
From our projects
Existing spaces, warm underfoot
Retrofits, answered
Retrofit questions
Can radiant 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.
Can I heat just one bathroom or the basement?
Yes. Radiant works for single spaces like bathrooms, basements and garages as well as whole homes, and each area can hold its own temperature on its own zone.
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.
Do I need a new boiler?
Usually not a separate one. A properly sized combi or system boiler can handle your radiant heating and domestic hot water together, and additional zones hang off the same unit. We size everything from a heat-loss calculation, which also tells us whether your current equipment is up to it.
How long does a retrofit take?
It depends 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.
Your project next
Warm floors, without starting over
Book a free consultation and we’ll walk your home, run the heat-loss numbers, and tell you exactly what radiant would take in your space. No pressure, no guesswork.
