Radiant heating
The cold gets into the floor and stays there.
Hydronic radiant heat designed, installed and commissioned for San Francisco homes, ADUs and garage conversions where a slab is going down.
Tube spacing is decided room by room.
Hydronic radiant heating circulates warm water through flexible PEX tubing set into the floor, under a concrete slab or a layer of gypcrete. The floor becomes a large, low-temperature radiator and heats the room evenly from the ground up. There are no ducts, no vents and no air being pushed around, which means no drafts, no cold corners and no cycling on and off.
San Francisco’s climate is what this system was built for. The city is rarely freezing, but the damp coastal chill settles into old floors and concrete slabs and stays there. We are also seeing ADUs, ground-floor additions and garage conversions across the city where a new slab is being poured anyway, which is the moment radiant costs least to install.
No two homes heat the same way, so we specify every system from scratch. Tube spacing and loop lengths for each zone, the boiler or water heater output that serves them, and a manifold sized to balance the heat across rooms. A system specified properly on the front end runs at lower water temperatures and performs from the first winter. We also service existing systems, including ones we did not install.
The work
What we take on
System design
Zoned to the layout and how the rooms are used, with tube spacing and loop lengths calculated for each zone.
PEX-A tubing layout
The most flexible and durable of the tubing options, laid out to the design before the pour.
Manifold installation
Sized to balance delivery across the home, so a bathroom floor need not run on the living room’s schedule.
Heat source connection
Boiler or water heater, including systems that pair with solar thermal and heat pump water heaters.
Pressure testing before the pour
Tested and held under pressure while the concrete goes down, which is the only time to find a fault.
Contractor coordination
We work to your concrete contractor’s schedule, because the pour does not wait for the plumbing.
Commissioning
The system is brought up, balanced and handed over with a walkthrough of the controls.
Service for existing systems
Including homes bought with radiant already in them, and older systems that have stopped performing.
Questions
What clients ask first
It is most cost-effective when a concrete pour is already planned: new construction, ADUs, garage conversions, or a remodel taking the flooring down to the subfloor. Retrofitting an existing slab is more involved but can still be worth it.
There are no ducts, no vents and no air movement. Heat rises evenly from the floor instead of being blown into the room, so there are no drafts, no cold spots and none of the cycling forced air relies on.
A boiler or a water heater, connected as part of the installation. Radiant works efficiently at lower water temperatures, and it pairs with solar thermal and heat pump water heaters.
Yes. The manifold zones the home, so areas can be run independently. A heated bathroom floor does not need to be on the same schedule as a living room.
Yes. We service radiant systems we did not install, including ones that came with the home and older systems that have stopped heating evenly.
Begin
Tell us about the home. We’ll take it from here.
A consultation for your build, your remodel, or a place in the Membership. If it’s an emergency, call us now.