Hydronic (in floor or panels) is the most comfortable and cost effective heating option. No it's not "cheap" if taken on face value alone of installation cost, but when it's looked at as a long term investment it's a fantastic option for new builds. Depends on the longterm goals you have (for living in this particular house) and where your personal priorities lie in regards to comfort/costs/sustainability etc. Typically for in floor hydronic for standard house size it's probably ballpark $15-20K give or take depending. But if you consider 4x good quality split systems will equate to similar cost, in colder climate zones it really is a good option considering the quality of invisible silent and comfortable embodied heat as opposed to fan forced stratified dry hot air from an ugly visible fitting. Best of luck PD www.pauldistefanodesign.com

I’m so frustrated. I have the exact same problem except my rep says HE HAS NEVER HEARD OF THIS PROBLEM BEFORE. I’m just heartsick I wasted so much money on this floor. It started with big gapping problems right away, and what seemed like the finish coming off, and it looking dirty and footprints etc. It took about 14 months to get the claim back and Karndean said the installer “misrepresented” what underpayment was used. I also found out -14 months after my initial claim-that the dirty scuff marks was not part of my original claim. They say I have to make a new claim even though Jeremy the Karndean rep discussed the appearance with the distributor, Tri States flooring. No one let me look at the claim to make sure it has all the information. I am also not allowed to see any factory test results or any other type of information pertinent to my claim. They just tell me everything checked out on their end and it is my housekeeping skills that have caused a film to develop on my floor. I have only used their products or water and Norwex cloths. It is very disheartening to constantly have a dirty scruffy looking floor in a beautiful new kitchen I have waited my whole life floor. I truly regret not reading the reviews , I regret not using a real wood or ceramic product. For buying top of the line products I got factory seconds.

Going DA has its disadvantages. - Timing is way against you, unless you have time to kill, its quite a waiting process. - Want to speed it up, I recommend getting a town planner on board, yes they do make a difference, but it will never be as fast as CDC. - DA means opening your plan to neighbours objections. Have anyone ever have the nightmare of a neighbour calling you at 9pm to object to your plan? Just because he overheard someone says that we are going to cut some trees? I got objections to a submission about a family of bird that is going to be homeless when we trim some branches off. Or an acreage neighbour object to your 600sqm lot second storey addition because of privacy issue. They have backyard of 3000sqm with over 20m distance and have privacy issue? Give me a break, the backyard is enough to fit the whole street . Any objections from neighbour means a timestop from council, until they can investigate. - Some applications takes weeks until its 'allocated' to an officer. Meaning, its just sitting there gathering dust. Then its another 2 weeks of notifications. - Council front officers are the 'yes man' they say yes all the time, and all might be possible, with 'just submit it and we'll see' attitude. Once submitted, its 'not possible, and request for change or have it withdrawn'. Got clients slammed me because I refuse to do floorplan 20% over the allowed, they went to see front desk in council and told 'Just submit it and we'll see what we can do'. At the end its still rejected anyway, with cost of $$$ of DA application fee. And the advantages: - Council is the only one who can approve if there is no other way (heritage issue, flood / bushfire) - Council is negotiable to a degree, you just have to prove the merit, and talk in their language. - Council can fight for you against your neighbours objections. Took time, but yes they can be on your side. - Building a duplex with site a bit under the allowed? Three floors when its only allowed 2? Yes it can be done. Just play the game right. - Going with DA code sometimes means a bigger floor space allowed, higher roof, higher ceiling than the code for CDC, sometimes the fight and wait is well worthed. And finally there is the L&E Court. If things goes South, and everyone thinks they are correct, there is the L&E court to settle it. My point is : DA : go fully prepared, you are there to fight for it. CDC : get a good team, and the certifier is just there to certify. It will get done quicker. I am not anti councillors, I actually pity them, they are overworked, understaffed, and get abused in daily. If I can advice my clients to avoid DA and still come up with great result, I would go that path.

Yep, underfloor hydronic is the most effective form of heating you large-volume spaces with high ceilings. As hot air rises from the floor, heating the occupants, not the entire space. It's also a very comfortable form of heating, particularly for people who suffer from dust allergies or asthma. But hydronic systems can be very expensive to install. It is also uncommon in Australia, so can be difficult to find a specialist who is experienced in designing these systems. There are a few different ways to design an underfloor heating system. In-slab underfloor heating, where the hydronic tubes are located within the concrete slab. The slab is a huge mass. This very large thermal mass creates thermal lag, leading to very, very slow reaction times. Meaning the floor takes a very long time to heat up when turned in, & a very long time to cool down when turned off. Think a day or two, for the full reaction time, not an hour or two. This slow reaction time is only appropriate in climates that are extremely cold, in Europe & North America, where the heating is left in 24/7, for the entire winter. Unfortunately, due to the inexperience of many installers in Australia, this is often the method of underfloor heating installed here, & it's totally unsuitable to our variable winter climate. You have a warm winters day in Melbourne, & you're forced to open all the windows, as the floor is still radiating excess heat. This can often also be an inefficient system, as the floor losses heat into the surrounding earth. The slab must be very well insulated from the ground. In-screed is a far better option. Where insulating boards are placed on top of the slab, the hydronic tubes are attached to the boards, & a topping screed is poured over the system. This system has some thermal mass, but it's much lower than the entire slab. So the reaction time of the system is reduced. It is also a better insulated system, so heat losses are minimised. It is a more expensive, but better system. Thirdly, is hydronic systems for timber floors. which also uses aluminium defuser plates under the timber to spread the heat. Only certain engineered timbers should be used, as many timbers will warp. As Paul mentioned, timber is an insulator, so they'd is not an energy efficient system. The system is only as efficient as it's heat source. The options are either a gas boiler, or a heat pump. Gas boilers are cheaper to install, but consume more energy. So heat pumps will be cheaper to run, & better for the environment. My choice would be a heat pump. Make sure it's a heat pump specifically designed for hydronics, not a heat pump designed for domestic water, or the pool.