Underfloor vs Radiators - Price Valuation help

Bungusbeefcake

Dear All,

I'm in the process of buying property, however there seems to be an issue with the underfloor heating system downstairs which the vendor seems to be willing to at least entertain fixing, however their plumber suggested installing radiators and disconnecting the UFH system. To me this is madness, but I'm wondering if anyone would have an idea of what impact having underfloor heating vs radiators would have on the property value?

I was thinking it would be at least 5% if not 10% when you consider that it would also affect the BER rating and that would be dropped if rads were installed.

I would appreciate any experience or you opinions on this.

Thanks

Ray Palmer

You didn't put in a negative value for having a faulty underfloor heating system. If the fault is a leaking system of unknown location it could be doing a lot of damage. I can see why a plumber would suggest abandoning it and going with radiators. Who wants to dig up the floor to fix the problem?

Bungusbeefcake

Ray Palmer wrote: »

You didn't put in a negative value for having a faulty underfloor heating system. If the fault is a leaking system of unknown location it could be doing a lot of damage. I can see why a plumber would suggest abandoning it and going with radiators. Who wants to dig up the floor to fix the problem?

I didn't because we've already agreed a purchase price based on the house having a functioning UFH system. Obviously the issues with the UFH devalue the purchase price anyway, the fix of which is a separate issue which we will be discussing anyway. My main issue here is whether the installation of a functioning UFH system would add or increase the purchase price of a house against having radiators. I probably wasn't that clear, sorry.

Wabbit Ears

Installing rads is a cop out and you'll always just have a broken heating system under your feet, laughing at you.

insist they fix it

Bungusbeefcake

Wabbit Ears wrote: »

Installing rads is a cop out and you'll always just have a broken heating system under your feet, laughing at you.

insist they fix it

Most definitely but we also want to move into the place so I don't mind getting a "reimbursement" to cover it and getting the work done myself because other wise they'd just suggest getting the rads put in which I don't want if at all possible. I'm also looking for a plumber/UFH expert who would be familiar with diagnosing and repairing issues with UFH in Meath/Louth, north Dublin Area if you know of anyone?? (PM if you do)

Thanks

BrokenArrows

I cant imagine there are too many problems with underfloor heating apart from it being a leak.

If the leak is not showing on the surface but rather just noticed by a drop in system pressure then the only solution would be to dig up the whole underfloor heating system and repair/replace it. Better to replace it with 100% new system as during the digging up phase its very likely they might damage the piping leading to further leaks down the road.

Digging it up will be a huge and expensive job.

If the owners go with putting in radiators then they better do a good job of it, and not running pipes down the sides of walls etc.

I dont think its as simple as a % value decrease in the property value. The price difference is basically what it would take to install an underfloor heating system from scratch.