There’s an easy way to introduce luxury into your home without breaking the bank or making an enormous change to your home’s décor or style: under floor heating. This is a project that just about anyone can take on, and is a favorite among do-it-yourself home improvers.

Under floor heating is a home improvement solution that is a subtle but intensely felt luxury; to the eye it’s not easily apparent, but to the sense of touch it provides refined and deeply felt rewards. The biggest of these, of course, is an overwhelmingly easy comfort that can be enjoyed throughout your home. Thankfully, floor heat is not the reserve of the rich and famous. Floor heating is a feature that can be added to any home, whether it’s an abode of modesty or of the most gravely luxe immodesty.

If you’ve taken the decision to carry out an under floor heating project in your home, you’ll have to decide which route you’d like to go (or which one works best with your house’s structure): hydronic floor heating or electric heated floors. Both routes have their advantages, and depending on your personal aims for the investment, slight relative superiority over one another. With hydronic floors, the heating mechanism must be considered. The tubing, circulator, and automatic controls must also be accounted for and fitted in the best possible manner.

Troubleshooting this type of system can be somewhat complicated and will more often than not require the help of experts.

In contrast, electric heated floors remain the more accessible way of introducing ground heating to your home. For one thing, only a home current of 110 to 120 volts is needed and it has, by far, the easiest installation of the two heating routes. What also makes electric floor heating such an appealing project is that to install, the biggest component needed is a wire mesh that can be laid directly on the subfloor. Once the mesh is in place, it is covered with the top floor material.

(Vinyl, laminates, and floating floors are, in general, compatible with electric heating). The entire system will be connected to your home’s main energy supply and with a thermostat you’ll be able to easily control the ground/room temperature.

Sam Walters is a writer living in Los Angeles. Her writing appears in print and online.