We are choosing between laminate and plastic flooring over water based underfloor heating (heat pipes laid in the screed floor over thick concrete).
Laminate floorings have a thermal resistance of app. 0.06 m^2K/W, plastics (for example Classen NEO) have halve of that or less.
While plastics are twice as good in terms of thermal conductivity, they are also more expensive, may be harder to install (linoleum has very low thermal resistance but needs to be glued to the underfloor) and there are environmental and air quality concerns for the cheaper options (vinyl).
How do I find out what the consequences of higher thermal resistance (lower thermal conductivity) really are, in terms of how much more m^3 in gas I will need each year? Are there any calculation tools, lookup tables or rules of thumb to help me with this?
Maybe experiments with different floor types?
I could calculate the difference straight from the theory, but I don't even know what the average floor heat is from underfloor heating (from this, I imagine, I could calculate back the energy difference for different floor types, and then I would need specs of the heater to calculate how much more gas this would cost).
Best Answer
Respectfully, you are trying to compare apples to autos here.
Burning gas makes things hot.
Thermal conductivity is just how fast it takes the heat to get to you.
I suggest you go try to calculate it from theory, physics is fun, calculus is interesting, the numbers will not lie to you, and you will see the logical error immediately.
The heat has to go somewhere. A metal floor would get hot fast, and cold fast.
A concrete floor will get hot slowly, and get cold slowly.
If your floor has a very low thermal resistance - you would be able to feel the path of the heating pipes/elements. It would have hot spots and cold spots.
With a high thermal resistance the entire floor will feel the same temperature.