As an avid animal lover, I’ve had pets my whole life. In fact, I’m such a softie that I usually end up taking in any stray that wanders near my property or any animal that my friends or acquaintances have to give up for various reasons. Right now I have three dogs, and as much as I love them, there’s no way that they can all fit comfortably into my tiny house, which is why I’m building a spacious outdoor dog run for them. Although we’re used to home heating systems, my biggest concern is keeping my dogs warm and dry during the cold winter weather, so I’m going to install concrete floor heating as soon as possible.
Since I haven’t poured the foundation for the dog run yet, installing concrete floor heating should be a pretty simple matter. While I’m pretty handy with tools and have completed numerous DIY projects around my home, I’ve never handled something like this before, so I had to do quite a bit of research before getting started. I learned that I have two basic options when it comes to concrete floor heating, and I considered the merits of each for my particular case.
My first option is to install concrete floor heating coils underneath the main flooring. This is a very easy and economical approach that involves laying the insulation and coils down before pouring down the cement. Since I haven’t really begun building the dog run yet, I would have no problem using this method to ensure that my pets have a warm place to curl up when the cold winds start blowing.
A second option is to add concrete floor heating to an existing foundation. This also sounds easy for someone who is already comfortable with do-it-yourself projects, and though it involves an extra step, it would give me more flooring choices for the finished product. By placing the concrete floor heating coils on top of the foundation, I’d then be able to cover the coils with decorative tiles. This would not only allow me to make the dog run look great, but would enable me to change the flooring whenever necessary — which I’m sure will be quite often with three animals around!
I was also a bit concerned about the cost of concrete floor heating because I’d heard that the electric bill could really go sky high with the heat turned on all the time. But I think I’ll be ok since the dog run isn’t going to be a huge area and since I’ll only use the heat at night or when daytime temperatures dip below zero.
All in all, I think concrete floor heating is a terrific choice for providing a warm, comfortable outdoor environment for my beloved pooches. They’re all hardy breeds anyway, but I’ll still feel better knowing that they’re going to have all the heat that they need!
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