By the Bouwsector België team, 97 in-house tradespeople · reviewed by Geert Jan Hendrik, director · updated
Installing underfloor heating in an existing home typically costs between €30 and €45 per m² for routing the pipes into the screed alone. For the complete job, including removing the radiators, a going rate of around €210 per m² is used: roughly €10,000 for a ground floor of 50 m².
The difference lies in what comes on top of the routing, such as the manifold, the connection to your heating and the floor that goes over it. At Bouwsector België, our own contractor teams lay the underfloor heating and the new floor, and our tradespeople finish the walls and ceilings.
Underfloor heating and a new floor, in the right order? Request your quote
After a free consultation you receive one quote for the underfloor heating, the floor and the finishing of your walls and ceilings
What does installing underfloor heating cost per m²?
There are three ways to get underfloor heating in an existing home. The price per m² depends mainly on what happens to your current floor.
Method
Going price per m²
What you get
Routing into the existing screed
between € 30 and € 45
Grooves with pipes in your current floor, which barely gets any higher
Wet system under a new screed
between € 30 and € 50, plus the screed
Pipes on the old floor, with a new screed over them
New sand-cement screed
between € 15 and € 40
The layer in which the pipes of the wet system are embedded
Dry system with panels
between € 35 and € 65
Lighter and quicker to warm up, but the floor ends up higher
Complete, with the radiators removed
around € 210
Routing plus removing the radiators, according to a going benchmark price
Indications of going prices in 2026, taken from public price overviews; not every provider states whether VAT is included. For renovation work on a home over 10 years old you will usually pay 6% VAT, otherwise 21%. You will hear your exact price after a visit or in your quote, following the free consultation.
Let’s work it out for a ground floor of 50 m². Routing alone typically costs €1,500 to €2,250. If a glued vinyl floor goes on top, laying it adds €2,500 to €4,250. For the complete job with the radiators removed, a going rate of around €10,000 is used.
So always ask what is included in a price per m². A low price for routing says little if the manifold, the connection and the floor are charged separately on top.
Routing into the screed or a new screed: what suits your floor?
Routing is only possible in a solid sand-cement or anhydrite screed. Underfloor heating suppliers require a thickness of at least 3 centimetres when there are no pipes in the floor. For a 14 mm pipe, the groove is cut 14 to 17 mm deep.
Your current floor
What usually suits
Sand-cement or anhydrite screed of at least 3 cm, with no pipes in it
Routing into the screed
Timber floor or a screed that is too thin
No routing, but a dry system or a new screed
A screed that is being replaced anyway
Wet system with a new screed
A floor with little height to spare, at doors and thresholds
Routing, because it adds almost no height
In an existing home, height is often the deciding factor. According to suppliers, a dry system builds up 20 to 50 mm, and a new screed usually more. Doors then have to be shortened, and thresholds and the staircase no longer line up in the same way.
How long before the floor can go on top?
Routing is quick. The grooves are filled and the floor is levelled where needed. According to Forbo Eurocol, a 5 mm levelling layer is ready for the floor covering after 24 hours.
A new screed takes much longer. As a rule of thumb, sand-cement dries at one week per centimetre of thickness. Then comes the heat-up protocol, in which the heating is brought up to temperature step by step and then brought back down again.
Step
How long
Source
Drying a 5 cm sand-cement screed
About 5 weeks
Rule of thumb: 1 week per cm
Starting the heat-up
Sand-cement after at least 28 days, anhydrite after at least 14 days
Heat-up protocol
Heating up and cooling back down
Up 5 °C per day to a maximum of 35 °C, at least 1 day per cm at the maximum; at least 14 days in total
Heat-up protocol
Plastering walls ready for painting
100 m² per day on average, then about 4 weeks to dry
Our output and Knauf
Walls with lining paper (renovlies), whole home
3 days for hanging, filling and painting
Our output
That waiting time does not have to be dead time. While the screed dries, we finish the walls and ceilings. The wall finishing is therefore done by the time the floor can go on, in the same order as when finishing a new-build home: ceiling, walls, woodwork, floor and skirting boards.
Does underfloor heating work in an existing home?
Only if the floor beneath it is well insulated. For the ground-floor slab, floor insulation with an R-value of 5 m²K/W or more is generally recommended, otherwise too much heat disappears into the crawl space or the ground.
Underfloor heating runs at a low temperature: generally a maximum of 45 degrees, and 30 degrees is often enough. That makes it a good match for a heat pump. A system in a sand-cement screed does warm up slowly because of the large mass.
If your floor is not yet insulated, start there. If you are having your home insulated, we schedule the floor insulation before the underfloor heating, so the heat stays in the house.
Choose the floor covering with care too. Tiles are ideal. With vinyl and laminate, the floor and underlay together generally may not exceed 0.15 m²K/W of thermal resistance, which is why vinyl or laminate on underfloor heating is a deliberate choice.
How do you have underfloor heating installed by us?
Request a quote or call us on weekdays between 9:00 and 17:00. Tell us the m² per room, what is on the floor now and how your home is currently heated. In a free consultation we discuss the route, including what needs to change on your boiler or heat pump, and afterwards you receive a plan and a quote.
If you agree, we measure up and check the floor and the walls. The final price and the schedule are then fixed, and we start on the day we agree together. You pay 50% on the first working day, once all materials are on site and we have started, and 50% on completion.
The underfloor heating and the new floor are laid by our four in-house contractor teams of four people each. The walls and ceilings are finished by our 97 in-house tradespeople: 40 wallpaper hangers, 32 plasterers and 25 painters. For the whole home we take on the complete renovation as your contractor, throughout Belgium: Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia.
Want to know what underfloor heating with a new floor costs in your home?
Routing into an existing screed alone typically costs between €30 and €45 per m². For the complete job, with the radiators removed, a going rate of around €210 per m² is used: roughly €10,000 for 50 m². The floor covering that goes on top is a separate item.
Can underfloor heating be routed into any floor?
No. Routing is possible in a sand-cement or anhydrite screed at least 3 centimetres thick, with no pipes in it. It is not possible in a timber floor or a screed that is too thin; in that case you choose a dry system or a new screed.
How long must a screed dry before underfloor heating?
As a rule of thumb, sand-cement dries at one week per centimetre of thickness. You only start heating up once a sand-cement screed is at least 28 days old, or after at least 14 days for anhydrite. The heat-up protocol itself also takes at least 14 days.
Is underfloor heating suitable for an old house?
Only with good floor insulation. An R-value of 5 m²K/W or more under the ground-floor slab is generally recommended, otherwise too much heat is lost to the crawl space. Underfloor heating runs at a low temperature, generally a maximum of 45 degrees and often 30, which makes it a good match for a heat pump.
Which floor covering works on underfloor heating?
Tiles are ideal. Vinyl and laminate are also possible, as long as the floor and underlay together do not exceed 0.15 m²K/W of thermal resistance. Glued vinyl is well below that.
By the Bouwsector België team, 97 in-house tradespeople · reviewed by 
