Underfloor Heating – When In Rome
As we in the northern hemisphere bask in what we laughingly call “summer”, winter is never far from our thoughts and the chill we know will be with us soon enough. Of course, older generations would tell you to dress up or do something physical as a way to keep warm, but we’re a soft lot these days. The options range from nice cozy real coal fires, to oil heaters. Increasingly, however, people are turning to modern underfloor heating.
I say ‘modern’ with good reason. For much as we might bracket underfloor heating with the technology of today, it is amongst the oldest heating techniques we know of. We’ll leave the old-fashioned heap of burning wood aside from that assessment. The Romans, being among the most technically advanced cultures at the time, found themselves invading colder countries than they were used to. Acclimatised to the ripe indulgent stare of the sun back home, invading a dismal place like 1st century England brought much discomfort. Rome’s greatest minds thought long and hard to solve this problem.
By basically propping up their villas on large numbers of small columns, they created unseen space underfoot. Then, setting fires at specially designed apertures, the heat and smoke from the fires would heat the air. This continual warming from beneath kept the Romans snug as a bug in a rug despite predilection for cold clothes like togas and leather skirts whilst trying to bring theater to Wales.
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