Pipe cover and depth in Luton extensions
Rear extensions are a common floor job on the post-war estates at Stopsley, Limbury and Leagrave, and a new extension is the simplest place to add underfloor heating. The floor starts from scratch, so there is room to plan insulation, pipes and screed together, and the finished level can be set to match the house.
Over the pipes, screed does two things at once. It spreads heat evenly, and it has to be thick enough over the pipes not to crack. With liquid screed we keep at least 25mm above the pipes, for a floor about 45 to 50mm thick overall. Choose sand and cement and the pipes need roughly 45mm on top, which makes for a thicker floor. Where height is tight, the liquid option often wins, and our Luton liquid screed page explains how it is pumped in.
Adding heating to an existing Luton house is trickier. Some 23% of the town's homes were built between 1973 and 1999, and those, like the older stock, have fixed door thresholds and stair bottoms that limit how much the floor can rise. Digging down is often part of the answer.
Before pouring we look over the edge strip, the membrane and the insulation, and can provide any that are missing. Those layers have their own page: insulation and membranes beneath a screed. Pipework is down to your heating engineer, who lays it and pressure tests it before we arrive, as we do not fit it.
Switching the heating on in a Luton home
The most common mistake with a heated floor is turning it on too early or too high. A new screed still holds a lot of water, and forcing it out quickly causes cracking and curling.
The starting point depends on the screed. With a calcium sulphate screed, gentle warmth can normally begin from about day 7. Hand-laid sand and cement holds off until day 21 at the earliest. From then on the system is brought up slowly: a low flow temperature first, nudged up a little each day, held for a spell, then lowered again before the flooring is laid. Your heating installer's schedule sets the exact figures, and we give clear guidance on it when we hand over.
Used carefully, the heating becomes a drying tool, which is why heated extensions can often take their flooring sooner than unheated ones. It also shows up any problem with the system early, before the finish is down. Our screed drying guide covers the timings in more detail.
If your house is closer to Hitchin, there is a separate underfloor heating screed page for Hitchin.
Underfloor Heating Screed prices in Luton
Liquid screed over underfloor heating: £20 to £35 per m² supplied and laid (trade2base, June 2026), so £700 to £1,230 for 35 m². trade2base gives these figures excluding VAT. See our floor screeding cost guide or screed calculator.
Who lays your underfloor heating screed in Luton
K & B Screeding’s own team, led by director Donatas Bardisevicius. Founded 2019, company 12298780.
See what customers say in our Google reviews and on our testimonials page.
Underfloor Heating Screed from Slough to Luton
As the crow flies, our yard in Slough is about 25.9 miles from Luton, which lies to the north-north-east. Postcodes here include LU1, LU3, LU4 and LU2, and Dunstable (4.6 miles), Houghton Regis (4.7 miles), Harpenden (5.1 miles) and Hitchin (7.6 miles) are close by.
More on underfloor heating screed, part of our screeding services.
