Heating 65sqm of Stone Tiles in O'Connor with Livella

We moved into our home in O'Connor last spring, and everything was wonderful right up until May. Then Canberra did what Canberra does, and we discovered pretty quickly that our new home had a significant cold floor problem. The living areas are all open plan with large format stone tiles, which look stunning but act like a cold sink in winter. I started looking into underfloor heating in Canberra fairly urgently, and a friend from the local residents' group mentioned Livella Underfloor Heating almost immediately. I contacted them that same week.

What made our situation slightly unusual was the scale. We're talking about a large, open-plan living and dining area of around 65 square metres, all on stone tile. I wasn't sure if that was even practical to heat via underfloor systems, or whether the cost would be prohibitive. I needed honest guidance before I committed to anything.

The Problem: Large Area, Cold Stone, and a Winter Already Underway

Stone tiles are beautiful, but they're also among the most thermally demanding surfaces you can have in a cold climate. Our living area faces south, which means it gets very little direct winter sun. Combined with the thermal mass of the stone, the floor could sit at uncomfortably low temperatures for most of the day, even when the rest of the room felt reasonably warm from ducted gas heating running overhead.

We had a young baby at the time, which made the cold floor a genuine daily problem. Tummy time, floor play, sitting with the baby on a rug while it's surrounded by cold stone tiles, it all became something we thought about constantly. We wanted the floor to be genuinely warm, not just bearable. But we also had budget constraints, so we needed to understand what a system for a large area would realistically cost to install and run.

The other question was whether an electric system or a hydronic system made more sense for our situation. We hadn't done extensive research yet and felt like we needed someone to help us think through the options rather than just quoting us whatever they happened to install.

How Livella Underfloor Heating Responded

For a 65 square metre stone tile area in an existing home without the infrastructure for hydronic heating, a well-designed electric cable system was recommended. They explained the energy consumption implications honestly, including how to run the system efficiently using off-peak tariffs and a programmable schedule rather than continuous operation. That was exactly the kind of straight-talking advice we were after.

The written quote was detailed and included options for different thermostat levels and zone configurations. We appreciated having choices rather than being told there was only one way to do it. Livella Underfloor Heating clearly understood that different households have different priorities and budgets.

The Solution and Outcome

Livella Underfloor Heating installed an electric underfloor heating cable system across the full living and dining area. Given the existing stone tiles were a feature of the home we weren't willing to change, the installation involved lifting sections of tile, laying the cable to the required spacing, and relaying the tiles. The matching was done carefully so the joins are essentially invisible.

The system is zoned to allow us to heat the dining area separately from the main living space if we choose, which has been useful for managing running costs. The programmable thermostat lets us set the floors to warm up before we get up each morning, and the stone tiles are brilliant at holding heat once they've reached temperature.

Our baby is now a toddler who spends significant chunks of the day on that floor in winter. The change in how we use the space has been remarkable. We stopped avoiding the living area and started actually living in it again, which sounds obvious but is genuinely how it feels. That floor is now one of the best things about our home.

What I'd Tell Newer Canberra Homeowners

If you've just moved into a home with stone tiles or large format porcelain, get the underfloor heating conversation started before winter arrives. That's the key thing we'd do differently. We spent the first couple of cold months uncomfortable when we could have been sorted from the start.

Livella Underfloor Heating gave us a realistic and helpful assessment for a larger than average installation, without trying to oversell or overcomplicate it. If you're looking for trustworthy, practical underfloor heating in Canberra for a large living area, a bathroom, or a whole house, give them a call. They know what they're doing and they'll be straight with you about what's right for your home.