Radiators can be found in every room in the house. But one we tend to forget about is hallway heating.

People never think of the hallway as a room in and of itself. This is mainly because you never spend more than a few seconds at a time in one. They are connections you pass through on the way to somewhere else. Unlike the living room or the kitchen, the hallway has no function other than to get you somewhere else, much like the roads of a property. They are a means to an end, not a destination. So why bother heating a hallway? What would the point be? If you heat all the other rooms in a house during those cold months, then the hallway would not need to be heated, right?

Why you should heat a hallway

Let’s take the living room as an example of an oft-used room in the home. If you’re using the living room on a cold day you may turn on your Central Heating Radiators to warm the place up. The family snuggled round the TV, keeping cosy, your favourite show on TV. But then, the door swings ajar and the heat is sucked out, leaving a vacuum of cold in the living room. Without a heated hallway, this can happen in many rooms, acting as a buffer between the room and the hallway. Whatever your rooms need in heat, a well heated hallway can optimise your home.

Tips for hallway heating

The hallway is an area which needs to be heated correctly so as to save you time and money. If you’re planning on installing a radiator in your hallway, then there are some other factors you must keep in mind so as to optimise the performance of your heated hallway.

Insulation

Before you go about installing a radiator, make sure that your home is well insulated. This goes for not only the hallway but the rest of the home as well. Start with the windows in your hallway. If you do have windows, many older variations of houses will have installed large windows which are very easy to drain the heat from your home. If you consider double glazing this can be amended completely, or for the large windows a thicker glass which has been reinforced. On top of this, consider the way in which your ceilings may affect heat. If you have higher ceilings in your corridor you may lose heat to the basic concept of height. Heat rises, and this can leave you with a rather draughty corridor.

What type of radiator?

Most corridors are narrow, and making sure that the radiator fits the space and doesn’t take up walking room is vital. Many people may use your corridor, especially if your home is busy or you are entertaining guests. Don’t let your radiator get in the way; install a thinner one which, at the same time, will be pleasing to the eye. Whether this means a smaller panel radiator which hugs the wall and is still a bold aesthetic choice or a horizontal radiator which blends into the background is up to you. Consider the décor of your hallway and how this could affect the place you install your radiator. If you have a photo frames, shelving units or décor in your hallway, think about how the radiator might interact with the art. You don’t want a hallway which is too “loud” or overcrowded with focal points.

Door’s loose heat too

Doors are a regular attribute of a hallway. After all, the hallway is the passage into all the other areas of your home. With the doorway, you can often lose heat to draughts and doors opening. The cracks under a door can lose heat as well and can waste all of the efforts with which you made in installing these new radiator units. The thickness of your door will also affect the heat as well, using the best wood and the right fittings will help you to ensure maximum heat efficiency in your hallway.

The Lux Heat Classic 4 Column Cast Iron Horizontal Radiator.

 

BTU

British Thermal Units are the unit of measurement with which you find the optimum heating requirements for a room. Always check the BTU output of any radiator you use and work out whether this is right for your hallway, albeit any area of your property. Height and furnishings in the hallway can affect the heat output as well. Making sure that you have measured the BTU of your hallway will help you to work out what would be needed and what would therefore be overkill for heating.

Best radiators for heating hallways

So what would be the best radiators to heat a hallway? You don’t want a radiator which heats slowly and over a longer period of time, this would be more useful in a room in your property. You would also rather have a radiator which heats up quickly and is space saving for your corridor. This leaves you with easy to install units such as aluminium radiators, panel radiators and horizontal radiators which will help you to heat efficiently and save space at the same time.

Keeping these points in mind, the height of your hallway, the BTU of your home and the space you're using up with the radiator will help you to keep your hallways efficient and of great value.