Questions people actually ask.

Mostly, yes, though which parts of your floor get retiled depends on the method. One option lifts all the existing tile, mills a narrow channel into the screed beneath along the pipe route, then retiles the whole room fresh at the original height. The other leaves your existing tile in place and mills straight through it instead, then lays new tile over the whole room on top. Either way, the milling itself only ever touches a narrow channel, not the whole floor structurally, and there's none of the digging out the screed and tiles across the whole house that a traditional retrofit needs. We'll walk you through the trade-offs at the assessment so you can pick.

Most homes are milled, piped, tested and sealed within a few days, rather than the 5–6 week wait and full re-floor that traditional retrofit underfloor heating usually involves. Exact timing depends on floor size and layout, so we'll give you a real schedule once we've assessed the job.

The machine runs with a high-powered dust extractor attached, so the work stays clean enough to do in a home you're still living in, not a full building-site strip-out.

It depends which method we use, and that's your choice. Lift all the existing tile and mill into the screed beneath, and the pipe sits inside that slot rather than on top of it, so once the whole room's retiled, the finished height matches exactly what you had before. Mill straight through the existing tile instead, skipping tile removal entirely, and the floor does rise slightly across the whole room once new tile goes down over the old, by roughly the thickness of that new tile. Neither is anything like the full rebuild a traditional retrofit needs.

In most cases, yes. Milling is best suited to tile, stone, and screed floors, which is exactly what most Algarve villas already have, since the pipe goes directly into that existing material. It works under wood, laminate, and engineered flooring too, with the right build-up on top. Tell us your floor type when you get in touch and we'll confirm what's possible at the assessment.

Algarve villas are built for the heat of summer, not the damp cold of a Portuguese winter. Tiled floors in particular hold cold and moisture, which is exactly the environment mould and that constant damp smell thrive in. Warming the floor itself, rather than just the air with a fireplace or portable heater, is the most effective fix, because the heat rises evenly through the room instead of collecting near the ceiling.

There are a few options, but we recommend an air source heat pump for most Algarve homes. It's efficient, doesn't need mains gas, and works well alongside underfloor heating's low running temperatures.

Yes. It heats the whole floor evenly at a lower water temperature than a radiator needs to reach the same comfort, which means less energy to run and lower heating costs. It also pairs especially well with an air source heat pump, since heat pumps run at their most efficient at those lower temperatures. And with no radiator on the wall, you get that space back for furniture and layout too.

Yes. The system runs through a manifold that lets each room or zone be controlled on its own, so you can keep a living room warmer than a bedroom, or only heat the rooms you're actually using. We set this up as part of the installation.

PEX, the standard material for water-based underfloor heating. Each circuit runs in one continuous length with no joints hidden under the floor, and every run is pressure-tested before we seal it.

Day to day, no. There are no moving parts to service, and once a system's pressure-tested and commissioned it's largely maintenance-free. If something ever did go wrong, reaching the pipe means going through the floor above it, so it's not as simple as swapping a radiator. That's exactly why every system gets pressure-tested before anything is sealed, so problems get caught before the floor goes back down, not after.

Yes. Air source heat pumps are currently being promoted with a tax incentive on purchases in Portugal. We can talk you through how that applies to your project when we quote.

It depends on your floor size, current floor type, and layout, so we don't publish a flat rate. Every villa is different. Tell us roughly how many square metres you're heating and we'll get back to you with a real number.

Yes. If you're managing a renovation and want to offer underfloor heating without extending the project timeline with a full floor strip-out, we regularly work alongside builders and contractors as a specialist subcontractor.

We work right across the Algarve, from Sagres and Lagos in the west to Tavira in the east, plus inland towns like Silves and Monchique. See our full list of areas, and get in touch if you don't see your town listed. There's a good chance we still cover it.