A renovated UK period property with new skirting heating

Retrofit Projects

The smartest way to make your home heat-pump ready.

Upgrading your home's energy efficiency doesn't mean moving out while your floors are ripped up. ThermaSkirt connects to your existing pipework above ground, delivering the low-temperature performance of underfloor heating with the simplicity of replacing your skirting boards.

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Retrofit Skirting Board Heating

ThermaSkirt is an above-ground retrofit heating solution that connects directly to existing 15mm or 10mm radiator pipework. It delivers the low-temperature performance (35–45°C) required for heat pump efficiency without the immense cost, disruption, and 15–20mm floor height increases associated with retrofitting wet underfloor heating.

Disruption

Zero Floor Build-Up. No Screed.

Retrofitting underfloor heating (UFH) into an existing property is notoriously disruptive. It involves either digging down into concrete foundations to lay screed, which forces homeowners to move out, or laying thin-profile UFH overlay boards that raise the floor level by exactly 15–20mm. This secondary consequence means every interior door in the house must be removed and planed down.

ThermaSkirt completely sidesteps this problem. Installed exactly where traditional 120mm or 150mm timber skirting boards sit, it projects just 20mm from the wall. The system connects to the central heating circuit by simply extending the existing flow and return pipes. What is normally a multi-week building project becomes a clean, 1–2 day plumbing job.

The UFH Retrofit Reality

✗ Lift and discard existing flooring
✗ Pour screed and wait 28 days to dry
✗ Plane 15-20mm off every interior door
✗ Reinstall new flooring on top

The ThermaSkirt Reality

✓ Remove old skirting boards and radiators
✓ Keep existing carpets or solid wood floors
✓ Plumb directly into 15mm copper or plastic
✓ Installation finished in 1 to 2 days

Performance at dT20

Oversized Emitters Without the Eyesore

Upgrading from a gas boiler (70°C flow) to an air source heat pump (35–45°C flow) demands significantly larger heat emitters. A standard radiator run at these low temperatures will only output around 30% of its rated capacity.

The standard industry fix is to install oversized Type 22 or Type 33 double-convector radiators. ThermaSkirt avoids this eyesore. BSRIA tests confirm that because ThermaSkirt has an exposed, highly conductive aluminium surface area spanning the entire room's perimeter, it remarkably retains 48% of its output at a dT20 flow temperature. This delivers the necessary kW heat output for low-temperature heat pumps while remaining effectively invisible.

"I was one of the very first customers of DiscreteHeat almost twenty years ago. The product is still going strong and the customer service has been outstanding."

Mr Peter Gallagher•20 Years•

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Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know

Do I have to re-pipe my entire house?

No. ThermaSkirt is designed to work as a straight swap for existing radiators. Your installer will simply pick up the existing 15mm or 10mm microbore pipework protruding from the floor or wall where your old radiator sat, and run it directly into the skirting board profile.

Will it work with microbore (10mm) pipes?

Yes, fully compatible. Because ThermaSkirt is a low water content system with a continuous open waterway, it typically has much lower pressure drop than a convector radiator, making it perfectly suited for older 10mm microbore systems.

Can I just do one room at a time?

Absolutely. Many homeowners choose to retrofit ThermaSkirt room-by-room as they decorate. It operates perfectly on the same circuit as traditional radiators, so there's no need to commit to the whole house at once.

Can ThermaSkirt connect to my existing heating system?

Yes. ThermaSkirt can be fitted to any system that provides warm water — gas, oil, electric, biomass or heat pump. If you have an existing central heating system it can be retrofitted with ThermaSkirt, one room at a time if necessary.

Can I keep some radiators and add ThermaSkirt in other rooms?

Yes. ThermaSkirt coexists with radiators and towel rails on the same heating circuit. Many homeowners keep bathroom towel rails and replace wall-mounted radiators with ThermaSkirt in living areas and bedrooms where wall space matters most.

Does it work with older open-vented (header tank) boilers?

Yes. Providing your system is clean and has been dosed with a central heating inhibitor, ThermaSkirt works on both sealed pressurised systems (combi boilers) and traditional gravity-fed open-vented systems with a header tank in the loft.