Why and how to install a radiant stretch ceiling

Why a stretch ceiling is the right substrate

A stretched fabric goes up without removing the existing ceiling, with no rubble and no dust. It fixes to a perimeter profile, which leaves the whole volume above it free. That volume, called the plenum, is precisely what a radiant system needs to work properly.

What the operation costs in height

The whole build-up drops the ceiling by five centimetres. That is little next to a conventional insulated lining, and it is enough to house the reflective insulation, the air gap and the heating panels. Under a 2.50 m ceiling the work remains possible without the room feeling squashed.

The order of operations

Setting out and profiles first, then the reflective insulation with its air gaps, then the heating panels and their wiring, and the fabric last. That order is not negotiable: each stage closes the one before, and a forgotten check means opening up again.

What you gain by treating both together

Insulating and then heating as two separate jobs means paying twice for the same site set-up and the same access equipment. The ceiling is open only once: that is the moment when adding the insulation costs almost nothing extra.

The result in use

The whole ceiling surface emits at low temperature, close to that of skin. There is no hot spot, no air movement and nothing to see. The comfort cannot be located, which is exactly the effect we are after.

The full method is described on the page about our installation method, and the system on the heated radiant stretch ceiling page.