We chose separate little cabins for your dark retreat so that everyone has the whole space to themselves, a place where they can feel safe.
Heating the dark retreat cabin
We gradually replaced the original electric heating with heat pumps, which have the big advantage of being five times more eco-friendly, but above all they can also cool in summer. So even in sweltering summers, when it is over 30 degrees outside, people on a dark retreat enjoy a lovely 22.
But we were still left with the problem of cold weather: the heat pump could warm the sanctuary up to as much as 28 degrees, yet the floor stayed cooler. Even though we had put 20 cm of insulation into the floor, participants kept telling us that in winter it was very unpleasant to meditate or exercise on the floor.
The answer is underfloor heating
In the end we got help from the Czech company Fenix group, which has developed electric heating films for use under floating floors. It was such a great idea that we had to use it straight away.
On top of the original wooden floor we laid an extra 5 mm of insulation and put the heating films on that. The great thing about them is that they have transverse carbon fibres, so they don’t create a pathogenic zone. We also chose the weakest ones, with an output of 40 W/m2, so the floor is just pleasantly warm rather than too hot, which could be uncomfortable.
The final surface is a vinyl floating floor with a wood finish, which is pleasant both to the touch and to the eye. You won’t get to enjoy the look once the lights are out, but it looks good in the photos, doesn’t it? 🙂
The floor is switched on by a thermostat as soon as the outside temperature drops below 10 degrees.
Thank you for coming to us, and we hope your dark retreat will now be just a little bit more comfortable.
