Although hydronic radiant floor heating can be incorporated into many types of buildings, it's often a "perfect match" for garage-type buildings with bare concrete slab-on-grade floors. Some examples include vehicle maintenance buildings, aircraft hangers and fire stations.
For starters, the concrete slab is already part of such buildings. Making it into a radiant heat emitter is simply a matter of adding underside insulation and tubing. This keeps the cost per square foot to a minimum. Secondly, in a well-planned system, the tubing is well protected from damage under the concrete. Another plus is that bare slabs operate at relatively low water temperatures. This allows heat sources such as condensing boilers and geothermal heat pumps to attain high efficiency. It also allows for compact distribution piping, as will be discussed shortly. Finally, since people don't walk around barefooted in such facilities, designers can allow more variation in floor surface temperature and thus reduce cost through wider tube spacing.