My son in law remodeled his lower living area into a day care center.  Before he did the remodel I suggested he run base board heat and insulate the slab. He did neither (tried to get by on the cheap) and didn't listen to me.  He thought he could get by with several in wall electric heaters. When he got his first power bill he nearly fainted. 
His next idea was to mount overhead radiant electric heaters that would some how miraculously be more efficient.  I explained to him that a watt is a watt and no matter where it is placed it is going to cost the same. 
The irony of it all is he has his boiler on the same level in a different area but accessible with not too much work.  To minimize the interruption to the day care operation I am looking for the most practical method of getting heat to the day care area. 
Here are two ideas I have, all the piping would be boxed over with sheetrock and surface mounted.  
Option one, if there are such units, over head surface mounted radiant panel heaters.  
Option two, traditional baseboard heaters with the pex ran across the ceiling and down to the heaters.  
 
Neither option would be pretty to look at and option two would be slightly worse as more of the piping would need to be covered.  If I ran the pipe in the corners it would not be too unsightly and what would be the easiest way to hide it?  I was considering using 2x2's and covering over with sheet rock.  I could rip the 2x2's on my table saw at a 45 and molly them in the corner and only have single face to sheet rock.

Does any body have any better ideas.

Thanks in advance
Jim

A half hour with an experienced hydronic designer could save a big headache later. Sandwich radiant over slab would be perfect for the little tikes. Fin-tube "radiation" would be going again "on the cheap" but at least it's wet. 1/2" PEX will be easy to pull and will feed fin-tube nicely but you should seek a bit of design help before poking in the dark again.

Jim,

Like you said, "A watt is a watt".  Isn't hydronic going to cost the same as the electric baseboards?  Seems to me that if the heating costs are excessive, your (or his) money would be best spent for insulation and air sealing...

shawn

The cost per watt can vary considerably and electricity rarely costs less than the fuel (or resources) used to produce it.

I was assuming the boiler was electric, also.  You must be saying it is another fuel source?

I suggested to him to get a good plumber to take a look at his setup.  BTW the heating is from a natural gas boiler it has been plumbed with spare zones that should of been used in the original remodel.

No matter what you do, insulate between the slab and the finished floor! (Even R5/1" XPS will make a difference, but 2" would be better.) Radiant-electric overhead will be less comfortable than electric baseboard, with no benefit in creature comfort- if your feet are cold, you FEEL cold, even if your head is cooking. Toddlers & crawlers would constantly be in the coldest stratum even when the adults felt sorta-OK.

There is no market I'm aware of in N. America where the price of natural gas (even burned in an old-skool 80% efficient boiler) is more expensive than electricity. In most areas it's quite the opposite, with a significant multiplier. If radiant floor is out of the question, hydronic baseboard (or euro-panel radiators) will be far cheaper to run.

I had mentioned to him to insulate the slab, he didn't listen as usual, or feel that it was important. Sigh, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make em drink.

BTW thanks to all who responded, great board and I appreciate your  tips.
Jim

Contrary to what others think about radiant ceiling heat in this posting it is not true that your feet will be cold and your head will cook. As long as there is insulation above the existing sheet rock he could put radiant electric ceiling heat on top of the sheetrock and sheetrock over the elements. I have seen this done many times. I strongly suggest a heat loss calculation be done by an electric radiant heating company so he will know exactly what wattage is needed to heat the room. Radiant ceiling heat heats everything in the room much like the sun does. When your on the beach, are your feet cold when the sun is out? The heat will heat the furniture, floor, walls everything in the room including the tots.

Rooms heated by radiant ceilings - or infrared heaters - can be very efficient and comfortable when compared to schorched air, but alas are not as comfortable or as energy efficient as radiant floors. Radiant ceilings do fairly compete with Euro-panels as the next best thing. Proper system design is the critical factor when comfort and fuel efficiency are considered first.

Anne

Jim is on the right path. He already has the boiler. Electric radiant will cost more on install and usage.

Carlo,

That is so not true about the cost to install radiant ceiling heating.  I am a manufacture of it and I will not sell it to anyone that I have not done a heat loss calculation.  This step is very important to make sure the client has enough wattage to heat the space.  If we cannot get enough wattage the client is told this and he moves on.  Most clients don't have to fill the entire ceiling with heating elements and the cost is not overly pricey because the ceiling heat is more efficient than forced hot air by at least 50%.

Can you do electric ceiling for $2/sq ft material for actual coverage area, or less?

if not, and he has a hot water heat source already, the max surface temp of the ceiling (for comfort) is the same whether you use electricity or hot water to heat it up, so coverage area should not change either way, and the hydronic system should be significantly cheaper to install.. to say nothing about operating costs.

Putting in electric mats when you already have hot water is just silly. when you don't have hot water already, the comparison gets more interesting for sure though.