Assessor 2001 South State Street N2-600 PO Box 147421 Salt Lake City, UT 84114-7421 385-468-8000/ Email Hours: M-F 8am-5pm
The Roman heating system was called a hypocaust. How did Romans heat their homes?Rich Romans liked to be warm and cosy. They had central heating at home, in villas and in public baths. The heating system was kept going by slaves, who kept a fire blazing in a furnace to heat warm air. The warm air moved around the building through spaces under the floors and between the walls.
Roman central heating worked slightly differently, but the goal was the same. A ground level furnace was used to create hot air which circulated beneath a thin floor raised up on pillars of tiles â this system was called a hypocaust. Not only was this central heating, it was underfloor heating! Smoke and fumes from the furnace were channelled off via flues so as not to pollute the heated space above. The same method was used to heat the waters in bath houses (yes, the Romans gave us hot baths too). Concrete. Opus caementicium (Roman concrete) was made from quicklime, pozzolana and an aggregate of pumice.