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Thread: electric radiant heat

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    McKinney, TX
    Posts
    2,063

    electric radiant heat

    I'm getting ready to tile my new bathroom and want to install electric radiant heat mats under the tile. Has anyone had any experience with them? there are several different brands out there. I'm interested in any suggestions regarding brand and tips for install. Thanks
    Steve Jenkins, McKinney, TX. 469 742-9694
    Always use the word "impossible" with extreme caution

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Yorktown, VA
    Posts
    2,754
    Steve....no experience but I'm in the same boat and hope someone will help out

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Charles Town, WV
    Posts
    76
    Go to warmlyyours.com and check out their products. I have installed several electric radiant floor systems using their products and they have worked very well. Send them a plan of the room you want to heat and they will do the layout and pricing for you. I am getting ready to do several rooms for a customer within the next few weeks and will again be using their products.
    I usually install it over cement board and use little dabs of hotmelt glue to hold it down. After you have it down it is easiest if you trowel a layer of thinset over the mat to level it out and let it dry. It makes it easier to set your tile on a smooth surface rather then over the rough mat all at once. There are installation directions on their website that show how it is done.

  4. #4
    Steve,

    I've done two tiled bathroom floors using electric radiant heat. I used a product from a company called "Warm Tiles" (they sell at Menards, and online). Basically, it's a cable on a spool that you lay onto the subfloor, pour about 1/8" to 1/4" of self-leveling thinset over it, let it cure, then tile as usual. There's also a thermometer that goes into the thinset, and a thermostat you mount in a wall. It's programmable, so you set it to turn on when you like.

    I've only used this one system, and found it inexpensive, although somewhat less "refined" than I hoped for. For instance, I don't think the directions explicitly tell you to pour thinset over the cable - they say to just lay the cable down and tile over it. That clearly doesn't work They also provide this plastic track-stuff that you're supposed to screw to the floor, then run the cables through groves in the tracks to get it properly spaced and held to the floor until the tile/thinset is applied. I found that to be poorly-designed, and just used small pieces of tape to hold the cable down until I got the thinset poured.

    It's surprisingly easy, and the results are AMAZING. I will never again do a tiled floor without it.

    The only thing I'd caution you to watch out for is that the heat does not distribute nearly as far as you may expect. Use the manf's recommended length of cable and space it accurately.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Griswold Connecticut
    Posts
    6,927
    Steve

    I would recommend that you peruse the John Bridge Tile Forum website. Tons of info specifically that subject.
    "The first thing you need to know, will likely be the last thing you learn." (Unknown)

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