Edumacate Me On Heated Tile Floors Please

[turbocruiser]

Anyone have em? Recommendations on manufacturers of the heat mat/ heat mesh? Recommendations on installation techniques? Do you have to have a special thin set mortar or is it the standard stuff? How much electricity do they tend to use? Any risk involved?

We rented a ski in/ski out condo recently and they had them installed there. Very comfortable not just for the feet but in the air all around. I was impressed. We have some tile replacement soon too so now is the time if it's a good application. Thanks.

 

[AJP]

I have hydronic heated floors ... the pex runs between the joists with metal plates stapled up. Provides heat to both the tiled areas and the wood flooring above. Very comfy I think. If you have a basement or crawlspace .. this is an option and doesn't raise the floor ...

 

[1972FJ55]

I used some mats and thermostats from these guys:

Stone and Tile Floor Heating Systems, Heated Tile Flooring

and they've worked really well. It takes some planning as to positioning of the mat and where the wires come out, but since I was starting from scratch, it was pretty easy. I just used regular thin-set to glue the mat down, then it's just a regular tile job after that. You want to be careful not to nick the wires when you're troweling on the thin-set. Somewhere, I have a little alarm devise that you hook up to the wires as you're doing the install, and it let's you know if the integrity of the wire is compromised.
If you want it, I'll send it to you (assuming I can find it).

I'd recommend their programable thermostat, I think it works better than the manual ones I used in a couple other rooms-yes it's expensive.
Browse Products for Your Heating Control System

As far as energy consumption, I know it does use some energy, but I don't see a big difference in the bill when I've got them turned on. Once they get the floor warmed up, they're only on occasionally to maintain the temp.

I really like the way they work, it's really nice on bare feet and the dogs love it too!

 

[AShoe]

I installed the system from home depot recently when i remodeled my bathroom. It only bumped up the electric bill by about $4 a month (the forced air furnace in my house is gas) and it's really nice to have a warm tile floor. It's only been in for a couple of months so i can't say much about durability, but the installation was easy and It's been problem free so far.

 

[Toyo FJ40]

Like all radiant installs they work best over insulated floors. I've worked on a few jobs with the electric mat under the tile and the people were very happy with it and the electric cost was small because the rooms were still heated with the central heating system and the electric was only to warm the tile.
I did one job where the owner wanted to heat his finished basement with the electric mat over an uninsulated concrete slab. We were back in less than 6 months to install hydronic baseboard because his electric costs were so high.

 

[LK1]

I installed them on several renovation jobs I did. My supplier recommended installing a second temperature sensor (@$15) which gets imbedded in the thin set. You wire it up and leave the wire buried in the wall near the thermostat. If the first sensor fails it save you having to break up the floor to replace it.

 

[turbocruiser]

I used some mats and thermostats from these guys:

Stone and Tile Floor Heating Systems, Heated Tile Flooring

and they've worked really well. It takes some planning as to positioning of the mat and where the wires come out, but since I was starting from scratch, it was pretty easy. I just used regular thin-set to glue the mat down, then it's just a regular tile job after that. You want to be careful not to nick the wires when you're troweling on the thin-set. Somewhere, I have a little alarm devise that you hook up to the wires as you're doing the install, and it let's you know if the integrity of the wire is compromised.
If you want it, I'll send it to you (assuming I can find it).

I'd recommend their programable thermostat, I think it works better than the manual ones I used in a couple other rooms-yes it's expensive.
Browse Products for Your Heating Control System

As far as energy consumption, I know it does use some energy, but I don't see a big difference in the bill when I've got them turned on. Once they get the floor warmed up, they're only on occasionally to maintain the temp.

I really like the way they work, it's really nice on bare feet and the dogs love it too!

Thanks for the info! Looks like a good product, I'm not against paying the price of the thermostat if I can control the three "zones" I'm trying to heat at the same time (2 bathrooms and 1 kitchen). I read through their site but couldn't figure out if their thermostats do that? Another thing I'm having a hard time figuring out is with the way the "mats" are do you wire them together to get square areas like 12 x 12 or can you only do single width strips? Thanks, I'd like to learn more about this particular product.