Heated bath tile floor?

[Joseph Meehan]

I am considering a tile floor for our master bath. If I don't get this right, the woman of the house will have me in the dog house.

I like tile but she is afraid of it being too cold underfoot. For that reason and because I like the idea of a little extra heat in there in the winter, I like the idea of a heated tile floor. I would likely use electric, but I am open to other suggestions.

If you have experience with this kind of setup, your comments will be appreciated.

[DiG]

HomeDepot, $200.00 for eletric mat (2' X 4') plus $150.00 for Switch..

Works well, Wife happy

[m Ransley]

If you have HW heat, radiators, running some pipe would cost the least to heat.

[Stubby]

That's what I did. The copper heating system in our old slab started leaking. I installed a perimeter (SlantFin) radiator system. It all works well but GF complains that the tiles on the floor in the bathroom and in front of the kitchen sink are not as warm as they used to be.

I anticipated a bit of this and installed a full 8' SlantFin radiator in the bathroom. It keeps it fairly pleasant and getting out of the shower is not bad at all. The kitchen floor has some floor mats that keep the feet insulated.

The grief from the distaff side has subsided and all is well.

[Joseph Meehan]

Thanks for the suggestion. Have you personally tried it?

[Joseph Meehan]

Yea, I would, but I don't have HW heat. I have forced air. For most things I like forced air, but there are a few exceptions.

[TP]

I have installed the mats. They work fine. If you have a large area I have used the wires only. More cost affected. The 150$ thermostat is not really necessary, but nice. It takes about an hour to get warm throughout. It is nice to the feet. I even have it under a laminate floor, nice there too. google: warm floors, check ebay.

Have Fun TP

Joseph Meehan wrote:

[Joseph Meehan]

Thanks for the useful information. That is exactly the kind of help I was looking for.

[barry]

Hi, Joe.

I've forced air, in CT. On the rare occasions I turn it on, like to heat b/r in Jan/Feb, the magnetically-held plastic airflow diverter on the discharge register sends the heated air to the floor first. Bottom line: previously chilled tiles not noteworthy to nekkid tootsies.

J

[HeatMan]

You do realize that if you low a wire in that mat, the entire floor goes down without a good chance of repair?

Water based (hydronic) heat is easy to find and simple to repair.