How To Install Electric Heat Under Tile Floor

A radiant heat floor can save homeowners up to 25 percent in energy bills.

How to install electric heat under tile floor.

The most common place to find heated floors is the bathroom. If you ve ever woken early. Radiant heating works well with ceramic tile and vinyl but not with wood floors. If you choose electric heated flooring under hard flooring and plan to use an area rug consider installing the cables only under the flooring that won t be covered by the rug.

Retroheat radiant floor heating system. You simply trowel the thin set mortar over the heating mat then. Installing underfloor electric radiant heat. Plastic trowel if spreading thin set mortar directly over the radiant floor heating mats in one step we recommend using a plastic trowel to prevent cutting the heating wires.

Installing the tile over the radiant floor system is no different from installing it over cement board without the floor system. Or you can use the flat side of the trowel and float a skim coat of thin set that just covers the heating wire then lay tile in a second step. So it stands to reason that most of the time trade pros and homeowners are installing a radiant floor heating system under tile flooring. These heated floors are a project best done when overhauling or changing the floor covering of an existing room or when adding a new room.

Electric radiant heat mats with wall mounted thermostats are easy to install under new tile floors and provide comfortable invisible heat at a reasonable cost. This in floor heating system consists of one thin continuous cable heating element woven into a mat that you install under the tile. The retroheat floor heating system was designed specifically for providing electric radiant heat to existing floors by accessing the floor joists below. The retroheat system can be installed to heat tile hardwood laminates.

Its success with carpeted floors depends on the length of the weave thick carpets or those with thick pads won t work well as heat generated by the system will stay trapped in the floor. For this type of electric heated flooring the cable comes on a spool just like any other wire. There are two basic types. They work well as supplemental heat in bathrooms kitchens and entryways.