rocky_robin

I've just bought an old farm house, so away to be doing it up basically from scratch.

I'd like to install underfloor heating under the tiles in the bathroom.

Anyone got experience with underfloor heating and/or any installed it?

I see they just come in rolls and you simply roll it out over the square metre'age of the floor.

I think that the Electric system will be better to use (aves plumbing up water pipes / central heating).

I only want it to be on for cold mornings - saves jumping from carpets then to the mat on the bathroom floor, coz the tiles are so damn cold!!!!


Any prices of the running cost???

slim20012

dont buy the 1 on the mat from experiance try and find the 1 that is just the wire then u can lay it down anywhere u want

vikingboy

the elecy system is ok for small areas - for larger areas a wet plumbed system is the best way.
Warm tiles/floor in winter are great

danneth

just put a mat system in on an extension we did seems fine

slim20012

extension lead aint it surposed to be hard wired

foreigneRS

gonna be doing the same to my kitchen, but will be doing some plumbing at the same time so going for a wet system.

don't fancy shelling out on electric, although that could work well if you have a wind turbine

danneth

Dave Henshall

i did our kitchen and bathroom with the screwfix kits that you lay and then cover in self levelling compound,

really nice warm even feeling - but the elecy bill has gone up a fair bit - cant say how much as we didnt know what normal running costs were before as we hanve not long moved in,

if you are re flooring though, you'd be silly not to do it with a tiled floor IMO.

rocky_robin

Thanks all!



Don't say that about the bill!!!!
My uncle was telling my the other day that he's heard its only about 7p/hr.

I was only going to be doing over a small'ish bathroom, as I didn't want to fart about running new plumbing work - since we're not touching that.
The electric systems seems to be far easier to install.

I've checked out a few websites on the simple roll out and cut to shape systems, but none mention running costs!

Lambchop

iTrader: (1)

pussy!

Dave Henshall

it all depends on the area (length) of the cable, the wattage per metre and how warm yuo want it in the room, AND what you pay for electric

Crowder

Our house has water unfloor upstairs and downstairs. Its superb, each room has its own adjustabe stat etc. U can plan the route to the bathroom in the morning haha.

Crowds.

TIFF

Wouldnt bother............Underfloor heating is MEGA inafficent

Paul_RS

iTrader: (4)

I once drilled through an underfloor heating pipe and flooded a health centre

rocky_robin

Woops! lol!

The power that I was going to go for was 250w, but that doesn't explain the amount it uses per hr.

Tiff, I thought that too, but I seem to remember this program all about building the most state-of-the-art, environmently-friendly home (it was like a 12 part series) where they built the home from scratch.
They had underfloor heating installed.

Since heat rises, it kinda makes sense, similar to radiation - tell me if I'm wrong.

TIFF

Yes heat rises...But it has to rise through a floor before you can feel it.................

I am not a fan at all of it.......But others are.

Dave Henshall

it uses the floor as a storage medium though, so you do get residual heat stored in it, so you can turn off the heating much ealier than you would need to with a radiator system say...

xr-stu

apparently it works, ive fitted some but never felt it while on

thing is, its never going to be that good because ceramics are very good insulators of heat.

dnt bother putting self leveller on either, just lay the tiles ontop of the, aslong as the floors primed with pva or similar, then the matting is layed, and another layer of primer ontop of the matting, itll be fine. the leveller will just insulate it even more.

BillyCabrio

iTrader: (1)

Get the heated flooring that has its own thermostat - that ways its not on all the time and you can have it on to a certain temp.

Or wire to a switch, that way you just have it on when you need it.

Dave Henshall

i'd disagree with most of that.....

ceramics are very good 'electrical insulators' but do conduct heat quite well and do hold their heat when the heat souce is switched off,,

if you have not encapsulated the heater mat in either tile adhesive or self leveling etc, you are introducing air gaps (which ARE very good insulators) betweent the heat mat and the tile so reducing the effectiveness of the heating mat. as all the heat rises - even though some of it will be heating your floor under the tiles, it will always try to come back into the room. by tiles stay warm for about a good hour after the heating has gone off,

mine is controlled by the digital stat with a 7 day timeclock with comfort and standby settings so that it will keep it aired rather than going off and then having to come on for longer to warm it back up when you ned it.

S3an

before:



heating:



after:

escossie560

nice tiling bet you can play hop scotch on the cold bits though

topaz

iTrader: (1)

i used www.warmup.co.uk

i think these are market leaders

they have a good thing on their website that you enter measurements and it tells you what you need

use that, then look on ebay

Dave Henshall

you need a more even coverage of the heating mat with not so large gaps inbetween - otherwise as above - you will definately feel the cold bits and play hopskotch



heres mine bathroom install










and the kitchen install

heatnig mat laid on the leveleled floor



then covered in another layer of self levelling compound


then when thats gone off - tiled on top...



all done..( not the clearest pic as it was a pic of the new cooker

foreigneRS

Dave Henshall fuck me, how can you live in such a fucking slum?

Dave Henshall

we were not living there while we did all the works,

£ full re wire inc dual digital quality coax and CAT5 cables to every room,
+ £ full re plumb inc new radiators and boiler,
+ £full re plaster,
+ £full new kitchen and bathroom,
= £ SKINT

morch

The mat system is brilliant if you can afford it and are lazy. if you are on a budget though try the single wire system from wickes DIY , it just takes ages to set out and get the spacing right but once its in, works exactly the same. It also comes with a under floor thermostat probe so no problems with burnt feet!!!!

As regards the cost to run, 1000w per hour is one unit (1kwh) So 250w of heating would use 1 unit in 4 hours or a quarter of a unit per hour. But bear in mind it will not be on perminantly as the thermostat will click it on and off once up to temperature. My kitchen has 600w of heating and not only have i got a toastie floor but i dont even need the rad turned on cos it heats the room as well. Also be warned it takes ages to get to temperature once first swiched on, so dont panic if you think its not working. Hope i havent confused you even more.

rocky_robin

My thoughts exactly!!!!!! Very, very nice work. You a DIY'er or a professional?

That was the mats that I spotted and was gonna use. It means that I can bend then round the units, etc, to save any cold spots.

How long did it take you to do the flooring inc the tiles? It will just give me an idea.

I'm gonna have to show this to my missus, as knowing her, she'll start complaining that I'm taking too long and making a mess everywhere!


K5SSY, I'm loving that tiles!

stu21t

we fit electric under floor heating in every bathroom/kitchen we do
and have it at home to

you cant beat it, when im at my birds house she doesnt have it and i hate showering at hers cos when you get out the floors so damn cold. lol

and it works fine on large floors to, if done properly.
we use thermonet.
and you need to get it on the matt. even if it is a couple of quid dearer its well worth it.

Dave Henshall

all by my own fair hand, diy

i'm a bit of a perfectionist though when it comes to some things....

ill post soe pics up in a few weeks when its all done downstairs.... all skirting on etc..

S3an

beleive it or not the spacers are cross shaped for a reason

Dave Henshall

know what u mean, but that means leaving them in, and i re used just 1 bag to do the lot, with a thick bed of tile adhesive under the tiles, they were not deep enough to stay in place anyhow, they ended up sliding under the tiles rather than keeping them seperated

DanST

electric warmers is not underfloor heating... more tile warmers.

true underfloor heating ie wet central heating offers huge improvments over conventional radiating convectors (radiators). Heat is kept low down, ie the living area and not up in the ceiling space, and as such suffers from less heating requirements to maintain the rooms temperature. Resulting in as much as 50% savings in heating usage.

im building an house this year and for approx 20% more than conventional rads it saves itself in a year. plus no walls are taken up by huge peices of metal! i may get paid shite at plumb center but the benefits when used are mint... oh as does knowing the uponor rep!

xr2i-carl

is there a fire risk?

foreigneRS

xr2i-carl i fail to see how something buried in the solid floor is much of a risk. of course with all electrical things, and heating elements in particular, there is a risk, but it would be very, very low - especially if a thermostat is correctly used.

S3an

spacers are £2 for a bag of 500 where i live, lot less hassle imo sometimes floors are that uneven i find i have to put 3,4,5 spacers inbetween to get them to stay in.

edited to say the tiles will never be straight doing it that way. you can never return to a job after leaving tiles to set. just doesnt happen! i never start a job unless i know i can get them all down at once. sometimes doing about 25m2 a day starting at 7am and finishing at 10pm at night . this is a days work for me:

Dave Henshall

i reckon you can if you use a thick bed applicator- it can only leave the correct depth bed - as long as the floor is level to start with - as with so many things, the time is ALL in the preparation...