Underfloor heating under tiles

Busyliz

Hi in the process of buying an old cottage and I am thinking of tiling the lounge and kitchen (floors are concrete with ashphalt on top) and wondered about installing electric underfloor heating, as this will be a holiday home it will be empty for a couple a weeks a month especially in the winter. The heating in the cottage at the moment is a woodburner (multi fuel) stove which powers the radiators

Is it worth installing underfloor heating

I know they can come with thermostatic controls so it is feasible to set it at a low temperature so that the cottage has some heat being provided in the winter when it is empty

aramint

I would highly recommend warmup as a fantastic cheap way of heating under tiles. I have it in both kitchen and bathroom as no radiators and is very economical and easy to use. there is a website but cant post as a newbie.

HTH

cddc

There are a number of really good electric underfloor heating systems on the market, all are ecenomical and if you follow the instructions, easy to fit. Warmup, Devi, and Varme are the market leaders and are all equally as good.

Bear in mind they are not designed to replace normal central heating and are just designed to warm the floor.

bluewater

If you plan to use the cottage during the winter then electric underfloor heating under the tiles is great. Without a tiled floor will be very cold indeed. But you should fit an insulated tile backing board such as Marmox before installing the heating wires and tiles. Comes in various thicknesses - obviously the thicker the better but 6mm is the minimum. Depends on how much this and the tiles will raise the floor level relative to adjoining rooms. You can buy the heating cable in various size kits which usually include the temperature probe and thermostatic control. My thermostat is a touch screen version which is very nice. Some thermostats come with a remote control (goodness knows why!) but the one I had reacted to TV and other remotes. The kits are either cable kits - just a length of cable that you lay out on top of the Marmox spaced appropriately. Or a mat kit where the cable is attached to a mat so it is pre-spaced and quicker to lay. Cable kits are less expensive and better if you have awkward shapes to go around. Mat kits are quicker to lay but trickier to lay around awkward shapes. Also with cable only, you have the opportunity to adjust the spacing. I opted for a cable kit. A bit laborious to lay because I did two large areas but OK. As far as the electric suppky is concerned a normal cottage sized room could be a normal 13amp fused spur from the ring main. Larger areas will require a separate supply but suppliers will advise. I bought mine from Ambient Heating and found them very good (no connection).

We are very pleased with the result and I wouldn't consider a ceramic or porcelain tile floor without underfloor heating now.

sillygoose

bluewater wrote: »

If you plan to use the cottage during the winter then electric underfloor heating under the tiles is great. Without a tiled floor will be very cold indeed. But you should fit an insulated tile backing board such as Marmox before installing the heating wires and tiles. Comes in various thicknesses - obviously the thicker the better but 6mm is the minimum. Depends on how much this and the tiles will raise the floor level relative to adjoining rooms. You can buy the heating cable in various size kits which usually include the temperature probe and thermostatic control. My thermostat is a touch screen version which is very nice. Some thermostats come with a remote control (goodness knows why!) but the one I had reacted to TV and other remotes. The kits are either cable kits - just a length of cable that you lay out on top of the Marmox spaced appropriately. Or a mat kit where the cable is attached to a mat so it is pre-spaced and quicker to lay. Cable kits are less expensive and better if you have awkward shapes to go around. Mat kits are quicker to lay but trickier to lay around awkward shapes. Also with cable only, you have the opportunity to adjust the spacing. I opted for a cable kit. A bit laborious to lay because I did two large areas but OK. As far as the electric suppky is concerned a normal cottage sized room could be a normal 13amp fused spur from the ring main. Larger areas will require a separate supply but suppliers will advise. I bought mine from Ambient Heating and found them very good (no connection).

We are very pleased with the result and I wouldn't consider a ceramic or porcelain tile floor without underfloor heating now.

The only spot on post here so far! IMHO

I would also recommend Ambient Heating (no connection either!). Installed as Bluewater says above then its capable of primary heating (especially 200 watt per metre rated system) and with a decent programmer (I have the same touchscreen one!) can provide chill/frost protection easily. Its a very safe method of heating too for an unattended property - the controller has overheat monitoring protection and the heating element is embedded in tile cement between a ceramic tile and a cement faced insulation board, not much flammable there!

Warmup is vastly overpriced and does nothing special and the controllers are antiquated. Its the Walls Sausage of underfloor heating, reassuring well known name and nice packaging - but expensive and lacking meat! the wise man gets his bangers straight from the butcher!

wynne

wrote:

Warmup is vastly overpriced and does nothing special and the controllers are antiquated.

Hmm...when was the last time you checked their website/got their products... from what i have seen so far, it's not the most expensive brand out there and it's got a great looking touch screen heating control out now - very sexy, i say!

Innys

wynne wrote: »

Hmm...when was the last time you checked their website/got their products... from what i have seen so far, it's not the most expensive brand out there and it's got a great looking touch screen heating control out now - very sexy, i say!

Hmmmmm...................dunno about anyone else, but when I see two out of a newbie's first three posts push one product over another, I'm suspicious.

Maybe it's my naturally cynical nature getting the better of me

robk30

We had a warm-up under floor heating installed with the new touch screen programmer in our conservatory under a laminate floor.

I have to say I'm not impressed so far, but waiting for a cool evening to really test it out.

Just does not seem to really heat floor that much, even had my spark come back to test it.

Maybe I'll be eating my words come winter.

Igol

I fitted under tile heating when I did my bathroom a few years ago, it warms the tiles and nothing else apart from add to the electricity bill. I've been so undrwhelmed by the system that I turned it off and during last winter cant really say the cold floor caused the family major concerns.

I have exerienced a full wet system and that was fantastic, if I was going down the u/f heating route again I'd take that option and heat the room not just the tiles.

bwoodward

aramint wrote: »

I would highly recommend warmup as a fantastic cheap way of heating under tiles. I have it in both kitchen and bathroom as no radiators and is very economical and easy to use. there is a website but cant post as a newbie.

HTH

Agreed. Plus Warmup don't use the cheap imported heaters some other UFH companies do.

In reply to the actual post I did a lot of research for my own installation and there are a lot of factors to consider when choosing heating. If you mean to leave it on whilst your not there EFH may not be the best option. Electric floor heating provides better on demand heating and I know with Warmup's 3iE stat it can be programmed to turn on when you want weeks in advance. Would need more details on the level of heat and situation you will be using it in to help out further but I recommend contacting the companies in question and getting into detail about what you want it to do for you.. primary (sole source of) heating, tile warming, bathroom heating..

wynne

Innys wrote: »

Hmmmmm...................dunno about anyone else, but when I see two out of a newbie's first three posts push one product over another, I'm suspicious.

Maybe it's my naturally cynical nature getting the better of me

Hey we've got to start somewhere and since I've not used the other brands before can't speak for them!