Do you ever wonder why your bathroom floor is always cold? There could be several reasons causing the chill. One cause to consider is temperature and airflow. Hot air rises, cold air stays low lingering around your floor. Warm cold bathroom floors with a heated flooring system, the ultimate upgrade in bathroom luxury and a cost worthy investment.
The most important benefits to owning a floor heating system is controlling the temperature wherever the system is installed throughout the home, balanced humidity levels in the home, works in silence while warming the entire house and provides a dust and allergens free environment. When looking to heat your floor, there are a few options to consider including what you will use to design your heated floor. The materials that responds best to the change in temperature are porcelain, stone tiles, ceramic and engineered wood. When using wood, the denser and the thinner the floor boards are the better they are more suitable for use with underfloor heating. High in thermal conductivity, tile and stone quickly warms and retains heat. Engineered timber is the best type of wood flooring to use when heating floors. Timber performs well with changes in floor temperature.
There are two types of heated flooring; electric radiant heat and hydronic heating. Electric radiant heat uses an electrical current to a heating. Radiant floor heating warms the entire room. With the heat rising from the floor, you may feel more comfortable with setting the house thermostat set at a lower temperature. To install the electric radiant heating, you’ll need an electrician and a tile installer. Together, they will work to lay the heating cables, which are interlaced with mesh mats.
The Hydronic heating method uses heated water that’s distributed through a complex tubing system. Hydronic system floors come in two options “wet installation” method or “dry installation” method. All methods require insulation to be placed below to ensure the heat is directed into the home. Wet installations involve placing the radiant tubing into a bed of concrete. This is effective because the concrete acts as a protector to the tubing, also providing a thermal mass to absorb the heat and radiate the warmth evenly throughout the room. The hydronic system is the most cost efficient over the two, saving on your energy bill.
Dry systems of hydronic radiant flooring installation, also known as plate systems, uses panels with tracks for the radiant tubing. This makes it easy during installation for installers to loop the tubes before covering with flooring material. Without the thermal mass provided by concrete, a dry installation method can require more careful placement of insulation and the addition of heat reflectors.
Both have pros and cons, if you are revamping all the floors in the entire house, a hydronic system is a good solution. But if you are adding this feature to only the bathroom floor, an electrical system is best because it’s more cost effective and way less complicated to install in a small space.