Ask an Architect, Custom Residential
How to Add Floor Heat to Your Bathroom or House
Is adding radiantly heated floors to your bathroom really that hard? Nope! Check out two recommendations from Jeff about your options for adding this easy luxury to your home.
August 22, 2012
Even though our climate here in Seattle is pretty mild, we LOVE heated floors. (As proof, ask anyone here how comfortable they are when it gets above 75, or below 45, and the answer is bound to be, "Not very.") Out of all the requests I get for a remodeled spaces, heated floors in bathrooms have to be right in the top five. (The others in the Top Five? That's probably a good blog post at some point, so you'll have to wait!) No matter how not-too-cold our floors actually are, having them be warm enough to step on, and feeling that warmth beneath your toes is just pretty damn awesome.
Yet, somehow, heated floors are seen as this mythical and impossible luxury. Let me just tell you a little design secret.
They're easy as can be, and the quickest way to up the "personal value" of your home. And, why do I put "personal value" in quotes? Because I'd rather design a space that works for you than design one for some mythical future buyer of the house. Enjoy yourself, people!
So what do you need to get these mythical heated floors?
Basically, you have two options:
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Electric Radiant Floor Heat: This is a simple mat that gets puts down over your subfloor, and then wires to a programmable control on your wall. Tile is put over it and then, BAM, you have heated floors. That's it! If you're handy, you could even do it yourself. Being "not handy," blessed with nine thumbs and a pinky, I hire people to do this for me. Nuheat is my go-to brand-of-choice. They are very affordable, reliable, and can provide you with custom-sized floor mats for odd-sized bathrooms, or standard ones meant to fit in most of our bathrooms today. Under $500 later (not including tile), and you're warm. BAM! Also, for a sweet trick, get the shower mat as well. Why have your feet warm only on the floor? Cold feet in a shower with hot water is pretty sad too!
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Hot Water Radiant Floor Heat: This really only works if you are already heating your home by radiant hot water, either through the floor already or through radiators. If it is just through radiators, you'll need to check to make sure you can send the different temperature water to the floor heat, as water for floor heating is heated to a different temperature than what goes into a radiator. Either way, a specialist should be called in. This really only makes sense if you're already installing it. And, because the heat isn't on in Seattle for a good portion of the year, I'd actually recommend laying an electric floor mat over the heated water system, so you can control it when you want it. (This is unless you put the hot water radiant floor heat on its own zone, which you probably didn't.)
So, as you can see, I think that electric floor heat is the way to go. Electricity is pretty cheap here in the Northwest, and it provides a super comfortable way to start, or end, your day.
And because I can't write this without thinking of my favorite floor heat story, it is also great for those times when you may be feeling a bit under the weather or, well, far too drunk. As my good friend, Gary, once said, "hugging the porcelain throne never felt so comfortable than with your floor heat. Thanks, man!"
Yes, yes indeed. Take that little kernel of advice from your friendly neighborhood architect, and feel that much better about throwing down some electric floor heat once you remodel that bathroom of yours!
