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Many homeowners love the look of tile, wood, or floating woods but dread stepping out of their soothing shower onto cold tile, especially during those frigid winter months. And many love tile or wood in their kitchens and living areas but worry about their little ones playing and pitter-pattering on cold floors. That's why so many are opting for electric floor heating systems to warm up their floors.
The installation of electric floor heating is not new: heated floors have been installed under bathroom and kitchen tile for the past 10 years and the warming products continue to gain popularity. Many in the kitchen and bath industry expect it to play a big role among homeowners who crave comfort features.
Today warm floors in the bathroom are on the list of must-have comforts for homeowners.
Thin electric floor heating mats have been very popular in bathrooms and kitchens for a long time. However, the installation of these systems under carpet and floating wood was not practical because they needed to be embedded in a layer of thin-set cement, which you normally don't use when you install a new carpet or floating wood floor. As a result, very few people would opt for a heated floor under carpet or floating wood. Recently with new technologies heating systems can now be directly installed under carpets and floating wood floors, without cement.
Its very easy to install and you can even do it yourself. All you need to do is tape the heating system on the underlay pad then lay the floating wood or carpet over it. It takes a few seconds and your carpet or floating wood is warm. The heating mat is hardwired to a thermostat with an in-floor temperature sensor taped to the heating mat. The thermostat needs to be wired to a regular 110-volt circuit by an electrician.
In addition to providing warmth, electric floor heating mats are energy efficient because it is under the carpet or floating wood and over the foam pad. It provides additional insulation from the cold sub-floor. Most heated floor mats are constructed of an ultra thin heating wire that exists in four layers of foil or mesh that quickly and efficiently distributes heat.
Other benefits of electric floor heating systems include:
- Silent operation, there is no hum or whistle of a forced air system.
- Energy saving. Evenly distributed heat from a floor heating system can allow the thermostat to be set at two to four degrees less than a forced air system. This can reduce energy costs by 10- 40 percent.
- Forced air systems can spread dust, pollen, and germs. Dust mites and molds love carpet but don't like warmth.
- Can be used in wood, tile, ceramic, carpeted and even uncovered concrete floors.
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