I've never seen shower walls heated with an electric mat. Frankly, the idea has never even occurred to me. It sounds as though it could be problematical if there were any water or moisture intrusion through grout lines or other defects in the tile -- but that's just a guess, I have no first-hand knowledge.

I have, however, seen many shower walls heated with hot water tubing as a part of a hydronic heating system. This is particularly effective if you live in an area with very cold winters. With the walls surrounding you pre-warmed, you won't feel as though you're stepping into a refrigerator as you enter the shower on a cold morning.

Thanks. We were actually thinking of heating the floor, not the wall tile. I don't think it gets cold enough around here to warrant heating the walls, though that does sound kind of interesting...

Someone was just today telling me about heated tile walls in a home they were working on. To me that's such a waste of money, but to each their own!

AS for the heated shower floor, there' just something that makes me nervous as hell about putting ANYTHING electric in a shower stall. If you want to warm the tile up a bit, just run the hot water for 30 seconds before you get in, that'll do just as well, without any of the risk.

Didn't mongo do heated a shower floor in the magnum opus?

Spent the morning priming panels for wainscoting, the late afternoon watching the Giants-Cowboys game. Football is over. I'm here now!

Fly, that shower was hydronic radiant, not electric. Plus it was whole house hydronic.

I consider electric radiant in a shower to be unneccessary in a typical shower. As Bill wrote, the warm shower water will heat the tile up quite nicely, as the water is warmer than the floor tile would be had it been heated with radiant electric mats.

In a large walk-in shower I could see using a quality towel warmer, both for towel warming and as a bit of a space warmer. The warmth might even offer a tertiary benefit of helping to dry the shower afterwards, which might help to minimize damp grout and tile.

Pats-Chargers next week! Bill, you have to be pleased as well with the Giants.

Mongo

BIGTIME!!

I'd love to see another Giants Pats game!!

Next week is going to be interesting, though, with Seau on the Pats playing San Diego.

Great, thanks for the feedback guys. I think we'll skip it.

And I have no comments on football (still crying for the Seahawks).

Ah, that's right. Remembered it sideways.

Bill..et al..you stated "just something that makes me nervous as hell about putting ANYTHING electric in a shower stall."

What about the towel warmer idea..don't people install them in the shower stall? Should one not do this?

The only tijme I've seen them installed in a shower stall is when it's a walk in shower, big enough to pur the towel warmer over near the door, and FAR out of the way of any shwer spray. if it's reachable by the spray from the shower head or ricochet off your body, I don't think THAT'S such a hot idea, either, no pun intended.

Hi I just looked up this idea of heated walls. I have a compression fracture in back. I took a shower to relive my back, chest pain. The shower area is cold, I sprayed water on the walls to heat them up. Then layed my back against the wall and sprayed hot water between the walk an my back. Almost instant relief like the physiotheapist applying a hot compress. I thought to myself is heated shower walls something already done? I do agree the electric heat should have a membrane to repel water.

I have seen heated shower benches in tile showrooms. Seems like it worked due to weight; sitting on it turned the heat on.

gustaviatex-

I'm not a big fan of standing or sitting on anything powered by electricity in a shower, regardless of how well-sealed and insulated someone claims the wiring is.

We just gut renod our master bath and we did heated tile floors which turned out to be a real MVP. Highly recommend. We considered a heated shower floor, but decided against it. And you know what, I don't even think it would have been worth it for us. The shower floor feels absolutely fine once hot water hits it and I've never thought gee, i really could use a heated shower floor. It never feels cold to me. And for the record, I live in frosty New England. Also, just a note that heated floor isn't instantaneous, it takes some time to get to the set temp. You'd have to plan ahead to time your shower and honestly I don't have that kind of planning in my life. Now that I am not on a rigid commuting schedule I don't take a shower at the same time every day. YMMV though.

thisisnotadrill- You’re absolutely right: aside from my concern about having electricity in a shower floor, the practical issue is that the shower water overwhelms whatever rhe heated floor is doing. The initial rush of cold water from the showerhead chills the floor and, when the hot water comes out, that is what determines the temperature of the floor. Heated floors are great — I have them throughout my own house — but they are inappropriate for a wet environment like a shower, as well as being useless.