Is this the "main sort of heat for the room" kind of radiant heat or is it just an electric floor-warming system? For the latter it sounds awfully high. You just put the heating in the traffic lanes, not under vanities, tubs, toilets, etc. so the room dimensions don't quite matter as much as they might. (Some systems can go inside a tiled shower cubicle, which is very nice for drying the shower floor quickly. I think it's ClaireDeLuna who has this setup.)

We are looking to do that for our 12X9 bath. Just got a quote from an e-bayer (I asked about mats for this size) and he quoted me about $500, which actually is more than other places I've seen. The install looks pretty easy....basically put it down....being careful and using some electrical thingy that shows if the connection is broken....and then mudding it over, with the tiles on top. An electrician needs to install the thermostat, however.

Your GC sounds like he isn't familiar with the system, and may be planning to learn on your dime.

I think the thermostat is a big part of the cost. I can't remember if we were quoted $800 for the total job or just for the thermostat - but we decided it was too much of a lux item.

Our Suntouch programmable thermostat was $150. I was able to lay out our 72sf bathroom more efficiently than the Suntouch rep, using half the materials he did, it was pretty wild how far I was able to stretch out a single $200 120"x30" mat and still get nice coverage. To get perfect coverage I could have added another 48"x30" mat for another $120, which still would have kept the whole thing under $500 for materials. My receipts are in my house notebook which is packed, so I can't check to see whether the radiant mat installation was itemized or just baked it into the total, but I'd be surprised if Bill charged me $500. Cold, hard floors hurt my feet something fierce, so floor warming is well worth it to me - I would be cutting back somewhere else to afford it - otherwise I wouldn't be able to stand on tile.

One bit of advice I have for the mudding-it-over step - cover the whole floor with an even layer of thinset, not just the area where the mats are. Doing the latter creates lumps in the floor. I wonder... yes, according to the Suntouch manual, you could use that self-leveling underlayment stuff (the stuff that looks kind of like cement porridge) to get yourself a nice perfectly-flat floor on top of the mat.

We installed the Nuheat system, which was quite a bit more expensive than the W***lyYours (apparently I'm not supposed to mention them here). It cost 1800 for two custom shaped mats, one 31.7 qs ft, the other 34.4 sq ft). The tiler had used it before, and the guys at the John Bridge forum seem to favor it. Needless to say this was way over budget. We haven't tried it out yet - not until next fall, I expect! The floor mats, combined with the (also pricey) runtal omnipanel towel radiators should heat the rooms. I believe the tile guy used the self-leveling cement first, then the mats, then either more self-levelling cement or thinset, before laying the tile.

If that is for true radiant heat, tubes run under the subfloor, that sounds about right to me.

Thank you for all for the responses. I spoke to the CG who was going to speak to the Plumber who he subs to.

pamghatten - you say "true radiant heat" I'm not quite sure what that means. All I want is warm floors. Am I asking for the wrong thing?

True radiant heat as opposed to electric floor mats. From what I understand, and I'm no expert, radiant heat is installed under the subfloor, it is tubes/hoses that run hot water under the floor. It is a true heat source unlike some of the electric heat mats.

I have radiant heat in an addition I put on 5 years ago, and am now putting it in for my kitchen and bathroom remodel. The tubes/hoses are hooked up to my hot water boiler, and are the only heat source in those rooms.

If you only want warm floors and not to heat the whole room, you might really want the electric floor mats that people above have posted about. I don't think they are nearly as expensive as the heating source I'm doing.

$2900 to do a room????? They are ripping you a new one honey.. Go electric if that is the only amount of spce that you are warming. YOu can buy a kit at Costco.com & do the same space with electric for 700 cost of unit. & a HS education.

pamghatten - thanks for the clarification. I guess I will ask about the electric floor mats.

woodinvirginia - I'm still not sure I would do it myself but I will ask the GC about the electric floor mats and see what price I get this time.

Thanks