Heating Wood-like Tiles?

13 years ago

Hi!
We just bought a split-level home and want to put the Wood Look Tile in the lower level. We live in Colorado at 5900' so we get snow and cold in the winter. We are thinking we want to put down an electric heat element under the Wood Look Tiles. Some details:
1. We want to lay the tiles over a concrete slab in the lower (garden) level room which is 300SF (three hundred square feet).
2. We have a dog, teens and 'tweens.
3. We have a quality friend with great track record doing the install and so our cost (friend's price) is minimal.
4. This is an area that we'll put the teens, the tv and couch, the homework area, and will cover some of that area in front of the tv/couch with a big fuzzy area rug.
5. The room is tight as a drum, with great windows and it just passed the inspection re: insulation with flying colors.
6. There is baseboard heating thoughout generated by a boiler.
6. The house was built in '66.
Thoughts?

Here is a link that might be useful: Example of Wood Look Tile

This post was edited by mox1 on Tue, Jul 23, 13 at 11:43

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Comments (3)

User
13 years ago
Is the lower level on a slab or crawl space? For a warm floor system to be the most effective, the slab or crawlspace would need to be insulated. Otherwise, you're just transmitting heat to the great outdoors. Understand also that you're not really going to be using the heat a whole lot less. It's a floor warming system, not a room heating system. 3000 square feet of a warm floor system is also going to be VERY VERY expensive. Much more than the tile itself. Even if you do just the wire and tape it down yourself DIY. Also, a space that large will need several electrical runs to supply the power needed, so does your panel have the room in it to add all of those needed wire runs?

If you aren't DIY people, then running the electrical and having a pro install the wires will add at least 5-10K to such a large job, if not more because of the difficulty of access. Just the materials for the job are already in the 20K price range. That is in addition to whatever tile project that you want to do, which would be an average $6-$10 a square foot for the tile and installation. So, you could spend 60K on the project.

Do the bathrooms for sure. That's even a DIY project easily. Put down carpet if you want a warm floor in a large living space. And use the rest of the price difference to address air sealing and insulation levels in the home.
weedyacres
13 years ago
GreenD: The OP said 300 sf, not 3000 sf. :-)

As someone that put heated floors in our master bath and then kitchen/breakfast nook and then sunroom, I'm a big fan. While they technically don't heat the room, when our bath floors are on in the winter there is a noticeable difference in temperature when going from one room to the other. And warm tootsies make you less inclined to turn up the heat on the furnace.

If you've got the funds, I'd definitely go for it.
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User
13 years ago
Oops! I saw the 6000 square feet and the fact that it was a complete lower level, and I guess I just added that 0 because it was half of the 6000 square feet. Subtract a 0 to the numbers. :)