I was just leaving DS's 6x9 bathroom, which has a strip of infloor heating in it (the only space without tub or cabs or toilet) and thought...gad I love this floor. Yes it's worth every penny and more. I wish I'd have done more of it myself!

a small mat is a small cost.

What is under your tile. A concrete slab? A wood subfloor?

-david

Thanks! We're not exactly in igloo country here, but winters are not too far off.

I did send for an estimate for the floors...

David, must have cross-posted. There is a wood subfloor under the linoleum. Does this have an impact?

yes it has an impact. A slab takes heat, not in the first few minutes, but over the long term. Instead of feeding the slab you want a little thermal break there, a membrane. Unless you want to have warmer concrete in your house.

With wood it still happens but to a lesser extent. Wood is not a good conductor but also not a good insulator. It's halfway between the two. You choose whether you want to let heat seep more (or less) into the wood by putting a membrane or not. Anything that is not specifically designed to be a conductor. No big deal, just a little fine tuning.

With tiles on concrete it is more important.

-david

I love mine! It's in a room with tub/shower combo and toilet. The room is only about 6'x6'. All I have to do is touch my foot to an area that's not heated and I know the heated mat was worth every penny!

Thanks for the responses (and physics help--never my strongest subject). I'm expecting to hear from Warmly Yours to get an idea of how much this all costs--a factor also.

I agonized over this and decided against it for the following reasons:
My master is on a 2nd floor over a heated living room, with very little floor space left, have to have a bathmat down to be infront of the shower- which leaves even less space--- it is fairly cold in winter here- thus I generally wear my slippers----- so when would I be feeling this warm floor?

Those were my reasons to not do it. I would love radiant heat floors one day- in the whole house, though.

I was willing to spend the money for the system, and put in the labor myself, but just didn't seem worth it. Perhaps if I had it, I would change my mind- can't miss what you never had.

I wasn't going to put in heated floors until I read threads here about the best choice people made with regard to their remodels. It seemed like heated floors were always at the top of the list. So, I did get heated floors and all I can say is it WAS the best decision I made with regard to my MB remodel (and that's saying a lot since I love my MB).

Hands down, absolutely, YES! David's point is good: small space=small cost.

I love ours, too, it is very nice to have. Although we seem to have a few hotter and colder spots - is that normal? I saw the wiring that they put down and don't see any obvious gaps, so it's a bit strange.

Does the infloor heat warm the entire room, or just the floors?

Depends. How big, how small. Size. What size are you thinking of ? HTH - david

I just got a quote for about $500, which was about what I expected. This is with a thermostat that seems pretty extensive. I'm going to see what the downside would be to getting the cheaper thermostat (and so save about $80) and if I can use a $50 coupon I found. So, I feel the price really is pretty good for all the benefits I've been hearing above and on other threads.

I believe that the heated floor does not warm the entire room, so that's not really a benefit.

Yes, yes, yes. So worth it, IMO.

Heat is heat. All heat is heat.

If the size is big, it is sufficient as the room's only source of heat in winter. If the size is small, it is as good as any other small heater of the same power. Leave anything on, for a long time, and you will feel it. Just as much as heat from another source.

You can say you don't notice it, if it is really small, but its impact is as real as any other heat source of the same power. Heat spreads out. Heat seeps. Heat distributes itself. Heat does not stop moving into colder things. If the floor is warm, it heats the air next to it and everything else next to it too. It is not true to say it has no impact or no effect on the rest of the surroundings. It does heat up the rest of the hosue / structure / room, but only to the extent that its power enables it to do so, which is equal to the impact of anything else of similar power.

Am making this point to be sure other readers later don't conclude that for some reason heat in a floor just disappears once it leaves the floor, or that it contains itself to the floor alone.

Although it may be negligibly small, it still does warm up other things. It's just power = warmth, like any other heat source. How it gets described in subjective terms later is a variable that we can discuss for ever and ever, but power equals power equals power.

HTH
-david

David, you are a poet.

I think I understand what you are saying. I guess part of me would like to believe that I am not measurably adding to the energy use in my house by heating a room electrically through the floor, but physics is physics.

its called radiant heat, it warms the floor,and the space
i have installed hydronic in-floor heating to the whoule house [ow,my back] its a pleasant heat,you know the house is heated, but you can't figure out where its coming from
and then..you notice that. you wear socks all the time
instead of flip-flops or wslippers..its a different feeling
more enjoyable

We have radiant heat throughout our house. DH is a plumber so put it in.

I have to say, while I like the radiant heat in the rest of the house, I wish it were not in the bathrooms. This is why, when I get out of the shower my body is heated up already. I actually have to open windows to cool the room down enough so I don't sweat while putting on makeup and using hair dryer.

I know so many others really like it, but I would suggest just putting down bath mat/rug and saving yourself the money.

With underfloor electric radiant heat, those who perceive it as adding too much heat to the room have the option to turn it off.

I was just able to turn my floor on, had to wait out the 30 days after it was affixed in the compound. I forgot just how wonderful it feels to get up in the middle of the night and be met by warm floors instead of frigid tile. Even my dh, who pretends to be oblivious to the finer points of the remodel, has to admit that it makes an incredible difference in comfort. There is one triangle area just outside the normal travel path in our MB that if you step in, you realize the difference in floor temperature and it is amazing. Do it!

Engineers and pros can calculate and debate whether it warms up the whole room, but in my experience, where if your extremities are cold (or warm) the rest of your body is the same, heating up your toes is 80% of the battle of feeling warm. So even if your room temperature isn't much higher with a heated floor, your body will feel proportionately warmer when your feet are prancing around on heat. I know mine does.