MY QUESTION : I am looking at purchasing the SunTouch mat 12000630LW from Lowes. I want to *verify* this mat can be used in a shower application. I am planning to use this mat in a tiled curbless shower, so the mat will go under the shower and across into the bath. I see in the FAQ: Can I install the SunTouch in a shower floor? Yes. Both SunTouch mats and WarmWire are UL listed for installation in a custom shower floor or bench application. Refer to the SunTouch installation manual and WarmWire installation manual for further instructions. Also, if we insulate extra under the floor between the joists, are we able to use any type of insulation ? i.e. foam instead of fiberglass bats P.S. What shower floor waterproofing methods are able to be used with this product ? THEIR ANSWER : You are correct, the SunTouch mats can be installed in a custom shower as long as they are embedded in the mortar for the floor covering. I have attached a link to the installation manual (http://www.suntouch.com/mats/) which is located on the left of the page. Download the manual and note the exact sizes will not be noted in this manual as Lowes carrys a 30 wide product, but the construction and materials are exactly the same. Please refer to pages 12 & 13 for complete information. As far as insulation goes, insulating the bays below the floor covering it is always a good idea. Because the insulation will not have any contact with the heating elements, the insulation type doesnt effect our products. Please feel free to insulate away. Any shower membrane that is TCNA Approved should be able to be used with our systems. Make sure that any paint on applications do not include any petroleum products as they can damage the wire coatings. Otherwise, check with the store about the best products.

We live in AK and have had pex-type hydronic infloor heat in our home for 16+ years. The tubing has gypcrete poured over it to a depth of 1.5". We have tile, vinyl, marble composite, and floating genuine wood plank flooring. We are now in the process of designing our new and last home. I'll tell you my experience from our current home and then what we're planning for the next one. Vinyl: I know you aren't considering it, but for those who might think about it, we did have bad shrinkage problems in one area where the water in one loop went way to high due to a temporary equipment failure. I won't do vinyl again, anywhere. You should think about the possibility of equipment malfunctions as part of your process; you can't guarantee the ideal temp will be maintained in such an event. Ceramic tile and marble composite tile: Tile is one of the best types of flooring for heat transfer. It's the one type of flooring where you can feel the heat (in a good way). Our kids tended to use the back entry floor as a drying rack for their snowsuits and gloves; just lay them out on the floor and they're dry in an hour. It is a hard surface and people tend to see it as "cold" even though it's the warmest floor in our home. The downside: All our grout joints have cracked because of floor movement. I don't know whether this is worse in infloor heat, but our back entry is only eight feet across with adjoining hall and bathroom being narrower, 1/4" joints with sanded grout, cracked badly in both areas. The master bath has the composite marble; that room is about 17 feet across with 1/8" joints, unsanded grout, and there is a single grout line that cracked all the way across the room. Apparently that grout line fell in the lowest "bounce" point. Incidentally, these two rooms were installed by different tile guys, so I don't think it was a case of inferior work. I'll do tile again, but I will make sure the floors in those areas are heavily reinforced to prevent movement, and I'll store extra grout for later fixes. I'll almost certainly put a tile product in my kitchen and entry areas. Hardwood: We have floating 7/8" hardwood planks, clipped together (Junckers brand). We acclimated the flooring as directed before installing it. The manufacturer recommended a felt-type layer under the flooring. Because of the gypcrete having a slight cupping from wall to wall, the floor squeaked at first. My husband took it back up and put down more of the felt lining in some spots that were lower, and that cured the squeaks (although a few spots are still creaky, especially in winter). The biggest problem is the shrinkage between planks. They're tongue-and-groove, but they aren't snap-together and the metal clips aren't enough to hold them taut together. We have a friend who put down wood strips between the tubing runs and nailed down oak tongue-and-groove flooring, having gone through the preliminary step of lengthy acclimation period beforehand. He is also disappointed that there are gaps in his floor also. I will plan on using engineered hardwood flooring but never use plank strips again, even snap-together type. I'd go with a thinner product next time too. We do have rugs over areas of the wood floor, but rugs are insulating and therefore not to be overdone without sacrificing efficiency. A friend of ours with infloor heat used a glue-together plastic laminate flooring, and that was very successful. Because of that, I would imagine something with a plywood type backing would perform better than just hardwood strips. Yet another friend of ours installed a bamboo snap-together flooring from Costco over radiant infloor heat. It failed badly, each plank bowing and cupping. The manufacturer had approved it for floor heat, so they stood behind it and refunded the money. They replaced it with another type of engineered hardwood and it is working well. I didn't mention that we have carpet in a few areas, and that is the most insulating of all the materials (a bad thing for floor heat) even though we used the type of pad that was recommended. I won't be using carpet next time. As to the question of the floor feeling warm, we don't notice it being particularly warm to our feet except in the tile areas (delightful but hard). When we visit friends without infloor heat, though, the difference in comfort is VERY noticeable. We feel generally colder in their homes and especially our feet feel colder. After having infloor heat, I'd never have anything else. As an aside, I did talk to a flooring specialist the other day and she said cork floors are usually approved for infloor heat and perform about the same as wood flooring. I'm sorry this is so long, but maybe some of the info will be helpful. A number of friends have gone with infloor after being in our home, so no matter what type of floor covering you use you will probably enjoy the effect of the heat.

We bought our house in 2015 and the prior owner was an electrician. The house was built in 1954 and we had the original furnace replaced 2 years ago. Prior to replacement, we were burning oil like mad! Our home is just under 1100 sq feet with 3 zones. The entire house is radiant heat in the ceiling, except the small kitchen which was an addition and has baseboard heating. When we replaced the furnace, we added digital thermostats with no issues in all 3 zones. We were advised to set the thermostat at the start of the season and then not touch it. Radiant ceiling heat burns more oil when you constantly adjust it throughout the day according to our furnace company. Last season we set it to 68 and left it all season Nov-March. This year we decided to try to bear it and have set it at 61. We filled the tank in September and I checked it this morning and we are at just above 1/2 tank! It’s 200 gallons. If we make no adjustments I think we will make it to end of February. Last year (2022) we filled Jan, Mar, May & Sept and we live on the Massachusetts coast. We are very happy with the radiant system. One thing I will add is we hung a ceiling light and had to buy a stud finder from Lowe’s so that we didn’t hit the radiant system. But we may have just had dumb luck!

If the manufacturer says it's OK over radiant, I'd trust that. Duro Designs told me in writing [via email] that their glue down was fine as well, though I don't know if they've changed the website to reflect that. When you think about it, there's no less flexible material than grouted tile, but that's commonly used over radiant. I think the reason there's so much trouble finding radiant approved flooring is that once the floor and heat system are installed, the homeowner is in the drivers seat: there's nothing to stop you from trying for a little greater efficiency by turning the water in the pipes up to 120 degrees if you like, and that can cause a lot of materials to fail. So the flooring industry tries to limit it's liability by saying 'fine over radiant, so long as the water in the pipes is kept at 85 degrees'. When you think about it, that's just silly: every floor gets hotter than that when the sun shines through the window or the fireplace is burning or near a heater. So why 85? Because it 'feels' warm to your skin. There's no materials testing, no scientific standard in play other than that. FWIW, I have radiant accross my main and upper floors. The tile is noticeably warm under barefeet, the laminate less so, the floating cork less, the carpet [despite special pad] not at all. I think a glue down cork will transmit heat at least as well as the floating, and would have used it if my heat pipes weren't the sort that rest on top the subfloor, rather than below. It isn't that the cork feels cool at all, it's just that the warmth doesn't make itself known in the same way. BUT be sure to insulate well below the heat: we all know that heat rises, but it also follows the path of least resistance. Cork is a resistor, a 'dam' for the heat, so you'll want an even bigger heat dam below it.