Whatever you do, don't get ThermoSoft. You *might* end up with a good installation, you might end up with something like two of us here had...run for a while and then break. Another tip: don't just use the resistance meter as a determinant of whether the wires are intact after installation. Really hook them up completely and see if they heat the whole way through and don't throw the GFCI. BEFORE you SLC or tile over them. Easier to rip it out at that point and redo it than to cry forever because it all seemed to work and then cr*pped out after half an hour or even a year. I've also heard NuHeat is very tough. One contractor told us he was whacking it on the side of something to clean off old thinset when he had to reinstall it and it still worked afterwards. I wouldn't recommend doing *that*, but other folks have also said NuHeat is reliable.

floor heat is not hot enough to warm your clothes in the way that was mentioned in the first post. it is ok to warm a closet floor too. There is no danger. when you go see floor heat companies' web sites, you will see that they often place the heat cables in the middle section of the floor and not around the perimeter:: this is one way to plan it out well, so that you are not spending more and not putting heat into furniture (or boxes). BUT, the amount of heat energy is so minimal that it makes no big difference if some of the furniture base is resting on heated sections of floor. However, this statement might be untrue in one case or another, and if so, then the heat will build up a bit more than expected and perhaps cause some form of problem (like, just imagining, e.g. a stronger glue smell coming from cheap furniture). So, the companies are not going to overstate the case and advise you to install heat cables underneath fitted furniture that has closed-box bases.

"will underfloor heating help warm the room at all, or just stop the floor being chilly?" A true underfloor radiant heating system will heat the room. Basic under-tile heat mats or cables can do what the others' wrote; simply warm the floor, or some are capable of warming a room. "2. what wattage of towel heater is needed to make a difference to air temp? Over 150? Over 400?" Look at the BTU output. Most "towel warmers" struggle to simply warm towels. If you want a "towel warmer" that will heat a room, look at Runtal. There are other brands as well. Some of their warmers are hydronic, some are electric. For room heat, a very generic rule-of-thumb...which is exactly, that...a generic rule-of-thumb... recommendation would be to get something that can output about 25-30BTU per sqft of room. You have a 10' x 10' room, 100sqft, you'd look at a unit that can output 2500-3000BTU. There's always Manual J for a more accurate number. "3. whats the most energy efficient and non-ugly ;) way to heat a bathroom?" First, stop the loss. Air seal the room to prevent air infiltration through the house's thermal envelope, and properly install whatever insulation that you use. Then address heat requirements. In a light-use climate like yours, anything "radiant floor" you'd want low-mass for quick response times. Simple under-tile cables or mat systems, or if you did go with a true underfloor hydronic, a low-mass staple-up system would probably serve you best. If you pursue the towel warmer route, Runtal and Runtal-like towel warmers come in a variety of sizes (BTU outputs) and styles. They blend well with most decor. Most cost-effective would likely be a Runtal-type warmer with a few judiciously placed bathroom floor rugs set on the tile.

Agreed. However, I've yet to see a bathroom with multiple zones. One thermostat, one zone. If part of the floor is working, then the thermostat works. Agreed that taking an ohm reading will verify it. Just in this case, bringing in an electrician and paying him to check it out is wasted money. That said, if the homeowner has a multimeter, and knows how to use it....