Does radiant floor heating inside a shower make sense?
uscpsycho
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
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branson4020
4 years agoFlo Mangan
4 years agoRelated Discussions
Is radiant floor heat adequate as the only heat source?
Comments (7)Thanks for all the input; it's been really helpful. Shanghaimom, I did a 'step test' with a 12x12 marble sample I had on hand, and you're right; it is so much colder than the tile. That has convinced me to install floor heat, even if it's only a secondary source. I had no idea that hydronic toekick heaters existed; the quotes I got all mentioned 'electric fan toekick heaters', and I didn't want to go that route. When discussing with my contractor last evening, he was very supportive of the hydronic solution; now I just have to make sure that the unit will fit under the 'door' side of my vanity (will need to access it for service, so it really shouldn't creep into the drawer side of the cabinet.) Fingers crossed! Mongo, thanks! I'll do my homework on the BTU calculations; thanks for pointing out what to look for. Lynneblack, thanks for the vent/fan/light combo idea. I've read on the boards that the Panasonic is a great unit, but one of the two items I'm keeping from the current bathroom is my Nutone melon vent fan/dimmable light....See MoreRadiant heat for bathroom floor?
Comments (6)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....See MoreSlate - Does this make sense?
Comments (24)mom - what a delightful thing to find when I check in! Here we are a couple of years later and I'm still really happy with it. I don't know if it's too late, and I don't know what remains of the old postings about lessons learned, so here's a recap: If you're buying less expensive slate, make sure and buy 1/4 more than you need. A lot of it will be unusable. But even with that it's still a bargain. It will also let you choose the stones that you really love because they're gorgeous. If you like the multicolor look buy a few boxes of a lighter color. Most of ours were grey/purple/red, and we added some boxes of green/gold. It really makes a difference. Before the installers arrive open all the boxes and sort through them. I did it in our driveway. One pile for unusable (some had these weird sharp extrusions that I didn't want underfoot, or really sharp edges where pieces had flakes off.) If you don't want to walk on it, put it in this pile Another pile for partially usable, to use when they need to cut smaller pieces. Then sort the rest into special pretty, light colored, medium colored, dark colored, and grey/black. And in my case, green/gold. We were doing an entryway, galley kitchen, and open dining area and decided to put all the grey/black in the entryway. Then I picked where the special pretty were going to go - one on each side of the dishwasher, a couple in the traffic area between the dining and kitchen. Put them where you'll see them Then I told the installers to take one from each pile, then from the next pile, and so on. Once they got it they were really good about not putting two that looked the same next to each other. If you look at my floor in the picture up top you'll see it's nicely laid out. I'd also suggest washing the tiles really well before they're installed. I had to wash them well inbetween install and grouting and some of them - the more reddish ones - had a lot of mud on them. You can also get more of a sense of the color. I used a matte sealer; the next time I scrub it I'm going to add a shinier layer (Holloway House, recommended by people here.) I tried it in the entryway and I like the light sheen it adds. You will not be able to use a sponge mop except for light cleanup (like in the winter when there's salt in the snow.) I still use the Hoover Floormate - pour on hot water and some cleaner, scrub a little with a stiff pushbroom, and then suck up all the water. It doesn't show dirt at all. Sort through all the tiles...See MoreDoes Radiant Heat Need a Backup System? Is It Responsive?
Comments (13)I have radiant heat in my addition, forced hot air in the rest of my home. I live in central NJ and you are invited to see hot it works if you would like to come to my home. Yes, it does not respond quickly to temperature changes, thatÂs true, but the pluses make it worth it. I have it in a guest bedroom that is in a "slab on grade", that means a cement slab floor. On the coldest days, that room feels great! There is no sound of hot air blowing around. The air doesnÂt dry out your skin and nose. If the door opens and cold air rushes in, it remains warm. It just feels really nice. I have it in my bathroom. When I redid my bathroom and added stone floors, the room looked good but, was unpleasant to be in. When I added the radiant in the addition, I ran it in my bathroom too. I ran a lot of extra in the shower. It feels beautiful! I ran it under wood floors in my kitchen addition and it doesnÂt work very well there. The company said itÂs about 20% less efficient under wood floors, thatÂs not been my experience. I dealt with radiant tec in Vermont and they were very easy to work with. I dealt with David and I can really recommend him. I had a handyman install it after I figured out what I need done. The company helped a lot with the design. If anyone is thinking of doing it themselves, hereÂs what I recommend. I went through a lot of trouble trying to make a continuous run with the tubing from the water heater, to the whole room, and back to the water heater. That was very hard. Where I couldnÂt do it, my plumber made " joints". If I had known that I could have him do that from the beginning, it would have been so much easier. I thought the joints would be a problem. They are not. You do have to get a plumber to do parts of it, unless you know how to do that type of thing. The part where it was installed in the slab, I did myself. That was EASY. (IÂm a small, middle-aged woman.) As far as the thermostat goes, you can install it anywhere you like. It will read the temperature of where ever you put it. I got creative when installing it under my shower. There is a step up to my shower so there was a space under my shower, (this was not new construction). When I put it in the floor under the shower, the pocket of air under the shower, insulated it from the tubing and the shower was staying cold. HereÂs what I did. I opened the wall next to it. And made three "u" shaped runs of copper pipe and inserted them to the space below the shower. My stone shower feels like heaven on a cold day. It would be too expensive to do whole rooms in copper but it didnÂt run too much to do the shower. ItÂs well worth it!...See Moremillworkman
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