The Latest On Heated Tile Flooring
Are heated tile floors worth it? A home improvement expert helps you weigh your options.
Stone and ceramic tile floors are by far the most durable, attractive floor coverings on the market. When it comes to strength and beauty, tile flooring outdoes even hardwood, which is prone to warping under extreme temperatures and gouging under high traffic. Stone tile flooring, in particular, adds value to a home. It has a long life and is resistant to basically everything – stains, water, fire, scrapes and scuffs. Tile flooring is an excellent choice for high traffic areas like kitchens, bathrooms, dining areas, and patios.
The main drawback of tile flooring is temperature. Especially if you live in colder climes. Once winter arrives, tile flooring can really take a toll on bare feet. Many people, who otherwise love the look and feel of tile flooring, may choose another material because of how cold tile flooring can get. But, let’s face it, all flooring, except maybe carpet, gets cold in winter. And you don’t want carpet in your kitchen – a room where you and your family will spend most of your time.
Don’t carpet the floor. Heat it.
Part of tile flooring’s versatility is that you can heat it. Imagine stepping out of the shower on a cold December morning to meet with the welcoming warmth of a heated tile floor. In fact, tile flooring heats better than any other flooring material. For this reason, choosing tile flooring is an advantage in colder climes because it can maintain a most cozy and toasty warmth for your bare feet. A heated floor is a comfortable and classy sensation that you and your guests will not soon forget.
The physics works for you.
Because heat rises, a heated tile floor has the potential to warm most of the room. Plus the perceived warmth is more effective from below. Heated tile flooring, also called radiant floor heating, can nicely supplement traditional duct based heating, which is less efficient and blows allergen particles into the airspace of your home.
The Three Types of Radiant Floor Heating: Air, Electric, and Hydronic.
1.Air. Air does not hold a high amount of heat, compared to solids and liquids. Heating your floors by using a furnace or solar power to pump hot air through the floor panels is the least efficient form of radiant floor heating. Air loses heat as it travels through the ducts and it moves particles and allergens through the home. Air floor heating is almost never used in residential applications.
2.Electric. Using this method heat is supplied to the tiles using a network of warming cables installed under the floor. This is a very effective method of radiant floor heating, but electricity is expensive. To increase efficiency, electric floor heating is best installed into a large thermal mass, like a thick concrete floor, or a concrete layer under your tiles that houses the warming cables. Check to see if your electric company offers time-of-use rates. Time-of-use rates give you the option of “charging” the concrete mass with heat during off-peak hours. With a significant thermal mass, the floor can hold the stored heat for up to eight hours. Electric heated tile floors are most effective with a “wet” installation, which is described below.
3. Hydronic. Liquid is a great conductor of heat. Hydronic floor heating pumps hot water from a boiler through tubing laid in a pattern under the floor tiles. This is the most popular and cost effective form of radiant floor heating. The temperature in each room or zone is controlled by a system of thermostats and valves or pumps.
Two Types of Radiant Floor Heating Installations: Wet or Dry
1. Wet. Wet installations imply a large thermal mass, like a concrete subfloor. Another form of wet installation is a lightweight concrete layer over a wooden subfloor. Wet installations are commonly associated with electric radiant heating. This type of installation gets its name from the use of wet concrete to create a thermal mass.
2. Dry. Dry installations make use of radiant floor tubing sandwiched between two layers of plywood or attached directly to the underside of the finished floor or subfloor. Rather than encasing the cables or tubing in concrete, they are run through the airspace beneath the floor. Heat is conserved by installing reflective surfaces to deflect the heat up through the flooring.
Now you’ve got a few facts to get you started. If radiant floor heating sounds like the perfect winter gift for you home, do a little homework. Educate yourself about the types of radiant floor heating so you can be armed with information if you decide to shop. Maybe you will end up getting your home some heated tile floors for Christmas.
