Heated bathroom floors are one of the more popular trends that are taking over new luxury home builds along with bathroom remodels across the country. Although waking up and walking into the bathroom with underfloor heating is amazing, there are a few factors that you need to consider before getting it installed or installing it yourself. The most important thing that you need to look into is the overall cost of having radiant floors added to your bathroom. You also need to factor in the hassle/time that comes with installation, limitations when it comes to floor types that you can use, and issues that could be caused by raising the height of the floor to accommodate the heating material underneath.
Adding Heated floors to your bathroom is definitely worth it if your bathroom floor is consistently cold, you have the budget to install them properly, and you want to add a luxurious touch to your bathroom.
How Do Heated Bathroom Floors Work?
Heated bathroom floors are created when a source of radiant heat is installed underneath your flooring. There are two different types of heat that can be used: electrical heating or hydronic heating. Each one has different benefits, but either one will make you much more comfortable when the temperature drops and you want to be cozy in all rooms in your house.
What Types Of Heated Floors Are Available?
There are two types of heating that you can install under your flooring to eliminate cold feet in the morning.
Electric heating uses electric cables to generate the heat that warms up your flooring. The wires are embedded in thin mats that are laid underneath your floor. It can be installed underneath tile, engineered wood, or stone and you will see similar results as long as the material is around the same thickness.
Hydronic heating, which is also known as hot water radiant systems, pushes heated water through tubes that are attached to thick plywood panels or mortar to heat up the flooring. It is best to have this water sent to the pipes from the water heater that is connected to the rest of the pipes in your house. This is great for tile, stone, and concrete floors.
We have been extremely happy with the electric heating method that we used when installing heated floors to our first floor bathroom. It is underneath thin tile and takes 5-10 minutes to feel and it makes getting ready for work a little bit toastier.
Benefits of Heated Flooring
There are multiple benefits to adding heated floors to your bathroom or any other area in your home.
Uniform Heating
Heated floors allow for uniform heating, which is very difficult to do when you are using an HVAC unit because hot air is being blown out of 1 or 2 vents, which makes it difficult to warm the room evenly.
Decreased Energy Bill
You will also see a decrease in your energy bill if you use the heated floors properly. They are 25% more efficient than HVAC units and if you time your usage properly, you will only need to have the system on for a few hours a day. If you are building a new house check out our guide on setting up utilities in a new house!
Space Savings
By eliminating the need for a portable heater, radiator, and vents you are able to free up space that can be utilized for other things. This also increases the aesthetic of the room because you do not have clunky systems or vents on the wall and do not need to keep a heater in the room or in a closet for multiple months out of the year.
Noise
This is one of the benefits that is normally overlooked, but it is a huge deal depending on how your house was heated before looking into heated floors. Forced-air systems can be noisy and you can eliminate that noise in your bathroom by installing the new system and block the vents from getting heat.
Customization
These systems are very user-friendly and allow you to choose what temperature you want the floors to reach. They also include timers that allow you to walk into a toasty room after setting the system up after installation.
Safety
Most HVAC vents and portable heaters are very hot to the touch when trying to quickly warm up a room and it can be a danger to young children or adults that are moving around often. Heated floors eliminate this problem because it is impossible to get burnt and is one less thing you need to worry about.
Heated floors also eliminate the need for forced air to blow around allergens and other particles that can impact people with asthma and other allergies.
Higher Resale Value
When you are trying to sell your home for top-dollar you will find homebuyers that are looking for all of the bells and whistles that come with buying one of the best homes in the neighborhood. Having heated floors may be one of the differentiators that help convince them to spend the extra money and have a house with luxurious touches.
How Expensive Is It To Install?
The average cost to add radiant heat to an individual room is between $1,746 and $5,819, which comes out to be $6-20 per square foot for hydroponic systems and $8-15 for electric versions. If you are installing it yourself you can buy a 50 square foot mat and install it yourself. We installed ours with minimal issues, but we have multiple tradesmen in the family that helped us, which made it much easier.
If you are installing it yourself you will need to make sure that you follow all of the proper guidelines when it comes to electrical installations along with any rules/laws that have been issued by your town, county, or state. You do not want to cause a fire because you are trying to save money on hiring a professional and you do not want it to be an issue when you go to sell your home and do not have proper permits that prove that you did it correctly.
Will Heated Floors Make My Energy Bill Rise?
If you are adding heated floors and you currently do not use anything to keep your bathroom warm, it will cause you to spend a little bit more money because of the energy needed to heat the floors. If used regularly, you will see a $3-5 increase in your monthly electric bill, which we believe is well worth it because of the additional comfort that it provides.
If you are adding heated floors throughout multiple rooms in the house you should estimate that each normal-sized room will add $3-5 more to your bill. You will most likely not use the heated floors in the warmer months, so you will only see an increase for a few months out of the year.
When compared to other heat sources, radiant floor systems are much more energy and cost-efficient in the long run. You will also run into less maintenance issues after it is installed properly.
Do Heated Floors Also Heat The Room?
Heat rises, which means that heated floors will naturally heat up the room as well. The radiant heating will take some time to rise, but it definitely will make the room toasty over the course of the morning.
There are multiple factors that go into how well the floor heats up the room. The most important is how well the room is insulated. You want to trap the heat in the room and if you have a window that is not air-tight or an open door that pulls the heat out, you will see a decrease in efficiency when it comes to warming up the room.
You will also need to account for concrete slabs if they are underneath your bathroom flooring. The concrete will absorb some of the heat, which will have the same effect as the poor insulation. The goal is to allow the heat to stay in the room and not be absorbed by another area.
How Long Do Heated Floors Last?
When installed properly, your heated floors can last over 35 years. This is much longer than the average furnace, which lasts around 20 years. You will need to have a furnace if you want to keep the rest of your house warm, but the heated floors will allow you to keep the rooms that it is installed in warm when in use and will decrease the need for the furnace.
If you are still on the fence about installing heated bathroom floors you should reach out to a trusted contractor in your area and see how much it would cost to install them in your home. It has definitely been a luxury to have in our first floor bathroom, which gets very cold in the winter, and is something that I am planning on having in all of the future homes that I move into.