I’ve decided to provide auxiliary heat in my spec house bathrooms with electric heat under the tiles. I have quotes from a couple of the mat-type product folks. What are your preferred methods for handling the substrate and thinset issues. My tile guy says he prefers the types that are simple wire without the mat, but the last one I saw him do, for a friend, was SunTouch, with the orange mat. He cautions about small tiles atop these heat wires, saying we can get a lumpy or wavy look, something the 12 or 13 inch tiles will bridge. He says he prefers to do Schluter’s waffle-type “Ditra” underlayment atop the OSB subfloor, then place the mat, then gob on the thinset, then tile. What has been your experience with products and techniques?
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http://forums.taunton.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=tp-breaktime&msg=27162.1
Check out http://www.warmlyyours.com for some info, installation, etc.
Since you plan to do this on a regular basis, I'd recommend cables over the mat system. More flexibilty.
It has to be a two-step process...first embed the cable in thinset, then come back after the thinset has cured and tile. The only ugly installations I have seen (two of them) were both attempted as a one-step. Cable, thinset, an tile all at the same time.