Electric underfloor heating in Burwood
We install electric underfloor heating across Burwood, where nearly half of all homes are flats and the houses that remain are a century old. Flats are 49.1% of its homes, so most of what we install is a mat under a bathroom floor the building owns. Winter mornings run colder here than in the city, and a tiled floor holds that cold until something warms it from underneath. Under tile heating mats into a strata apartment bathroom and into a period house bathroom are most of what we install.
The benefits of electric underfloor heating in Burwood
Flats are 49.1% of Burwood's homes and separate houses 34.5%, which is two markets inside one small area. Half the reasons below are about a bathroom sitting on a slab that belongs to the building. The other half are about a house the Council protects.
Most Burwood bathrooms sit on a strata slab
Flats are 49.1% of homes in the area, and inside Burwood itself they are 67.5% of them. Under tile heating mats go into the tile bed above that slab rather than into the slab itself. The benefit is a warm tile floor with nothing fixed into common property at any stage of the work. That puts the slab under your bathroom in the building's hands rather than yours.
Your floor may be the heritage fabric itself
Appian Way was complete by 1909, and the National Trust called it probably the finest Edwardian bungalow precinct in Sydney. A Council heritage assessment of a Federation house in Seale Street named the original timber flooring and bathroom tiles as significant. Under tile heating mats go in above a floor rather than through it, so the benefit is that original fabric stays. On a listed house Council still comes before the tiler, because it decides what counts as significant.
Run the floor heating outside the evening peak
Burwood is on the Ausgrid network, where the residential peak is 3pm to 9pm every day through winter and summer. New residential connections default to a demand tariff, where the monthly charge is set by the highest half hour inside that window. The benefit is that our thermostats run the floor heating on a timer and a floor sensor, so it warms before 3pm. A tiled floor then holds that warmth through the evening without drawing anything inside the window.
What is under the old floor decides the dates
Most of Burwood's houses and its older walk up flats were built or last renovated before 1990. Vinyl sheet laid before 1987 can have a backing that contains asbestos, which changes how the old floor comes up. The usual method of grinding a floor flat is prohibited on that material, and so is sanding it. Under tile heating mats are laid once that preparation is done, which is why we raise it early.
Retrofit one room at a time
Under tile heating mats go in one room at a time, each on its own circuit and its own thermostat. Burwood now holds 7,314 high density flats, and almost all of that growth is recent. A bathroom tiled in the last twenty years was usually tiled without heating, because nobody asked for it then. The benefit is that an ensuite or a hallway can be done on its own, without touching the rest.
Nothing in the room for a tenant to break
47.0% of Burwood households rent, and the last published count put 55.9% of its strata lots in investor hands. That market wants a bathroom with nothing in it to service once the tenant moves in. The benefit of under tile heating mats is no fan, no ducts, no outdoor unit and no wall heater to break. A landlord with several units in one building can have each of them done the same way.
What we would install in Burwood
Most Burwood floors already exist, and that is what usually points to a mat rather than a cable.
A mat under the tiles
Half of Burwood's homes are flats, and its houses are being renovated rather than rebuilt, so the floor nearly always exists. Under tile heating mats go into the tile bed while the bathroom is open, with nothing cut into the structure below.
Under tile heating matsCable in a screed
A ground floor extension or a rear room is where a new screed is going down anyway. In screed heating cable goes into that topping, and it is rare in a flat because of the build up at the door.
In screed heating cableCable in a slab
Burwood approves about 45 new houses a year across the whole area, so a slab is rarely the floor in question. Where a slab is being poured, in slab heating cable is fixed in place first and the pour covers it.
Slab heating cables, dual coreWhy Burwood properties choose us
We install across Burwood and the rest of the Burwood area, and we size every job from your floor plans before we quote. Installation is always subject to checking installer availability, which we do before we agree a day.
How we install underfloor heating in Burwood
Plans first, then a quote
Send us the plans for your new home, renovation, office or hotel. We measure the heated areas from them, calculate the cable size and quote the materials. If you want us to install, a second quote covers the installation labour. Nothing is ordered and no day is booked until you accept.
Installation day
Once you accept and tell us the job site is ready, we agree a day, subject to checking installer availability. The floor has to be prepared and ready before that day: your own trades handle levelling, waterproofing and anything else above the slab. Our installer lays the cable or the mat, fits the thermostat, and tests the system with our own equipment before leaving site. Your tiler covers it with the screed or the tile bed.
In a strata building the path is different again
In a New South Wales strata scheme the lot boundary generally sits at the upper surface of the floor. The slab underneath belongs to the building rather than to you. We lay the mat into the tile bed instead of touching that slab, and nothing is drilled or chased into it. Installing hard flooring, and the wiring and power points that come with it, is a minor renovation under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015. Waterproofing is carved out of that definition, so a full bathroom rebuild goes to a special resolution rather than an ordinary one. Your builder or project manager deals with the owners corporation, and we build to whatever that approval allows.
Where our day sits in yours
The floor has to be prepared, approved and ready before our installation day, and that sequence moves more Burwood dates than anything else does. The benefit is that the heated area and the cable size come off your plans, so only access is left for the day.
Underfloor heating for Burwood homes
The houses are the old stock
The number of separate houses in the area fell from 5,983 in 1991 to 5,311 in 2021, while the flats around them multiplied. That leaves the houses as the period stock rather than as anything built lately. They are Victorian, Federation and inter war, face brick and often tuck pointed on a sandstone base, under Marseilles terracotta or slate. About 45 new houses a year have been approved across the whole area over the last eight years. So under tile heating mats are what a Burwood house job calls for, in a bathroom being retiled.
Strata in the town centre, houses on the side streets
Burwood Town Centre and the buildings along Burwood Road and Railway Parade are strata work. There the slab is common property and the build up has to land at the bathroom door. Croydon, Croydon Park, Enfield and Burwood Heights are the house streets. The question there is the floor level the room can afford and what Council will allow above it. In a semi detached or terraced house the bathroom is often the smallest room in the building. Under tile heating mats keep the build up to a few millimetres, which is what a small bathroom can afford.
The cheapest week to do it
A bathroom being retiled is the moment the floor is open, the waterproofer has finished and the tiler has not started. That is the window our installer works in, and on a small Burwood bathroom it is a short one. Outside it the same job means lifting a floor that has nothing wrong with it, which costs more than the heating does. It is worth calling while the renovation is still being planned rather than once it has begun. So the benefit of calling while the renovation is still being planned is that the heating costs least to add.
Winter mornings in Burwood
These readings come from the Bureau of Meteorology stations at Canterbury Racecourse and Sydney Olympic Park, either side of Burwood. The Observatory Hill readings are the city centre, included for comparison.
- July nights
5.8°C at Canterbury Racecourse and 6.6°C at Sydney Olympic Park, against 8.1°C at Observatory Hill in the city. A tiled floor sits close to that overnight, and it is the first thing a bare foot meets in the morning.
- The daily swing
11.9°C and 12.0°C between night and afternoon at those two stations, against 8.3°C in the city. The cold end is early morning. A floor warms slowly, so a timer brings it up before the coldest part of the morning.
- Frost
About 4 nights a year at or below 2°C at Canterbury Racecourse. Burwood is not frost country. The overnight low is what decides how cold the floor is at seven in the morning.
- Climate zone
Zone 5, the coastal zone, which is what the building code sizes a floor's insulation for. Insulation under the heating is what keeps the warmth in the room, and it is sized from that zone.
Get a free quote in Burwood
Tell us what you need done in Burwood and we will get back to you with a price as soon as we can. There is no obligation to go ahead.
Services we provide in Burwood
New home builds
Home renovations
Bathroom renovations
Apartments
Hotel bathrooms
Office buildings
Cold storage and frost heave
Suburbs we service in Burwood and surrounds
We install across the Burwood area and the surrounding localities, and we check installer availability before we agree a day. If your suburb is not listed below, contact us and we will confirm coverage.
Frequently asked questions about Burwood
Do you cover every suburb in the Burwood area?
Yes. We install across the Burwood area and the surrounding localities, including every suburb listed on this page. We check installer availability before we agree a day, which is the one condition that travels with every job. If your suburb is not shown, contact us with the address and we will confirm coverage before we quote.
What are your service hours in Burwood?
Our hours are Monday to Friday, 8am to 5:30pm, and we are closed on Saturday and Sunday. Plans and photographs can be sent at any time through the quote form on this page. If you need us on site in Burwood, the day is agreed once we have checked installer availability. It is worth sending the plans as early as you can.
Can I have underfloor heating in a Burwood apartment?
Yes. We install into apartment bathrooms across Burwood, which is where most of the work in this area is. Under tile heating mats go into the tile bed rather than into the slab. The benefit is that nothing is drilled or chased into the structure underneath, because the heating sits in the tile bed.
Do I need Council approval to heat a floor in a Burwood conservation area?
No. Under tile heating mats are not automatically a development application, but Burwood Council asks you to contact it first. Its own factsheet for owners says that even inside a conservation area you cannot make changes, including internal changes, without contacting Council. Where the work is like for like and non structural, the LEP allows a minor heritage works exemption instead. Council decides which applies, so ask before the tiler is booked and we set out to that answer.
Will a heated floor raise my floor level?
Yes, by a few millimetres. Under tile heating mats laid into the tile bed add their own thickness plus the adhesive over them. In a Burwood bathroom that lands at the door threshold, where the new floor meets the old. In an apartment that threshold is usually the constraint rather than the ceiling height. The benefit is that the build up is worked out from your floor plan and known before you commit to anything.
Why is a heated floor worth more in Burwood than in the city?
Burwood swings further between its daytime and its overnight temperatures than the harbour does. The July swing is 11.9°C at Canterbury Racecourse and 12.0°C at Sydney Olympic Park, against 8.3°C at Observatory Hill. The cold end of that range is early morning, which is when a bathroom floor gets used. The benefit is that our thermostats warm the tiles before anyone steps on them, at the hour those figures describe.
What happens if there is asbestos under my old bathroom vinyl?
Floor preparation is arranged by you and it happens before our installation day. Vinyl laid before 1987 can have an asbestos backing, and grinding, sanding and high speed power tools are prohibited on asbestos containing material. That rules out the usual way an old floor is taken back to the slab. Most of Burwood's houses and its older walk up flats are old enough for this to be worth checking early. Under tile heating mats go in after that preparation, so it most often moves a date.
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