Electric underfloor heating in Canada Bay
We install electric underfloor heating across the City of Canada Bay, from the Rhodes towers to the Federation streets of Drummoyne and Concord. Apartments are 52.2% of its homes, so most jobs here are a mat in a bathroom sitting on common property. The Drummoyne end of the area is milder than the Rhodes end, and both are at their coldest first thing. Since June 2025 every new or rebuilt home here has had to run on electricity alone. So we set in slab heating cable out on the drawings for a rebuild, and lay under tile heating mats in a bathroom.
The benefits of electric underfloor heating in Canada Bay
Canada Bay asks two different questions about a heated floor, and the all electric rule is why. On a rebuild the heating is a design decision made before the slab is poured. In an apartment or a period house it is a retrofit, with under tile heating mats laid into a bathroom being redone.
A new home here runs on electricity alone
DCP clause B13.8 has required every new or replacement dwelling here to use electricity for all its energy since 27 June 2025. That rules a gas heater out of a rebuild on this side of Parramatta Road. The benefit of in slab heating cable is that it needs no gas line, no flue and no floor space. Burwood over the road carries no such rule, which matters if you are building on both sides.
Nothing is cut into a Rhodes building's slab
Rhodes is the densest suburb in this area, at 95.1% apartments, and most of them are rented. The slab under your bathroom belongs to the building rather than to you, so it stays untouched. Under tile heating mats sit inside the new tile bed, with nothing drilled or chased into that slab. Breakfast Point, Mortlake and Chiswick run between 78% and 91% apartments, so the same answer suits them.
Council lists the interiors of a heritage item
Canada Bay's own heritage FAQ says the interiors of heritage items are listed as well as the outside. Its plan adds that new services must not damage what makes a place significant. Under tile heating mats are a new service in those terms, and they add no fixture to a room. The benefit is heating that lives under the tiles, so the finishes Council protects stay where they are. The items sit mostly in Concord, Drummoyne and Concord West rather than spread evenly.
Insulate first over a high Drummoyne sub floor
Council describes the Drummoyne Avenue West estate as having high sub floor spaces over sandstone or brick. Floor heating over an open ventilated void warms the void as well as the room above it. New or replacement floor insulation is exempt development with no heritage exclusion, and it goes in from underneath. The benefit of insulating first is that in screed heating cable then sends its heat up into the room.
Charge in slab heating cable on the off peak circuit
Ausgrid sets its residential peak from 3pm to 9pm, every day of the winter. Underfloor heating is one of the loads Ausgrid allows on a controlled load or off peak circuit. In slab heating cable stores that heat in the concrete and gives it back through the evening. So the benefit is a warm floor at dinner time, charged in the middle of the day. That circuit runs from 10am to 4.45pm in winter and again overnight, and it is hard wired.
All electric heating without a plant room
Because a new Canada Bay home cannot burn gas, hydronic heating here means a heat pump rather than a boiler. A heat pump system has a plant item, a manifold and pipework to install before it warms anything. In screed heating cable needs one circuit and one of our thermostats, and nothing stands outside the house. The benefit on a single room is less equipment to house, less to service and nothing to screen.
What we would install in Canada Bay
Canada Bay's all electric rule reaches a new house before its floor exists, so the choice here is usually made on the drawings.
A mat under the tiles
Under tile heating mats are the answer in Rhodes, Breakfast Point, Mortlake and Chiswick, where the slab belongs to the building. The mesh is cut and turned to follow the fall, and the cable itself is never cut. So a Concord or Drummoyne bathroom gets a warm tiled floor from a retile alone.
Under tile heating matsCable in a slab
Canada Bay approved about 890 new houses in the eight years to June 2026, and every one has to be all electric. In slab heating cable is cast into the slab itself, so an all electric rebuild gains a heated ground floor and no step. It has to be decided before the concrete is booked, which on a rebuild here is early.
Slab heating cables, dual coreCable in a screed
In screed heating cable suits a ground floor extension on a Five Dock or Concord period house. It goes into a cement screed topping, and the extra mass holds the heat longer than a mat. That is the middle option where the floor is being rebuilt but no slab is being poured.
In screed heating cableWhy Canada Bay properties choose us
We install across Canada Bay and the rest of the City of Canada Bay, 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 Canada Bay
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.
On a new build, two things are settled early
Construction hours in Canada Bay run Monday to Saturday, 7am to 5pm, with no work on Sundays or public holidays. The conditions written on your own consent govern the job on the day. A heated slab or screed is counted in the BASIX assessment, so your assessor has to know about it rather than find out later. Opening the footpath for a new or upgraded electricity connection needs its own permit under the Roads Act. A development consent is not that permit, so we set our installation day once both are in hand.
Underfloor heating for Canada Bay homes
Built in layers, and every layer still stands
Bourketown in Five Dock was first offered in 1841 and filled in after the Iron Cove Bridge opened in 1882. Powell's Estate in Concord was subdivided in 1886, the same year the gasworks opened at Mortlake and the workers' cottages went up around it. The Yaralla Estate at Concord West followed in 1920, the old Concord Municipality's largest single release of land for urban subdivision. Gears Avenue in Drummoyne was built from 1924, and the Parklands Estate in Five Dock from 1927 into the late 1930s. Under tile heating mats go into a bathroom in any of them, because the heating sits in the new tile bed.
Towers on the river, Federation streets inland
Rhodes, Breakfast Point, Mortlake and Chiswick are strata work, on a common property slab, with the build up landing at the bathroom door. Concord, Drummoyne, Five Dock, Russell Lea and Wareemba are the period house streets. The questions there are the sub floor underneath and what Council protects above it. On a rebuild or a ground floor extension the system changes with the floor. In slab heating cable goes in before the pour, and in screed heating cable where a topping is going down anyway. Either way the heating is settled on the drawings rather than argued over on site.
New work needs the decision earlier
The Five Dock precinct is being planned for about 14,000 dwellings against about 1,540 today. The Metro West stations at Five Dock and North Strathfield are targeting a 2032 opening. On an existing bathroom the heating goes in during the few days when the old floor is up and the tiler has not started. Lifting a sound floor later costs more than the heating does. On new work the decision has to be made earlier still, because cable for a slab goes in before the pour. So we set the heated area and the circuit out from your floor plan before the slab is booked.
Winter mornings in Canada Bay
These readings come from Sydney Olympic Park at the Rhodes end and Observatory Hill nearest Drummoyne, about 7km apart. The two do not agree, and that is the point of listing both.
- July nights
6.6°C at Sydney Olympic Park, across the water from Rhodes, against 8.1°C at Observatory Hill nearest the Drummoyne end. A tiled floor sits close to that overnight, and it is the first thing a bare foot meets in the morning.
- The daily swing
12.0°C between night and afternoon at the western station, against 8.3°C at the eastern one. A floor warms slowly, so a timer brings it up before the coldest part of the morning.
- Frost
Under one night a year at or below 2°C even at Sydney Olympic Park, and none at Observatory Hill. The overnight low is what decides how cold the floor is at seven in the morning.
- Climate zone
Zone 5 at every point tested in the area, from Rhodes to Drummoyne. Insulation under the heating is what keeps the warmth in the room, and it is sized from that zone.
Get a free quote in Canada Bay
Tell us what you need done in Canada Bay 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 Canada Bay
New home builds
Home renovations
Bathroom renovations
Apartments
Hotel bathrooms
Office buildings
Cold storage and frost heave
Suburbs we service in Canada Bay and surrounds
We install across the City of Canada Bay 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 Canada Bay
Do you cover every suburb in the Canada Bay area?
Yes. We install across the City of Canada Bay 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 Canada Bay?
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 Canada Bay, the day is agreed once we have checked installer availability. It is worth sending the plans as early as you can.
Does Canada Bay's all electric rule apply to my bathroom renovation?
No. DCP clause B13.8 covers new and replacement dwellings. It applies when a home is built or rebuilt rather than when an existing one is renovated. If you are retiling a bathroom in a house or an apartment that already stands, the rule does not reach you. It does reach a knock down rebuild on the same block. Either way our under tile heating mats meet it, because nothing in them burns anything at all.
What does a heated floor involve in a Rhodes apartment?
Rhodes is 95.1% apartments and it is where much of our Canada Bay work is. The mat goes into the tile bed while the bathroom is open, so nothing is drilled or chased into the structure underneath. Rhodes, Breakfast Point, Mortlake and Chiswick are the buildings it comes up in most. The finished level barely moves, so the build up still lands at the bathroom door in all four.
Is a heated floor enough on its own in a Rhodes apartment?
Yes, in a bathroom, which is the room most people start with. The floor is the surface a bare foot meets, so warming it does more at seven in the morning than warming the air above it. A newer apartment here is well sealed and holds that heat once it is in. Across a whole apartment it becomes a different question, and we would want the floor plan and the glazing before answering it.
Why is the Rhodes end of Canada Bay colder than Drummoyne?
The area is about 7km long and the river runs through the middle of it. At the Rhodes end the Sydney Olympic Park station records a July mean minimum of 6.6°C. Observatory Hill, nearest Drummoyne, records 8.1°C in the same month. The western end also swings further between night and afternoon, 12.0°C against 8.3°C. Neither end is frost country, with under one night a year at or below 2°C even at the western station.
Will a heated floor lose heat into the sub floor of my Federation house?
Yes, unless something is put under it. Council describes the Drummoyne estates as having high sub floor spaces over sandstone or brick, which means an open ventilated void below the timber. Heat goes down into that void as readily as it comes up into the room. New or replacement floor insulation is exempt development with no heritage exclusion, and it can go in from below. That is the fix we raise first on a period house, before anything is laid above.
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