Electric underfloor heating in Inner West
We install electric underfloor heating across the Inner West, which is terrace and cottage country before it is anything else. Semis and terraces are 27.1% of its homes, and a terrace floor plate is what decides where the heating goes. The western end of this region wakes up colder than the harbour end does. We put under tile heating mats into the bathrooms and in screed heating cable into the rear wings.
The benefits of electric underfloor heating in Inner West
Inner West houses were put up between the 1870s and the 1930s, and the area has barely built a detached house since. The age of that housing shapes every one of the reasons below. Rooms here are small and separate, so under tile heating mats go in one room at a time.
A circuit and a thermostat for each room
Council's own typology describes a single storey terrace as four to five metres wide and two rooms deep. Dwellings with two bedrooms or fewer are 55% of the area against about 30% statewide. Under tile heating mats are laid room by room, each on its own circuit with its own thermostat. The benefit is that a bathroom can be warm this winter and a hallway added in another one. A terrace was never one open space, so nothing here has to be sized as though it were.
A listing here can reach your floor
Nine in ten of the heritage items here, 1,621 of 1,805, are listed including their interiors. The Ashfield rules name flooring among the internal features to retain. So on a listed item the floor is part of the application rather than outside it. Under tile heating mats sit in the tile bed and barely lift the finished level at all. The benefit is that we set that level out on your drawing before Council ever sees it.
A terrace row has nowhere for a condenser
Council's noise rules cover an air conditioner or a heat pump water heater. Neither may be audible in a neighbour's habitable room before 7am or after 10pm on a weekday. In a terrace row there is nowhere to put a condenser that is not beside somebody's bedroom window. Under tile heating mats have no fan, no ducts and no outdoor unit at any point. The benefit is that the heating makes no noise a neighbour could complain about at seven in the morning.
The original windows are staying where they are
Original street facing openings in a conservation area must not be altered, and most of them are timber framed. Replacing a window anywhere in a conservation area is not exempt development. So the cold surface in the room is staying exactly where it is. Under tile heating mats warm the floor you stand on rather than the air a window cools. The benefit is that the warmth starts at the floor rather than being blown around the room.
The flood rules say where heating belongs
The Marrickville controls require habitable floors at least 500mm above the 1% flood level. Schedule 1 says heating should be installed above the maximum flood level where that is viable. It also requires wiring below that level to suit continuous underwater immersion. In slab heating cable sits inside a slab we set out from the flood planning level itself. The benefit is that on a Tempe or St Peters ground floor the level is checked before we quote.
Haberfield is a lot of floor to heat
Haberfield has been built to a plan since 1901, under covenants calling for single storey cottages of brick and stone. It is 79.7% separate houses and averages 3.3 bedrooms, which is a different customer from the rest of the area. Single storey and wide means a lot of floor and a lot of rooms nobody uses at once. Under tile heating mats and our thermostats let each of those rooms run on its own timer. The benefit is that the bathroom can run at seven and the kitchen at eight, and nothing else runs.
What we would install in Inner West
Almost every Inner West floor already exists, and that narrows the three systems to one most of the time.
A mat under the tiles
Under tile heating mats are the answer in a terrace, a cottage or a walk up apartment. They go into the tile bed of a bathroom being retiled, and nothing is fixed through the floor. Each room takes its own circuit, which suits a floor plate of small separate rooms.
Under tile heating matsCable in a screed
The rear extension is the Inner West room most often rebuilt from the floor up. Where a cement screed is going down across the back of a terrace, in screed heating cable goes into it.
In screed heating cableCable in a slab
About 90 new houses a year are approved here, nearly all of them rebuilds on a block that had a house. In slab heating cable is tied in before the pour, and in a flood catchment we want the flood planning level first.
Slab heating cables, dual coreWhy Inner West properties choose us
We install across Inner West and the rest of the Inner West 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 Inner West
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.
Hours, flood levels and the footpath
Construction hours in the Inner West are 7am to 6pm on weekdays and 8am to 1pm on Saturday. There is no work on Sundays or public holidays, and your own consent conditions sit over the top of that. On a ground floor in one of the flood catchments we want the flood planning level before we quote anything. A switchboard upgrade that needs the footpath opened takes its own permit, and an under tile heating mat needs neither.
Underfloor heating for Inner West homes
Sixty years of building, then mostly left alone
Council's heritage descriptions date most Victorian Italianate housing to between 1880 and 1900, and the filigree style from 1870. Both were applied to detached houses, semis and terraces alike. Walls of that period are rendered masonry, often ruled to imitate stone, under slate. Federation housing from 1895 to 1920 was mostly designed by its builder, with rough carved sandstone block bases where the land slopes. The inter war bungalows are single storey, and in screed heating cable suits the room added at the back of one.
Three belts across one area
Birchgrove, Balmain, Annandale, Stanmore and Enmore are the terrace belt, where semis and terraces are 40% to 54% of homes. The apartment belt is Ashfield, Summer Hill, Dulwich Hill, Lewisham, Marrickville and Petersham, and Ashfield alone is 69.9% flats. Haberfield, Tempe, Croydon and Lilyfield are the house suburbs at the edges. Across all three belts the job is an under tile heating mat in a bathroom older than its owner.
A renovation market rather than a building one
About 90 new houses a year are approved across 35.2km², nearly all of them rebuilds on a block that already had a house on it. Everything else is work done inside a building that already stands. That changes the point at which we need to be involved. The decision belongs to the stage where the bathroom is still a drawing rather than a booked job. An existing floor is open for a few days, and the under tile heating mat has to be there then.
Winter mornings in Inner West
These readings come from Observatory Hill, Sydney Airport and Canterbury Racecourse, each two to four kilometres from a different part of the area. They disagree by 2.3°C, so the figure that matters is the one nearest you.
- July nights
8.1°C at Observatory Hill nearest the Balmain peninsula, 7.4°C at Sydney Airport nearest Tempe, and 5.8°C at Canterbury Racecourse out towards Ashfield. A tiled floor sits close to that overnight, and it is the first thing a bare foot meets in the morning.
- The daily swing
8.3°C at Observatory Hill against 11.9°C at Canterbury Racecourse. The further from the harbour, the sharper the morning. A floor warms slowly, so a timer brings it up before the coldest part of the morning.
- Frost
None at Observatory Hill, about one night in three years at Sydney Airport and 4 a year at Canterbury Racecourse, at or below 2°C. The overnight low is what decides how cold the floor is at seven in the morning.
- Climate zone
Zone 5 at all twenty points tested, from Birchgrove to Hurlstone Park. Insulation under the heating is what keeps the warmth in the room, and it is sized from that zone.
Get a free quote in Inner West
Tell us what you need done in Inner West 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 Inner West
New home builds
Home renovations
Bathroom renovations
Apartments
Hotel bathrooms
Office buildings
Cold storage and frost heave
Suburbs we service in Inner West and surrounds
We install across the Inner West 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 Inner West
Do you cover every suburb in the Inner West area?
Yes. We install across the Inner West 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 Inner West?
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 Inner West, the day is agreed once we have checked installer availability. It is worth sending the plans as early as you can.
Does Inner West Council ban gas in new homes?
No, not yet. A clause in the draft consolidated development control plan would require new development to meet its energy needs with electricity only. That draft was exhibited in 2026 and Council expects to finalise it late in the year. For now it is a proposal rather than a rule you have to meet. Canada Bay next door does have such a rule. Under tile heating mats and in slab heating cable are electric, so they clear either version of the rule.
Do I need consent to put a heated floor in a listed Inner West house?
Yes, most likely. 1,621 of the 1,805 heritage items here are listed including their interiors. The LEP requires consent to change anything inside such an item that the schedule specifies. Council's own wording is that consent is needed if the work alters external or internal built elements. The Ashfield rules name flooring among the features to retain. Ask Council before the tiler is booked, and we set the under tile heating mat out on the plan.
Can I heat only one room of a terrace?
Yes, and it is the normal way to do it here. Council's typology describes a terrace as four to five metres wide, two rooms deep at the front with a rear wing behind. Those are small separate rooms, and each heated floor is its own circuit with its own thermostat. So a bathroom can be heated on its own, and a hallway or an ensuite added later without touching the first one. So each under tile heating mat is sized for one room and nothing else.
Why is Ashfield colder on a winter night than Balmain?
Because they are at opposite ends of the area and four kilometres apart. Observatory Hill, the nearest long record to the Balmain peninsula, has a July mean minimum of 8.1°C. The nearest long record to Ashfield is Canterbury Racecourse, on the Cooks River flats, at 5.8°C. That station also records 4 nights a year at or below 2°C, against none at Observatory Hill. Out at Ashfield our thermostats are set to warm the floor heating before anyone is awake.
Will my neighbours hear it, the way they hear an air conditioner?
No. There is nothing to hear, because a heated floor has no fan, no ducts and no outdoor unit. That matters here because of Council's noise rules. An air conditioner or heat pump water heater may not be audible in a neighbour's habitable room before 7am on a weekday. The same limit applies after 10pm. Under tile heating mats go into the tile bed instead, in a terrace with nowhere to put a condenser.
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