Electric underfloor heating in Southern Highlands
We install electric underfloor heating across the Southern Highlands, the plateau towns and villages of the Wingecarribee Shire. Moss Vale's station inside the shire averages 2.6°C on July nights, so the heating season here is a long one. Separate houses are 90.4% of homes here and almost half of them have four bedrooms or more. One home in ten stood empty on Census night, because a Highlands house is often a weekend house. So most of what we install here is an under tile heating mat, with in slab heating cable on the new estates.
The benefits of electric underfloor heating in Southern Highlands
Separate houses are 90.4% of homes here and 47.9% of all homes have four bedrooms or more. The median age is 48 and 44.6% of these homes are owned outright by the people living in them. The frost explains three of the reasons below, and Council's own controls explain the other three.
Warm tiles through a long Highlands frost season
Moss Vale's station inside the shire records about 50 nights a year at or below 2°C. Under tile heating mats warm a bathroom floor faster than either of the other two systems we install. Our thermostats are set to do that before anyone in the house is awake.
Switch the heating on before you drive down
One home in ten here stood empty on Census night, because a Highlands house is often a weekend house. Our thermostats can be programmed or switched on hours ahead, so under tile heating mats have the bathroom floor warm on arrival. In slab heating cable is slower to come up, so it is started the morning before instead.
A sloping estate lot changes which system goes in
The Chelsea Gardens controls at Moss Vale say a house must not sit on one continuous slab where the site slopes more than 10%. Split level or pier floors go in instead, and Renwick's controls ask that a house be raised rather than cut in. In screed heating cable suits those floors, because the cable goes into a topping over the sheeting rather than into a slab.
Council lists a bathroom renovation as minor works
Council's heritage fact sheet names kitchen or bathroom renovations among minor works, and you must await its written reply before starting. Its conservation area controls also say a chimney should not be removed unless it is structurally unsound. Under tile heating mats go in under the new tiles and leave the fireplace and the chimney where they are.
Flood controls here name heating and name the wiring
Council's flood materials table asks that heating is installed above the relevant flood level wherever that can be done. Below that level wiring must suit continuous submergence and a safety switch is required. So in slab heating cable on a Bowral, Moss Vale or Berrima flood lot is set out from those levels first.
Check the supply before a whole heated acreage floor
42.6% of this shire's street substations report low headroom or overload, and the rural and bush zones hold most of them. In slab heating cable under a whole acreage house is the load worth checking at the board before we quote. A single under tile heating mat in a bathroom almost never raises it.
What we would install in Southern Highlands
Separate houses are 90.4% of homes here, and not one flat in the shire sits in a building of four storeys or more. So most of what we quote is a bathroom, a living room or a whole floor of a house.
A mat under the tiles
A bathroom retile is the common job here, in Bowral villas, village cottages and the larger houses of Burradoo. The mat goes into the tile bed, so nothing under the old floor has to come up.
Under tile heating matsCable in a slab
About 275 new houses a year are approved here, at Renwick, Chelsea Gardens and Bowral South. Cable is tied to the reinforcement before the pour, and the code asks for insulation at the slab edge.
Slab heating cables, dual coreCable in a screed
A screed suits the split level and pier floors on this shire's sloping estate lots, and the older timber floored cottages. The cable goes into the topping, and the mass of that topping is what holds the heat.
In screed heating cableWhy Southern Highlands properties choose us
We install across Southern Highlands and the rest of the Southern Highlands, 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 Southern Highlands
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.
The heritage letter goes before the tiler
Construction hours here are set by the consent on your own job rather than by a general rule. The conditions written through 2025 and 2026 set 7am to 5pm from Monday to Saturday. Nothing happens on a Sunday or on a public holiday. An out of hours permit does exist here, on 24 hours' notice, or sooner where the work is urgent. Council requires no bond at all for a single dwelling house, a secondary dwelling, a dual occupancy or internal works. There is no published skip bin line, so a bin on the road reserve goes through Council's road activity approval, and an inspection follows. What governs the order of work here is heritage, and it governs it in one sentence. Council's fact sheet lists a kitchen or bathroom renovation among minor works. It then says you must await a written response from Council before any works are undertaken. So in a conservation area the letter goes first, the reply comes back, and the tiling and our heating follow. Council also runs a heritage advisory service, which is the quickest way to learn which path your own house is on.
Underfloor heating for Southern Highlands homes
Owned outright, detached and often four bedrooms
The median age here is 48 and 27.9% of residents are 65 or over. 44.6% of homes are owned outright and 19.3% of them are rented. Separate houses are 90.4% of the stock and 47.9% of homes have four bedrooms or more. Flats are 2.3%, and not one of them sits in a building of four storeys or more. Bowral and Burradoo hold 61% of the shire's semis and townhouses, most of them single storey villas and retirement units. So the usual job here is an owner's own bathroom or living floor rather than a rental fit out. Under tile heating mats are what goes into one of those villa bathrooms, inside the tile bed.
Three towns, forty villages and a long climb
Bowral is the largest town at 5,247 homes, then Moss Vale at 4,050 and Mittagong at 2,866. Those three hold 51.5% of the shire's homes and the rest sit in about forty villages. Homes run from about 450m at Balmoral to about 820m at Kangaloon. Bundanoon and Burradoo are the oldest of them, with a median age of 59. Braemar, Hill Top and Renwick are the youngest, and Renwick's houses are the biggest at 83.8% four bedrooms or more. Council's rural living controls say the strong winds that characterise the Highlands climate leave ridgeline houses more reliant on artificial heating. The station that gives the 2.6°C figure stands at 678m, in the middle of that range of heights.
From Georgian Berrima to the new estate slabs
Berrima is described in Council's housing strategy as the last largely intact Georgian period town on mainland Australia. Mittagong, Bowral and Moss Vale grew quickly from the 1860s, and Bowral was sold as the Sanatorium of the South. Burradoo's country houses were built for the leading families on the larger properties around the town. New Berrima was subdivided into 613 lots for the cement works in 1928, and Hill Top held 61 houses in 1954. Those floors are suspended timber on piers, brick veneer on slabs and, at Renwick and Chelsea Gardens, new slabs. Seventeen conservation areas hold about 1,570 homes here, which is 6.7% of the shire. Their controls keep weatherboard walls in place, keep chimneys unless they are unsound, and require timber framed windows. We match under tile heating mats, in screed heating cable and in slab heating cable to whichever of those floors is there.
Winter mornings in Southern Highlands
The station that records this shire stands at Moss Vale at 678m, between the town and Burradoo.
- July nights
2.6°C at Moss Vale station 068239 inside this shire, 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.
- Frost
50 nights a year at or below 2°C at Moss Vale and 25 at or below zero, with a low of minus 6.3°C. The overnight low is what decides how cold the floor is at seven in the morning.
- Summer
4 days a year at or above 35°C at Moss Vale, against 3 a year at Observatory Hill. Heating is a winter item here, and a thermostat on a timer draws nothing for the rest of the year.
- Climate zone
Zone 24 for 99.1% of homes here, which models 117 megajoules per m² a year for a heated slab. Insulation under the heating is what keeps the warmth in the room, and it is sized from that zone.
Get a free quote in Southern Highlands
Tell us what you need done in Southern Highlands 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 Southern Highlands
New home builds
Home renovations
Bathroom renovations
Apartments
Hotel bathrooms
Office buildings
Cold storage and frost heave
Suburbs we service in Southern Highlands and surrounds
We install across the Southern Highlands 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 Southern Highlands
Do you cover every suburb in the Southern Highlands area?
Yes. We install across the Southern Highlands 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 Southern Highlands?
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 Southern Highlands, the day is agreed once we have checked installer availability. It is worth sending the plans as early as you can.
What does Moss Vale record against Katoomba?
Moss Vale's station inside the shire averages 2.6°C on July nights, the same as Katoomba's. It records about 50 nights a year at or below 2°C against 37 at Katoomba, and 25 of them at or below zero. Its July afternoons are milder though, at 12.0°C against 9.5°C. So this is a frost climate rather than a cold cloudy one. A tiled floor on a timer is warm for the first barefoot step of a morning like that.
Can I run floor heating from my solar panels?
Yes, and 40.4% of houses here already have them. Charges on this network fall between 10am and 2pm every day, and the peak window is 4pm to 8pm on business days. In screed heating cable puts mass under the tiles, and that mass keeps giving heat back long after the circuit is off. The network also publishes an overnight tariff that names under floor heating.
Do I have to write to Council before retiling a heritage bathroom?
Yes. Council's heritage fact sheet lists a kitchen or bathroom renovation among minor works. Its next line says you must await a written response before any works are undertaken. Seventeen conservation areas hold about 1,570 homes here. Four houses are listed including their interiors, three at Burradoo and one at Mittagong, and floor work there needs heritage advice first. Council runs a heritage advisory service for the rest.
Will a sloping block change which system you install?
Yes. The Chelsea Gardens controls at Moss Vale say a house must not be designed on one continuous slab where the site slopes more than 10%. Renwick's controls ask that cut and fill is avoided in preference to raising the building. Split level and pier floors come out of both. In screed heating cable suits them, because the cable goes into a topping over the floor sheeting instead of into a slab.
Why do Council's flood controls mention heating at all?
Because the materials table in each town's controls names it directly. It asks that heating and air conditioning are installed above the relevant flood level to the maximum extent possible. Wiring below that level must suit continuous submergence, and a safety switch is required. The mapping covers around 500 to 590 homes, most of them at Bowral, Moss Vale and Berrima. We set in slab heating cable out from those levels first.
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