Underfloor heating for bathroom renovations
We heat bathroom floors across Sydney, surrounding NSW and Canberra, and it is the job we are called to most often. A bathroom is the one room where our work sits inside somebody else's sequence. Your waterproofer finishes, we lay the heating over the membrane, and your tiler follows us. Nothing we install is screwed through your waterproofing. We also quote the heated area rather than the room, because a vanity, a pan and a bath take a good share of the floor.
Heating mats over the waterproofing
We use a heating mat for most bathrooms, because it goes down over a finished membrane without anything being fixed through it. At 3mm thick it adds almost nothing to a floor that has to keep its falls, and it runs at 200W per square metre. We roll it out over the waterproofing and set it clear of the vanity, the pan and the screen fixing line. The floor sensor goes into its own conduit between two runs. Your tiler then beds the tiles over it with at least 5mm of adhesive. We leave a cable monitor connected while that happens, because that is the point in the job where damage is most likely.
- 200W per square metre
- 3mm thick
- Laid over the finished waterproofing
- Nothing fixed through the membrane
- Set clear of fixtures and the screen line
- Monitored while your tiler works
In screed cable in a bathroom being rebuilt
We lay in screed cable when the bathroom is coming out back to the slab and a new screed is going in anyway. Your tiler lays at least 30mm of cement screed over the cable and forms the falls to the waste in the same layer. That makes it the one bathroom system where the heating goes in before the waterproofing rather than after it. It is only worth doing on a floor that is already being rebuilt. The screed is real height, and the room is out of use while it dries.
- For a bathroom stripped back to the slab
- Your tiler lays at least 30mm of screed
- Goes in before the waterproofing
- Your tiler forms the falls
- Needs floor height to give up
- Adds drying time to the programme
Common bathroom situations
The tiles are freezing first thing
We warm the floor you stand on getting out of the shower, which is the reason most people ring us about a bathroom.
The bathroom is coming out back to the slab
We put heating in while the floor is open, which is the one time an in screed system is realistic in a bathroom.
The trades are booked and nobody knows when we fit in
We take a fixed position between your waterproofer and your tiler, so your builder can slot us into the run without guessing.
The bath is going and a walk in shower is going in
We set out the heated area against the new layout rather than the old one, because moving a bath changes what can be heated.
What a bathroom job involves
We work between the waterproofer and the tiler
We lay the heating over your waterproofing once it is finished and signed off, and your tiler follows us. Nothing we install is screwed or drilled through the membrane. Where insulation board is used over waterproofing it is bonded down rather than fixed, for the same reason. That order is set by your waterproofer's programme rather than by ours.
We quote the heated area, not the room
We heat around 70% of a bathroom floor in a room of 5m² or more. The vanity, the pan, the bath and the shower screen line take the rest. In a small bathroom of 3 to 4m², permanent fixtures take about a third of the floor. Both of those are a very rough estimate rather than a measurement. Send us the plans and we work out the real figure.
What a warm floor does for the room
We warm the floor, and a warm floor goes on warming the air in the room above it. How far that goes depends on how much of the floor we can heat, which in a bathroom is never all of it. So it sits alongside your towel rail and your exhaust fan rather than replacing them. We would rather say that now than have you find out in July.
Bathrooms are the job we do most
We are called to more bathrooms than any other kind of room. That makes the everyday exclusions routine for us rather than something to work out on the day. We know where a floor waste sits, where a screen gets fixed, and how close to a wall the mat can start. We set all of that out on the floor before anything is laid.
Get a free quote
Tell us what is happening and we will get back to you with a price as soon as we can. There is no obligation to go ahead.
Service available across every Sydney region
Inner West and the city
Burwood, Canada Bay, Inner West, Strathfield and Sydney CBD
Eastern suburbs
Randwick, Waverley and Woollahra
St George and the Sutherland Shire
Bayside, Georges River and Sutherland Shire
North Shore and Northern Beaches
Hornsby, Hunters Hill, Ku-ring-gai, Lane Cove, Mosman, North Sydney, Northern Beaches, Ryde and Willoughby
Western Sydney
Blacktown, Blue Mountains, Cumberland, Hawkesbury, Parramatta, Penrith and The Hills
South Western Sydney
Camden, Campbelltown, Canterbury Bankstown, Fairfield, Liverpool and Wollondilly
Outside Sydney
Canberra, Central Coast, Goulburn, Shoalhaven, Southern Highlands and Wollongong
Frequently asked questions
How much of the bathroom floor will actually be heated?
Around 70% of it in a bathroom of 5m² or more. The vanity, the pan and the bath sit on the unheated part, along with the line where the screen fixes down. A small bathroom of 3 to 4m² loses about a third of its floor to permanent fixtures. Those are a very rough estimate rather than a measurement. Send us the plans and we work out the real heated area before quoting.
Do you do the waterproofing as well?
No. Waterproofing is arranged by your own waterproofer, and we work after them. We lay the heating over the finished membrane and nothing we install is screwed or drilled through it. Insulation board over waterproofing is bonded down rather than fixed, for the same reason. Tell us when the membrane is booked and we fit in around it.
Will a heated floor warm the air inside the bathroom?
Yes. Once the floor is up to temperature it keeps giving heat to the air around it. The room sits warmer than it would with cold tiles. How much difference you notice depends on how much of the floor is heated, which is why we quote the heated area. It works alongside your towel rail rather than replacing it.
When do you need to be on site?
After your waterproofer and before your tiler, which is a fixed position rather than a preference. The membrane has to be finished and dry, and in some jobs inspected, before anything covers it. Once we have laid the heating and tested it, your tiler can start. Give us the waterproofing date and we will tell your builder which day we need.
Can we use the bathroom straight after the tiling?
No, and the wait is set by your tiler rather than by us. The adhesive and the grout both have to cure before the room goes back into service. The heating stays off for at least that long. Your tiler will give you the period for the products they have used. We programme the thermostat once that wait is over.
Can you heat the floor inside the shower?
No. We heat the tiled floor of the bathroom and stop at the shower enclosure. Heating inside a shower is complicated for no real gain, because the water coming out of it is already warm. Most people who ask about heating in the shower area turn out to mean the bathroom floor around it, which is what we heat.
Does the heating go under the bath or the vanity?
No. Nothing is laid under a bath, a vanity, a toilet pan or anything else fixed to the floor. Heating trapped under a fixture has nowhere to send its heat and cannot be reached again. That is a large part of why the heated area is smaller than the room. It is also why we set the exclusions out on the floor before laying anything.
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