How To Lay Electric Underfloor Heating ?
Have you ever wondered how to lay electric underfloor heating? A lot of our costumers think about doing it themselves, but they don’t know where to start, what are the tools needed for the process and the most important part, they don’t know the basic safety rules. Don’t worry, in this guide we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about the process, starting with the tools and ending with the conclusion of is it a DIY job and the risks you need to know before you consider it, even though we suggest you should always call a heating engineer for a safe and reliable process.
First let’s explain what electric underfloor heating is and later we dive into how to install electric underfloor heating. So, electric underfloor heating is an alternative option of the traditional radiator central heating method.
This heating method is integrated into your floor by laying down an electrical cable that is covered with electrical resistance, and that turns your floor into your central heating system. Electric underfloor heating is part of central underfloor heating, alongside with water underfloor heating. This system is an efficient way to heat up your property and at the same time it’s affordable and can help you reduce your bills too.
Also, for all environmental critics, it is also environmentally friendly. In this guide, we will dive into the tools needed for an efficient process, how to fit electric underfloor heating in your floor, common mistakes you can do, and check if you can DIY.
Tools Needed To Install Electric Underfloor Heating
At first sight, thinking about how to install electric underfloor heating can look quite easy, but it can’t be that efficient without the right tools. Here it is a list of the most essential tools needed to help you learn how to lay electric underfloor heating :
- Tape measure
- Marker pen or chalk line
- Spirit level
- Floor scraper
- Utility knife
- Drill and screwdriver
- Notched trowel
- Hot glue gun or fixing tape
- Digital multimeter
- Insulation resistance tester
- Buckets and mixing tools
- Tile cutter or laminate flooring tools
How To Install Electric Underfloor Heating
Step By Step
Step 1: Select the right system
There are different types of electric underfloor heating and choosing the right one for your heating system is going to be decided by the final floor covering that you’re using. These are the three different types of electric underfloor heating:
1. Cable Spacing System – Best for irregularly shaped rooms or when you need flexible cable spacing. Commonly chosen for tile or stone floors in bathrooms and awkward layouts.
2. Heating Mat System – Best for standard-shaped rooms where quick installation is important. Usually used beneath tile, stone, vinyl, laminate, or engineered wood floors.
3. Loose Cable System – Chosen when the room has obstacles, curves, or unusual dimensions that make heating mats difficult to fit. Works under most compatible floor coverings.
4. Foil Faced System – Chosen specifically for floating floors such as laminate or engineered wood where adhesive or self-levelling compounds are not normally used.
Step 2: Make the proper room measurements
Calculate the room measurements in square meters by multiplying the length and the width of the room. For irregular rooms, break down the room in different sections if needed. You need to calculate the right amount of the surface that is going to be used for electric heating floor mat, that needs to be around 80% of the floor surface and not more, and the right amount that is going to be free, that you’ll install furniture above them.
Step 3: Prepare the surface
Make sure the surface of the floor is clean, dry and in level for installing electric floor heat. This is a crucial step to ensure the success of installing electric underfloor heating.
Step 4: Lay insulation boards
The first step of learning how to lay electric underfloor heating is to know how to lay insulation boards. Insulation boards purpose is to reduce heat loss into the subfloor and push more heat upward into the room. By doing the first three steps correctly, you have created the right environment for laying insulation boards.
Step 5: Continuity testing of the heating mat
This is a crucial step, because it helps you be sure that everything works correctly and there is no damage done before or after laying the electric underfloor heating.
Step 6: Laying the mat
Based on the area of the floor that you are going to lay electric underfloor heating, you may need to use multiple mats or a single mat. Furniture placements or any other obstacles may affect the installation process also. When laying the electric mat make sure to leave a 150-200mm border around the room that helps keep the heat in the dedicated parts that you want to.
Step 7: Install the floor temperature sensor between heating cables
The floor temperature sensor is installed between two heating cables to accurately monitor the floor temperature, and there must be at least 2cm from each cable.
Step 8: Secure the edges with cloth tape
After laying down the mats, make sure to secure the edges of the floor with cloth tape, that makes mats to stay fixed in their position before installing the floor covering.
Step 9: Level compound application
Follow the manufacturer’s instructions before safely spreading the compound over the heating elements, and make sure that everything is on level. For different types of electric underfloor heating and different types of floor, they might not need the same thickness level, but for this always use the guide of manufacturer’s.
Step 10: Final installing of the floor
The final floor covering is installed carefully over the electric underfloor heating system once all testing has been completed. The installation method depends on different types of electric underfloor heating and on the flooring type, such as tiles, laminate, vinyl, or engineered wood.
Step 11: Final testing of electric underfloor heating
After finishing laying the electric underfloor heating, run a test to make sure that everything is working correctly and no damage is done.
Common DIY Electric Underfloor Heating Installation Mistakes
- Installing heating cables too close together or too far apart
- Cutting or damaging the heating wire while fitting the system
- Forgetting to test the system before installing the floor covering
- Installing heating beneath fixed furniture or appliances
- Skipping insulation boards, leading to major heat loss
- Using incompatible flooring materials with the heating system
- Incorrectly placing the floor temperature sensor
- Crossing or overlapping heating cables
- Installing on an uneven or dirty subfloor
- Damaging the system while applying tile adhesive or self-levelling compound
- Incorrect thermostat or electrical connections
- Turning the heating on too early before adhesives fully cure
DIY Or Call An Engineer?
After reading this blog you might think, “Okay, now I know how to install electric underfloor heating” and you can try to do it yourself. While the process is straightforward and easy to understand that doesn’t mean that is also easy to apply it yourself. Thinking how to lay electric underfloor heating and actually doing it are two different things, and when needed to actually install the heating system, the process requires professional heating engineers doing it. While attempting to do it yourself you might do wrong calculations, you can damage the system, or even worse damage yourself. Because even if you know how to lay the mats, you must get a professional engineer to do the proper electrical connections. Our experienced heating engineers can help you through all the process, from evaluating which one of different types of electric underfloor heating do you need, to properly installing it and leaving your property with a reliable underfloor heating system. We are never too far away, reaching out to you in 40 minutes wherever you are across Greater London, offering safe and professional services every hour of the day and night.
How can we help you?
Read this blog on how to lay electric underfloor heating and know you need help for putting it into action? Our professional engineers at Onsite Contractors and Plumbing Ltd will carry out a full inspection of your floor and area, and guide you through the best installation of electric underfloor heating type.
Even if your existing electric underfloor heating system is not heating properly, stops working completely, or develops uneven heating areas, we are here to help you recover from them, in both domestic and commercial properties.
Whatever the issue may be, our engineers at Onsite Contractors and Plumbing Ltd will carry out a full inspection of your electric underfloor heating system to identify the exact cause of the problem. We provide professional fault finding, repairs, installation replacement solutions to restore your underfloor heating system safely and efficiently.
We work with all types of electric underfloor heating systems across residential and commercial properties throughout Greater London, including heating mats, loose cable systems, foil heating systems, smart thermostats, and older underfloor heating setups.
You Need Help On HowTo Lay Electric Underfloor Heating?
Contact Onsite contractors and plumbing ltd today. Our engineers can lay it, install it and get it running efficiently again in no time.
