How to Install a Floor Heating System In Less Than a Day - Floating Floors

Hello everybody and welcome to our webinar. I am Julia Billen here at WarmlyYours, owner and chief bottle washer, and my lovely sidekick here is Scott. Hi everybody. Thanks for joining us today. Say a little something about yourself. You're being way too modest. Well, I'm the manager of technical support. So, when anybody has questions, I'm one of the guys that usually answers it. And he's a car enthusiast, so if you have questions on that, we can take those as well.

Today, we're actually going to be talking about how to install a floor heating system in less than a day. This is specifically for floating floors. If it requires thin set or some other type of adhesive, this is not for you. Come back another time. This method is nice and fast and easy—no glue, no thin set, no nothing. That's why it's fast. We want you to ask questions along the way. This is very interactive, and we love that you join us live, so ask a lot of questions. We did receive some questions in advance, and we'll be answering those along the way as well.

So, what are we going to be talking about? Give me the overview. Well, the reason why we're here is to discuss floor heating. What a surprise! We're going to be focusing on the Environ heating system and showing you an example install that we actually did. I like that because it makes it interesting—it's real stuff. We will also discuss the costs involved, so you'll get a good idea of the size of the room and what the cost is for that size.

Let's talk about floor heating in general. I think most of you out there are already somehow involved in the business or are very familiar with us. As a general overview, radiant heating works by heating from the floor. This means you're not dealing with that vortex of hot, cool, cold air coming in from a furnace. There's no blowing wind, no dust, and fewer allergens.

On the left side, you can see that you have nice, even heat throughout the room. The most important thing is that your toes are nice and warm. If you look at the other side, your toes are getting the air after it's gone up to the top of the room, cooled off, and then sunk down to the bottom. That's when it gets to your toes, which is why your toes are going to be cold. I also get a lot of static electricity because your furnace is burning the air. Scorched air dries it out, which is a great point.

Whenever you're working with wood or laminate, you might notice this issue. Debbie says she doesn't have any sound. Okay, can anybody else hear us, or is it just Debbie? Anyone else want to jump in to let us know whether it's on our end? It looks like we have sound going everywhere else. Thank you, Olivia. Olivia is the one that sits over there that you can't see; she's keeping track of all that stuff—our Vanna White.

What's great about floor heating is that you can also localize the heat. If you're going to be in a specific room, you can make that room warm while letting the other parts of the house be cooler. This means you can actually turn your furnace down. A good example for me is that my husband loves birds, so we have three birds, and that room always stays at a very nice 82 degrees, believe it or not—I'm talking ambient temperature. It stays very warm, but in the other areas of the home, we clearly don't want it that warm.

Each room can be zoned with its own control, allowing us to engineer the comfort level for ourselves and our creatures. If you picture this drawing, imagine this being your living room and this being the spare bedroom that gets used once or twice a year, or vice versa. You could keep this room at 60 or 65 degrees, or whatever, and still be very comfortable in this room by using the floor heat. You just use it when you need it, and where you need it, at the right temperature.

That's how floor heating lets you zone your house to warm the areas you want to be in. One common misconception is that people think it's very expensive to use this as a form of heating. However, when you're heating only what you need, you can actually heat a few degrees lower because you're not losing heat as fast as you would with forced air. It is actually more energy-efficient; you're warmer at a few degrees cooler than a traditional furnace.

There are some great videos on YouTube where people demonstrate hardcore applications. For example, one person didn't want to heat their house except for the areas they were in. They used localized heat, making it warm from five to nine in their living room, and then at nine o'clock, it would start heating up in their bedroom while the living room would cool down again. This method is particularly great for basements and areas that aren't used all the time.

Today, we're going to be talking about the application for floating wood floors, laminate, or even carpet. This is our Environ system. It is a heating element, but it's a little different from some of our other products. This system doesn't need to be embedded in thin set or self-leveling; it can simply be installed in layers between parts of your floor.

What happens is this doesn't glue to anything, and nothing glues to this. Think of anything that floats or that would be under something like carpet. Carpet is only tacked around the edges. This can be in the middle where it floats between the pad and the carpet. This can also be laminate; you have an underlayment, you put the heating product here, the Environ, and then you put the laminate or engineered wood directly on top of that.

It consists of heating wire embedded in foil, which helps spread the heat out. This design allows you to cut and turn the loops easily. You simply pull the loop up a little bit, which allows you to cut that section and turn it. This flexibility makes it adaptable to the room's shape, making it good for filling rooms that aren't exactly square.

If it has to be embedded, for example, luxury vinyl tile (LVT), that is a system that would not be used with Environ. LVT is usually embedded in self-leveling material because you need it to be smooth for gluing down or floating the laminate over it. Many laminate and luxury vinyl tile companies will ask about the deflection or rise of the floor using this product. A lot of them are 3/16 inches every 10 feet.

This product is a little thinner than 3/16 inches, except for one spot—the factory splice at the beginning of the mat. You can't really see it in this image, but there's going to be a little bit of a lump there. All you have to do is take some of the underlayment out underneath it to allow it to sink down. This should help you comply with your laminate manufacturer's requirements of 3/16 inches, except for that one spot.

One thing to note is that this product is not usually used in bathrooms. We do get some people who mistakenly order this for bathrooms, but it's usually used in other types of rooms, such as bedrooms or basements. We always say that this product is water-resistant but not waterproof.

One of the questions we received was about how much the floor is raised with the heating system. The answer is less than 3/16 inches, except for that one spot. You simply plan for that one spot, and you should be able to comply with that requirement. Another question we received was whether this can be used as a primary heat source.

To determine that, you can go to our website, WarmlyYours.com, and use the heat loss calculator. This calculator will let you design your room by telling it the R-values in your walls, how many exterior walls you have, and if you have any windows, skylights, or fireplaces. You build your room by inputting the R-values for your walls, floor, and ceiling, and the program will tell you how many BTUs you need to heat it.

Then it takes the amount of BTUs our product will supply and lets you know if you have plenty or if you might be a little short. If you're short, you may need to buy a space heater for those exceptionally cold days. I live in Illinois and have this product in my bedroom, so yes, it can work as a primary heat source. The heat loss calculator will confirm that.

Now, why can you install it in a day? It's super fast because you don't have to use any thin set or glue, and there's no waiting for it to set up. There's no drying time or curing time. You just roll it out, cut it, turn it, and rotate it around. Once again, you never cut the cables; you simply cut the aluminum foil. This allows you to install the floor really quickly.

You have an underlayment, usually cork or something similar, which you lay out. We will show you a picture of it shortly. You just make one layer, put the heat on top of that layer, and then put the flooring on top of that layer. It's like making a cake!

When heating your space, we always ask about the subfloor and what your flooring type will be. This helps us advise you on the layers needed in between. For example, we have a floating floor here with the Environ system right below it, which is the heating element. Then you have cork as your underlayment, and beneath that is your plywood subfloor.

The cork acts as an underlayment and has an R-value of 0.75, which helps direct the heat upwards rather than downwards. Remember, we're dealing with radiant electricity here, so the heat generated is circular around the wire. You want to make that heat go up.

Additionally, you need to have one soft surface against the heating element. If you have a hard flooring, it can only be against one hard surface. The other surface has to have relief; otherwise, it will break the wire as you walk over it. The cork allows the cable to sink down into it and provides that necessary relief.

When you first install it, it may feel like you're on something, but after about a week or two, it settles down. This is the cable settling into the cork.

Now, let's discuss the specifics of my bedroom, which is a nicely sized room at 370 square feet. The cork coverage is always 100%, and the total heated area is 270 square feet. There are areas we don't recommend heating, such as under a bed or anything with a base cabinet. We also recommend staying a foot or two off the wall.

It's essential to walk around the room and think about where you want the heat to be. That's why the heated area is a little less than the actual room area. Jeff has a great question about how thick the cork should be. The cork we sell is six millimeters, which is just around a quarter of an inch.

If you buy it from us, it's rated for use as a flooring underlayment. Please keep in mind that if you try to find it elsewhere, you need to ensure you're not buying the type used for bulletin boards, as that cork is much different and not rated for underlayment.

Now that we have a better understanding of the R-value, let's discuss the operating cost per hour. Once we know the total heated coverage, we want to provide you with an engineered solution. This means giving you all the details, especially the electrical side of things.

Understanding the power requirements is crucial because the more area you heat, the more power it takes. Anything over 120 square feet will require 240 volts, as our thermostats only switch 15 amps. If you're not using this as a sole source of heat and simply adding it for comfort, you can pull the coverage from the walls.

No one ever stands right up against the wall, so if you're looking for comfort, you don't need the heat there. This flexibility allows you to economize on costs while still achieving the desired warmth. For example, this setup is 13.6 amps and 3240 watts, fitting nicely within our thermostats that go up to 15 amps.

We provide a design plan for you. The first thing we receive is the design of the room. Some bedrooms have beds that people like to move around, while others remain in one place. If the bed is always going to be in one spot, you can decide not to heat that area.

However, if you want to move the bed in the future, you would heat under it. If you do that, you would need to consider another control, as you can't exceed 15 amps. By taking that little part off the room, you save yourself a bunch of money.

We also provide the total watts, amps, and even requirements for the breaker. Your electrician has the final say, but we like to put the operating cost information front and center. Many people think this is expensive to operate, but it isn't.

For example, in my room, the operating cost is about 11 cents per hour, and that's only in the evening when I'm using it. My floor is turned on around 7:00 p.m. and goes off at 6:00 a.m. in the morning. So, it's pretty inexpensive to operate.

Now, let's look at the dimensions of the space. We ask people to send in a plan or project sketch because we need to know how much material goes in there. If we send you a roll designed to fill 100 square feet, but you only have 80, you can't cut or shorten it.

It's against code to cut the heating element, so we need accurate dimensions. Are you ready to see the transformation? When you send in a sketch, we send you back a detailed plan. This is our SmartPlan, which we have training sessions on how to use.

In this plan, the mats are numbered, and the triangles indicate where they start. The thermostat is marked, and we purposefully go around the bed area, as no one will be standing there. We also show how far off the wall to start the heating element.

It's crucial to review the layouts and dimensions to ensure everything fits. If there are changes after you receive the product, just send it back to us, and we can re-engineer the plan. We can have that back to you within hours, sometimes within 24 hours.

If you're out in the field and installing this and it doesn't follow the plan, the great thing about this product is its flexibility. Instead of doing a fixed run, you can adjust the lengths as needed. If you have too much cable, you can make it a five-foot run instead of a four-foot six run.

We can help you with that. If you get to a point where it's not working, give our tech support team a call. Sometimes they call us on the weekends, and we can walk them through the adjustments.

Now, let's talk about the cost. This project involves three rolls, costing around $2200 for the heating element. The controls can range from $150 to $250, making it a $3000 project for that size room. It's quite affordable for the luxury it provides.

We also received a question about how to find out what's wrong if the system isn't working. We have tools that allow you to locate the exact spot if you have a short. For some reason, if you get a short, we have tools that will help you identify it, and we can even provide a thermal camera to see exactly where the issue is.

If you need to make repairs, we send out repair kits and instructions, and we can guide you through the process. It's fairly easy to fix, but I would recommend having an electrician handle it since the tools use high voltage.

Now, how long does it take to warm up? Usually, it takes about 40-45 minutes to start feeling warmth in the room. I like to turn it on an hour before I plan to be there. Factors like ceiling height and the number of windows can affect this, so start with an hour and adjust as needed.

The thermostat is self-learning, so if you set it for a specific time, it will figure out how far in advance it needs to start heating to reach that temperature. You just tell it what you want, and it does the rest.

We do this every month, so please come back and join us. On March 12th, we'll be discussing how to install a floor heating system in less than a day for tile floors. We also offer daily training sessions on various topics, which are great for team members or staff who need training.

This month, we have a special on the Environ mats—20% off. We value your feedback, so let us know what you want to hear or learn, and we will make it happen.

If you need to reach out, my email is jbillan@warmlyyours.com. I'm here 24/7 for you, and if you encounter technical issues, Scott and his team are happy to help.

Thank you for joining us today, and until next time, please stay warm and be radiant!