ufh on ceramic tiles ?

[pete22]

Is it possible to lay underfloor heating onto exsiting ceramic tiles?if yes,does it need insulating board/backer board aswell? All advice most welcome!Thanks

 

[Dan]

It certainly is. It's obviously going to increase the floor heights a bit though.

If you didn't use insulation boards you'll find the heating will act like oldschool underfloor heating - whereby you'd run it on a low temp all the time, and instead of turning it off you'd turn it down - so the floor never cools too much - then perhaps turn it off in the summer.

If it's in the budget and isn't going to cause lerch to get lots of bumps on his head due to the extra height then go for the insulation - you'll find the heating pumps heat in the room as quick as a few minutes and reflects in the running costs too - saves lots of pennies in the long run. You'd have a programmable stat in this case and it would run the floor heating for you so you don't need to keep fiddling with it. They even have holiday settings so you tell the stat when you're away and it doesn't mess up your standard settings which will have two on and off times per day and a setting for the week days and one for the weekends if you're getting up a bit later and don't want to heat the room for no reason.

Personally if I was investing so much cash in my own floor i'd lift the existing tiles though. I'd want to know what I'm sticking down is going to stay there. You never know how well the existing tiles are fixed.

I recommend 160 Watts per square meter minimum and would fit 200 watts per square meter in my own home with insulation - though some say that's an overkill. But as I always say - you can turn it down a bit if you get hot, but if it's maxed out and you're cold your not going to see your Mrs walking round in her bikini.