SunTouch Mats Blog

Oh do you hear that? No? That’s right. Of the many benefits of floor warming mats, their quiet operation is one of my favorite things about them. Don’t get me wrong, being able to show off my slate floors without having to cover them up with rugs (to keep my feet warm), along with the energy I save are all right up there on the list of reasons that I love my floor warming mats.

However, I just love the peace and quiet they bring. No more noisy forced air systems, no more slamming doors with pressure increases as the forced air kicks in. Instead, I have peace and serenity all day long. There’s nothing like curling up with a book and not be startled half to death as the door slams behind you. If you’ve currently in a home with a forced air system, you know exactly what I’m referring to. If your home has a forced air heating system, you may think that there is no way to install radiant heating without tearing everthing up at considerable expense. You’d be wrong.

Something that often surprises people is to learn that today’s systems can be easily retrofitted to fit almost every application. Furthermore, they are very inexpensive, and will save you a lot of money on heating and electricity bills. To find out how you can benefit from floor warming mats, contact the knowledgeable staff at Suntouch.

And you thought you were done with homework when you finished school! But the fact of the matter is that choosing the best heating systems for a new home or to add supplemental heat to a cold spot in your home takes a little homework. The consultants at Suntouch can provide information on all of the latest heating systems. Suntouch can also help to properly assess your project and prescribe a system that will add value to your home while staying within your budget.

Heating a home efficiently offers many challenges. A common challenge to traditional heating systems is the inability to zone your home for specific areas of the home without heating the entire home. Suntouch heating systems can be easily designed to be independently controlled by zone which enables a home owner to increase the temperature for defined areas of the home during occupancy and conversely allows a particular zone to remain off during down times. This strategy not only saves homeowners a considerable amount of money, it gives you complete control to efficiently warm you most used living spaces without comprising cost.

Great news! You don’t have to cover your ceramic tile, marble, or stone floors with rugs—install floor warming mats and show your floor’s beauty and allow them to give you the heat you want at the same time! The feeling of warmth under your feet when it’s cold and snowing outside is like no other.

Floor warming mats also offer you complete control of temperature of your home on a room by room basis. Not only that, their operation is completely quiet. Floor warming mats have even heat distribution and will not effect the furniture placement as it uses no radiators or heat vents to disperse heat. They are easy to install, very energy efficient, and can save you a bundle on your winter heating bills. Another way they save you money is that there are no expensive filters to change or clean.

With the added heat and efficiency come some additional health benefits as well. Floor warming mats don’t blow air around your house, so there is no dust or dirt forced into your air to breathe, which is extremely beneficial for those who suffer from allergies.

You may be wondering just how do floor warming mats work? They simply heat the floor with electrical resistance cables that are spread evenly and sandwiched between layers of durable fabric. All these options are easy to install yourself or can be quickly installed by your flooring installer. If you choose to install the system yourself, you will want to have a certified electrician hook up the controls to a programmable thermostat.

Bottom line: New floor warming mats can help cut your heating costs, while increasing your level of comfort. Why? Because evenly distributed heat in your floors will allow you to turn down your thermostat two to four degrees. This can reduce energy costs by 10-40% and can be verified with your local utility company. This setback to your thermostat can happen because floor warming mats heat from the ground up, delivering the heat through objects rather than the air. This makes the lowest three feet of your home the most comfortable where a forced air system loses its heat to the ceiling and is required to heat from the top down. Delivering heat by air also makes it easy to escape and increase your overall heat loss.

A good analogy for radiant floor heating to forced air is a car that has heated seats and a forced air heater/furnace. The forced air in a car can dry you out and can become uncomfortable and is difficult to dial in because of the heat loss due to its air delivery. A heated seat will provide you with quick results and will remain warm long after it is reduced or turned completely off. The heated seat actually warms your body and the car seat, not the air. Forced air will over time will inefficiently heat objects but with the negative side effects of dry air, dust and pollen.

Great news for homebuilders and renovators alike: there are a multitude of uses for floor warming mats in homes. To begin with, bathrooms, kitchens and entryways are ideals places to incorporate radiant heat. Tile, marble, slate, and even hardwood are floor coverings that are cold to step onto with bare feet during winter or summer. Floor warming mats can be installed under these surfaces throughout the home and take the cold bite out of these areas. Just think: you’ll never have cold floors or feet again!

Perhaps you didn’t think of this yourself, but another area of the home that floor warming mats make sense is in the basement of your home. Basements are one of the top requested areas to add floor warming. Due to the fact that forced air systems heat air and hot air rises, the basement is usually the living space that remains cold. New construction is the best time to add radiant heat to a basement, but in many cases it can be accomplished via a remodel, or before getting new carpet.

In the end, the fact of the matter is that whether you’re building a new home, or remodeling your existing home, floor warming mats are a great way to add comfort and efficiency to the rooms in your home that are traditionally hard to heat.

While fire places and coal burning stoves become less popular options for heating a residence, other alternative heating methods are quickly becoming more common. Traditional furnaces as a primary heating system are now being challenged from radiant baseboards, radiant floor heating systems and even radiant ceiling heaters.

Many of these new heating systems are using electricity instead of natural gas or heating oil. Suntouch, for example, provides affordable heating solutions which add comfort, and save money as well. Not only do Suntouch heating systems cut down on heating costs, but they are also more efficient and eco-friendly as well. These heating systems are quickly replacing traditional furnaces. This is not surprising given the fact that they are not only more efficient, but provide a more comfortable environment as well.

One great aspect to Suntouch heating systems, as opposed to warm air systems (such as a forced air unit heaters), deliver the source of heat to the floor level, not the ceiling. As a result, you get heat evenly distributed where you need it most, rather than having heat accumulate at the ceiling level. 

If you would like to know more about Suntouch radiant heating systems, contact their knowledgeable staff who will be happy to help.

With the current housing market being so unpredictable, an increasing number of homeowners are opting to stay put in their homes, rather than buy a new home. They find that one way to make their current home a better fit for them is to remodel the kitchen or bathroom, or upgrade the home’s heating systems. While there isn’t a single heating system out there that is an ideal fit for every project, there is an ideal system for every project. Suntouch can provide you with the right floor warming systems for your home, as well as consult with you on which systems would be the best fit for your project.

It’s stood the test of time. Not a lot of people realize that home heating systems that run underneath the floors are not exactly new inventions, but the truth is that this form of heating was first used by the Romans. Naturally, there have been some major improvements since the Romans first came up with the idea.

Hydronic under floor heating systems are some of the most popular forms of radiant floor warming systems that Suntouch can provide. These hydronic systems are ideal for remodeling and most new construction projects.

Are you thinking about remodeling a bathroom or kitchen?  We think there is something you should seriously consider: Floor warming mats. If you’re not familiar with what floor warming mats are, they’re simply thin electric mats installed beneath your flooring. The floor warming mats are controlled by a timer-thermostat.

To install this type of heating is very cost effective, especially when you consider how much money you’ll save on your heating bill. For an average sized bathroom, it will operate on less than 10 cents a day of electricity. In theory, these products are very similar to electric blankets. They are made of a heat resistant wire which serpentines over a supporting material. They are safe, relatively easy to install, and extremely energy efficient. If you are remodeling, floor warming mats are the perfect solution. They’re inexpensive, and easy enough to install that a do-it-youselfer could install it.

Aside from the economical arguments for electric radiant heat are additional benefits, such as added comfort. Have you ever noticed during the winter how your feet can be icy cold, while you’re upper body and head are sweating? This is because traditional forced air heating puts the heat in the air, which rises to our head level. This leaves the air at our feet cold, and the air at our head hot. This is really not optimal, because our upper body and head areas are generally hot due to the fact that this is where the majority of our body heat escapes.

Having electric radiant heat in the floor increases our comfort by bringing the heat to our feet, which leaves the air at head level cooler. This scenario creates the perfect level of comfort.

If you feel like nothing is worse than crawling out of bed on a cold winter morning and stepping onto the cold bathroom tile, you aren’t alone! What a great way to get your day off to a rotten start, eh? However, this doesn’t have to be a problem this winter thanks to the floor warming mats you can install in bathrooms. If you’ve experienced the comfort of heated floors, you know exactly I’m talking about. If you haven’t, then you owe it to yourself to read on.

Maybe this will help understand better…a good analogy for floor warming mats to forced air is a car that has heated seats verses a forced air heater/furnace. The forced air in a car can dry you out and can become uncomfortable and is difficult to dial in because of the heat loss due to its air delivery. A heated seat will provide you with quick results and will remain warm long after it is reduced or turned completely off. The heated seat actually warms your body and the car seat, not the air. Forced air will over time will inefficiently heat objects but with the negative side effects of dry air, dust and pollen.

Here’s the deal:  evenly distributed radiant heat via floor warming mats installed in your floors will allow you to turn down your thermostat two to four degrees. This can reduce energy costs by 10-40% and can be verified with your local utility company. This setback to your thermostat can happen because a radiant floor heats from the ground up and delivers the heat through objects not air. This makes the lowest three feet of your home the most comfortable where a forced air system loses its heat to the ceiling and is required to heat from the top down. Delivering heat by air also makes it easy to escape and increase your overall heat loss.

Who doesn’t find saving money to be an appealing prospect? Suntouch electric radiant heating products, combined with a well-insulated home, allow these radiant heating systems to quickly warm your home and then shut down or wait idle for long periods of time before being called upon by the thermostat to operate.

More than ever before, homebuilders, and home renovators alike are looking for energy-efficient heating options for houses. We say they need look no further than Suntouch for their ideal home heating solution. No matter the method, technology, or system used, a homeowner quickly discovers that the benefits of Suntouch heating products are the same – more comfortable home, and more green in your wallet.

Quite simply put, Suntouch radiant heating products are among the most efficient form of heating available in today’s market. Significantly less operating time is required to attain and maintain the desired warmth compared to furnaces and other traditional methods of heating. This helps to reduce your operating costs, and lowers your energy bills.