SunTouch Mats Blog

New and Exciting? Well, exciting, certainly. The installation of electric floor heating is not new. In fact, heated floors have been installed under bathroom and kitchen tile in the United States for the past 10 years. These floor warming mats continue to gain popularity. Many in the kitchen and bath industry expect radiant floors to continue to play a big role among homeowners who crave comfort features.

Joan McCloskey, editorial marketing director for Better Homes and Gardens magazine, told homebuilders at the 2003 International Builders Show that the use of floor warming mats to heat bathroom tile is on the list of must-have comforts. “Our bathrooms set the mood for the day and homeowners want it light, comfortable, and cheerful,” she said. “Toys in this room and the master include heated floors, little refrigerators, steam showers with multiple shower heads, soaking tubs, towel warmers, fireplaces, and coffee nooks.”

These thin electric floor warming mats have been very popular in bathrooms and kitchens for a long time. However, the installation of these systems under carpet and hardwood was not practical because they needed to be embedded in a layer of thin-set cement, which you normally don’t use when you install a new carpet or floating wood floor.

As a result, very few people would opt for a heated floor under carpet or floating wood. However, now with the introduction of floor warming mats, you can get heated floors under carpets, hardwood, and other flooring without the need for cement under layers.

No more big fuzzy slippers to keep my feet warm in the coldest winter months! I don’t need them because I won’t be faced with the prospect of walking across cold tile or hardwood floors this winter. No, we didn’t install carpet in the bathroom and kitchen, but we did install floor warming mats in our bathrooms and kitchen. If you’ve never experienced the warmth and comfort of heated floors, you’re definitely missing out on one of the finer things in life.

A comparison of floor warming mats 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.

The silent operation of floor warming mats also provides an environment free from drafts or flying dust particles. This is yet another reason why these systems are becoming so popular. Home owners are searching for ways in which they can create a more comfortable, efficient, and healthier atmosphere in their homes. Floor warming mats helps accomplish each of those goals.

While they seem like they’re the latest innovation in home heating, the installation of floor warming mats is not new: heated floors have been installed under bathroom and kitchen tile in the United States for the past 10 years and the warming products continue to gain popularity. Many in the kitchen and bath industry expect radiant floor heating to continue to play a big role among homeowners who crave comfort features like heated hardwood or tile flooring.

The news keeps getting better, too. In addition to providing warmth, these new floor warming mats are energy efficient. Because it is under the carpet, tile, or floating wood and over the foam pad, it provides additional insulation from the cold sub-floor. The Most homeowners love the look of tile, wood, marble floors, but dread stepping out of their soothing shower onto cold tile, especially during those frigid winter months. And many love tile or wood in their kitchens and living areas but worry about their little ones playing and running around on cold floors. That’s why so many are opting for floor warming mats to warm up their floors.

You might not know that using floor warming mats to heat the home can have a huge impact on both efficiency and health benefits.

Efficiency. Radiant heaters are also on of the most efficient form of heat available. Significantly less operating time is required to maintain the desired warmth compared to furnaces and other methods of heating keeping operational costs to a minimum. High efficiency boilers or electric radiant floor systems makes radiant heat one of your most efficient ways to heat your home. Coupled with a well insulated home these systems can 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.

Health Benefits. Floor warming mats, which provide radiant heat, improve the air quality, This is especially important for anyone who suffers from either dust allergies or asthma. Floor heating provides ample heat alleviating a breeding ground for germs to multiply not to mention the added benefit of not having change filters or clean heat ducts.

Many health experts also claim that floor heating via floor warming mats can help in eliminating dust mites that live in our homes, and since dust mites love a warm moist environment, towel heaters aid in maintaining a consistent room temperature and keep it moisture free.

Furthermore, mold and mildew are also caused from excessive moisture especially in bathrooms with insufficient ventilation. By placing radiant heaters or a radiant heat towel rack in the bathroom you can combat the spread of germs for only pennies a day.

Thanks to Suntouch’s new line of home heating solutions, now finding and selecting the best heating system for a new home or to add supplemental heat to a cold spot in your home is easier than ever. Suntouch heating products will not only save you money, but it gives you complete control to efficiently warm you most used living spaces without comprising comfort and efficiency.

A common challenge to traditional home heating is the inability to target specific areas of your home. However, Suntouch has a solution that allows you to heat individual rooms, without directing heat to areas of your home that don’t need it. Suntouch utilizes electric radiant heating to accomplish exactly this. Radiant 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.

The fairytale will work for everyone.  Once upon a time having heated floors was reserved for the rich and famous. However, that is now a thing of the past. With Suntouch floor warming mats floor heating is not only affordable, but it’s easier to install than it has ever been. Even those do it yourself oriented people can tackle the task of installing floor warming mats themselves.

The floor warming mats are thin, so it will not affect floor levels very much. It goes where you need it, so you can fit it into bathrooms, kitchens, sun rooms or any other room in your house. The flexible design makes it easy to work around existing fixtures or cramped floor layouts. If you’re wanting a nice heated floor in time for winter,

Whether you plan on installing the floor warming mats yourself, or having a professional do it for you, there is a Suntouch system to match every application, and every budget. Visit Suntouch for a free estimate and to find out which radiant heating products are right for you.

Whether you’re building a new home, or remodeling your existing home, radiant floor heating is a great way to add comfort and efficiency to the rooms in your home that are traditionally hard to heat.

So how does this work?  Instead of rising like warm air, radiant heat starts by warming the coldest and closest objects from its source. This is why radiant heating systems are generally placed under floors in the form of floor warming mats. There are several different applications for floor warming mats, which include the following:

Bathrooms, Kitchens, and Entry Ways. Bathrooms, Kitchens and Entryways are ideals places to incorporate floor warming mats. Tile, Marble, Slate, and even Hardwood are floor coverings that are cold to step onto with bare feet during winter or summer. A radiant heat product can be installed under these surfaces throughout the home and take the cold bite out of these areas. Never have cold floors or feet again!

Basements. Basements are one of the top requested areas to add radiant heat. 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.

Whether you’re looking to reduce your electricity bill to reduce the strain on your pocketbook, or just concerned about energy usage in light of environmental issues, you can start with your heating systems. Heating our places is one of our greatest energy hogs. By taking a few steps, you can cut down the amount of electricity you use to heat your home. You’ll save money, as well as have a favorable impact on the environment.

Get heat where it’s needed. I remember a conversation I had with my grandpa a couple of years ago when he was complaining about his gas bill after a cold winter. What surprised me is that the money he and my grandma spent heating their home for the two of them was almost the same we spent heating our house for a full family. Why? Because many forced air systems are inefficient, and don’t provide a way to heat specific rooms, while bypassing rooms that are used less frequently. The ability to heat only the rooms you use could save you a lot of money during cold winter months. It doesn’t make sense to heat a guest bedroom that is used a few times a year. However, most forced air systems don’t give us a choice. So how to solve this dilemma?

The good news is that this problem can be easily solved, however, by utilizing radiant heat in the form of floor warming mats. Floor warming mats give you the ability to heat specific rooms, without heating other rooms that are used less frequently. Not only are floor warming mats extremely efficient, but the ability to heat only the rooms you use the most will help cut your heating bills, sometimes by as much as half.

What’s the bottom line?  Radiant heaters are used to heat objects via radiant heat transfer. These radiant heaters have traditionally been used in a variety of industries and applications. Some of these applications include space heating, drying, curing, and water evaporation. More recently, these heating systems are also gaining popularity in home heating applications as well via floor warming mats.

Floor warming mats, like radiant heat, use different types of emitter surfaces. Choices include: quartz, high-temperature glass, stainless steel, and ceramic tiles. These are all materials that are easily and efficiently used in home applications such as flooring, countertops, and towel racks. Because these items are easily turned into emitter surfaces for radiant heat, they can easily and beautifully be incorporated into home heating applications such as heated floors, walls, and towel racks.

You should know that not only are floor warming mats a great way to efficiently heat a home, while maximizing your home’s beauty, but they are very cost effective and easy to install. To find out about radiant heaters for your home, check with the folks at Suntouch. They have a complete product catalog of radiant heating solutions that can accommodate almost any application or budget.

Have you ever watched one of those home television shows about fabulous new home comforts and wished you could have those things, too?  Now you don’t have to be a celebrity or gazillionaire to afford heated floors.  With Suntouch floor warming mats floor heating is not only affordable, but it’s easier to install than it has ever been. Even those do it yourself oriented people can tackle the task of installing floor warming mats themselves.

The flexible design makes it easy to work around existing fixtures or cramped floor layouts. The floor warming mats are thin, so it will not affect floor levels very much. It goes where you need it, so you can fit it into bathrooms, kitchens, sun rooms or any other room in your house.

You’d be surprised at how within your reach heated floors can be.  Whether you plan on installing the floor warming mats yourself, or having a professional do it for you, there is a Suntouch system to match every application, and every budget. Visit Suntouch for a free estimate and to find out which radiant heating products are right for you.