It's mind boggling just how many details and decisions must be made when taking on a big bathroom renovation. From tile and lighting to pulls and towel rods, the options seem endless, yet each selection is as important as the last in the finished project. It's actually rather easy to get caught up in the finishing touch details (ahem, "What bathtub faucet should we buy?") to the point you lose perspective on the not-so-apparent things that really make a difference in overall happiness with the final results. For this simple fact, we try to create various scenarios in our head and research every item to death before we make a decision to purchase or install almost anything. It makes for a longer project with far more arguments, but we're both happier with the completed work.

One of the items that fits into this category, and an item we're going to be installing in our master bathroom, is often considered a "luxury" by people who don't have it, and a "necessity" by those that do. The creature comfort feature I'm talking about? Heated floors.

The photo of our guest bathroom floor created a little blog/Pinterest buzz last week, and is a Thassos marble basket weave mosaic. It's absolutely beautiful (in our opinion) but in the winter it is downright cold! This isn't a major problem since the bathroom is tiny and we don't do a whole lot of hanging out in there, but our master bath is a different story.

The master bathroom is large and long, and the 12 foot walk from the bathroom door to the opposite end where the toilet sits will be far more pleasant if the natural stone floor is more tepid than frigid. Our plan is to install an electric radiant floor heating element down the center of the bathroom in the primary walking lane. This heat source will be more than adequate to keep the floor toasty, our feet warm, and will even add a little heat to a room that tends to be rather chilly in the winter. 

Ugh, such a horrible space.

But the big question, with all of the various styles and options, what kind/brand should we use?

As I see it, there are really three options that we can choose from, and each is completely DIYable. You may recognize some from popular TV shows or advertisements, others from homes stores, and some you may have seen on other DIY/home blogs. Heck, you may even have some experience with one or another in your house and can provide us with some sage advice. Regardless, our feet (and pets) would love it if you would weigh in and help us make our decision.

Warmly Yours

Warmly Yours is an electric radiant mat product. In other words, an electrical line runs back and forth through a mesh mat, radiating heat to the surrounding areas. The mesh mat is installed beneath any tile floor, and the system is embedded in a layer of thinset or self leveling concrete before installing tile over the heating mat.

The Warmly Yours system comes with several different options for programmable thermostats, including an option for a remote sensor to detect when the floor's temperature gets too low and needs to be warmed up. You can also set schedules like you'd expect from a typical thermostat. 

For our bathroom we can run off of a single circuit and can be configured to match the desired warming area of our bathroom perfectly.

The advantages of this system are the programmable thermostat, no need for additional wiring in the bathroom (a circuit is already available), the single layer of thinset needed to embed the mat, and the operating costs (probably about $0.50 per day in the winter months).

Nuheat

Similar to the first, Nuheat (the radiant heat choice of Canadian super hero, Mike Holmes) has an electric mat product, but they offer two other very different options. The first is a custom mat where you take your space's measurements and where you need heat and they'll custom make the mat to fit the space perfectly. The second is a free form cable system that allows you to specify the area with a border and wrap the heating cable as you see fit. 

I see the distinct advantage of having the ability to completely free form a room, especially if the room is quite irregularly shaped, but that's not really the case with our area. The primary advantage would come if the width and length of the area in the bathroom that needs heat falls between some of the standard mat sizes. 

In addition the heating product, the thermostat is programmable and fits nicely in a decora style two gang outlet.

Similar to the first system I outlined, the system won't add a significant amount of height, but it does require a layer of self leveling cement over the whole system. This means that thinset isn't really an option, and any bit of flooring that is out of level may cause a bigger issue. (Obviously not a concern because NOTHING in our house is out of level. Oh...wait a minute.) The programmable thermostat is quite nice and the system seems very DIY friendly.

SunTouch

The final popular brand that I'm aware of is SunTouch. Like the others, SunTouch offers a radiant mat product in addition to several other options, but it seems particularly geared to the DIYer. (At least, that's what I gather from various marketing materials and general availability.) 

The mat can be sized to fit the area of install and will warm the floor roughly 15 degrees, according to the website. I get the feeling that the SunTouch product tends to be far more of a supplemental comfort than any primary heat source for a room, which I believe means lower operating costs, but also less bang for your buck.

The thermostat for the SunTouch mat is pretty much the coolest. The display is very nice touchscreen, and it offers the various programmable options we want, but do we really need a cool looking display if it is going to go in the closet? Sure, the geek in me says, "Of course!!!"

Again, we wouldn't need an additional circuit or wiring given the roughly 30 square feet we're looking to warm, and this product can be set under thinset without adding significant height.

Conclusions

As you can see, we have our decision cut out for us. Though we're leaning the way of a roll out mat type product since our area is rather rectangular and predictable, it's by no means an easy choice. The main things I'm interested in are: 

1. A programmable thermostat with floor sensor (so the thermostat can be in a closet)
2. Reliability
3. Customer support/warranty
4. The ability to run on a single and existing 15 amp circuit 
5. Minimal height increase on the finished floor 
6. Something that will be DIY-able 

I think with the various options I've discussed above we can accomplish all six of the major items we're looking for. But as I said, we'd love your opinion. If you have any experience with any products, any familiarity through your own install, or just knowing someone who owns one in their house, we want to hear what you think.