# Heated floors **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 5, 2005, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heated-floors/283253 "2005-01-05T18:54:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ms\_Macphisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@Ms\_Macphisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Macphisto)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heated-floors/283253/21 "2005-01-06T06:12:08Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Only thing we have to be careful of is not to leave things on the floor that might be damaged by heat. Although I think that may be more my step-mom’s fear than any actual danger. But I don’t leave my drumheads on the floor, just in case. I can’t speak for your drumheads, but the in-floor heating at my parents’ house did appear to kill a couple of potted plants fairly shortly after we moved into that house. Of course, that may have had more to do with the fact that the thermostats for two of the heating zones were cross-wired, so one zone kept getting hotter and hotter while the other got colder and colder, and IIRC the dead plants were in the hot zone. I have to say, that heating system is the number one reason to regret being out on my own now. I miss being able to stand with bare feet on the nice toasty warm tiles in the middle of winter. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heated-floors/283253/22 "2005-01-06T11:53:54Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > We had a kerosene heater when I was little and lived in Japan. Not very efficient at all. They also make the room smell like there’s a bus idling inside. A few years ago, I spent the New Year’s holidays at the house of a friend who had one of these installed. I think I spent about 75% of the time sound asleep on the floor, it was so comfortable. Sadly, my wife didn’t want to get one installed in our new house. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Farmwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8dc957/32.png) [@Farmwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmwoman)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heated-floors/283253/23 "2005-01-06T12:40:36Z")
Against nearly everyone’s advice, we installed PEX tubing into the concrete slab foundation of a house we built on our property. We had trouble finding tradesman willing to even touch the job due to fear and ignorance, so we ended up getting an engineer from the manufacturer to design our zones and tubing layout, and we plumbed it ourselves. Not a job for the faint of heart, mind you. I still have nightmares 5 years later that I walk out the front door and find an open foundation still in need of layers of gravel, sand, plastic liner, rigid insulation, and reinforced wire mesh with miles of plastic tubing tied in precise coils, never touching, perfectly level, and always finding their way back to the boiler source before x feet. I’m happy to report complete success. My father-in-law’s apartment at the back of the building is incredibly toasty and the garage in the front is kept at a tolerable 45 F for the entire winter. We are now retrofitting our 1890’s farm house for present and future in-floor radiant heat. We’ve used the electric mesh under two tile floors (foyer and laundry room) and created two unlikely favorite spots in the house. I never have to step in a wet muddy mess to get my shoes since snow melts quickly and puddles evaporate in 15 minutes or so. I can’t wait to fit the whole place with tubing and trade in our old furnace for a new boiler. Best. Heat. Ever. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heated-floors/283253.md?page=1)