Generally, in cold winter days stepping onto ice-cold and chilled floor in your room can be a great torture. Electric radiant floor heating is a great way to resolve the issue of cold floors in the morning. Similarly, on your bathroom tile in the morning stepping in can be tough especially when it is moist and damp. Perhaps it is one of the cruelest ways to wake up in the morning.
To protect our family members and ourselves especially small kids we take some extra precautions such as wearing slipper and bath mats. We literally spend a fortune to make our dream home where every member of our family can relax and enjoy irrespective or any weather. Nevertheless, some of us just do not care for the proper floor heating. However, if you care, electric radiant floor heating makes that possible.
No matter, what type or make electric radiant floor heating mats you have, they are almost same when it comes to construction. They have an aluminum foil heater with twin conductor having primary insulation of flouropolymer, which is sandwiched between two layers of specially reinforced aluminum foil.
Technically radiant heat is the most comfortable form of heating. Almost every electric radiant floor heating mat is simple to install & affordable to operate. Most electric radiant floor heating has the toughest and thinnest electric heating element on the market.
However, there are many companies that provide electric radiant floor heating mats and other systems, but a few have earned a great reputation in floor heating market segment. One such name is Warmup, which is the only company to offer radiant floor heat with a 30-year warranty, and a unique one-time homeowner transfer and a safe installation guarantee for total peace of mind.
Warmup is an award-winning, leading manufacturer of radiant floor heating products. They have a large range of radiant heating products for tile, stone, laminate, engineered wood and more.
Remember, as an informed customer you must ensure that every electric radiant floor heating mat meets all test requirements of IEC 60335. They should have all the necessary features, such as conforms to the requirements of CE marking, ease of laying and connection, temperature control through programmable / non-programmable thermostat, uniform heating, thermostat controller, proper earthing provision is provided for safety.
In addition to the above-mentioned features and characteristics for years of safe and trouble free service, they should also conform to the product safety requirements as per latest directives by the government.
Also as generally seen it is neither feasible nor economical to have alteration in our home construction. Therefore, we must choose a suitable electric radiant floor heating system that can be adjusted in our already existing setup. A wide range of heat-loads and sizes ensure suitability to different sizes and kinds of floorings.
They should be custom built based on our individual requirements of heat-loads, voltage requirements along with their lengths & width. Also as compared to other metals, they should be made of aluminum, which is technically considered as a green metal. At one hand, it is light in weight, while on other it does not emit any harmful greenhouse gases while heating.
We provide information on a electric radiant floor heating and electric floor heat. In these tough economic times, people are looking for ways to reduce their energy bills. Visit our site for more information on this heating alternative! http://www.radiantflooringheat.comBy M. Applebaum
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Martin_Applebaum
Here Are a Few Tips on Electric Radiant Floor Heating
Everything You Need to Know About Garage Flooring
When it comes to the garage floor, you need it to be durable and capable of withstanding quite a lot of force. As your car will be going in and out of it frequently, it should be able to withstand the pressure of the car and for that reason usually the floor of the garage is concrete.
Maintaining Your Garage Flooring
Most of the time, the flooring in the garage is concrete because it is simply the best material for the job. It can be easily cleaned and it can last through all weathers. There are some people who use carpet but generally concrete is the material of choice.
Now in order to keep the garage flooring looking clean and tidy, there are various things you need to do. Cleaning it out ready for summer is one of them. Whilst you may not realize it, the garage floor often gets covered in leaves and dirt. Think about it - when you get out of the car you are likely to have some dirt on your shoes. This dirt will be transferred to the floor and it will stay there until it is clean. Leaves can also be carried on your shoes or they can blow inside on a windy day when the garage door is left open. So in order to make it look nice for summer, it is advisable to give it a good clean.
You may also want to repair parts of the flooring too if it is cracked and chipped. If you want to really work hard then you can break the concrete up. When you have done this you can then break the bits of concrete up into really fine pieces of concrete and they can be used on the driveway as gravel. That way you will be updating your driveway as well as your garage.
One handy tip that you can use which many people do not usually consider - is to spread straw over the new garage flooring. This helps to stop weeds growing up through the new flooring you will be placing over it and it will also act as insulation too. Once you have spread the straw over the flooring, you should then make a frame roughly two inches by six inches around the floor which will act as a border that stops the wet concrete from passing over it.
If you are new to construction then it is useful to know that you will need a fifty pound bag of concrete mixed with 3 gallons of water if you want to have enough concrete for the floor. Mix it together in a wheel barrow and ensure that all of the powder does completely mix with the water before you place it onto the floor.
It is a good idea to use a hoe to level out the concrete as you pour it onto the floor. This ensures that you give it an even coverage and it will allow you to cover every part of the floor too. You should leave it to dry completely before anyone or anything is allowed to touch it.
Adam Peters is a syndicated writer of http://www.home-decorating-reviews.com Keep reading about installing hard wood flooring and interior design at his web.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Adam_Peters
What Do You Know About Electric Radiant Floor Heat?
Actually, electric radiant floor heat is used to warm up our floors in cold or winter season with bone-chilled weather outside. That is done with the help of electric radiant floor heating mats, which are designed to warm stone and tile floors in bathrooms, kitchens, entries and sunrooms, or wherever you need them.
There is an endless list of products available in online as well as offline market when it comes to floor heating. For example, laminate floor heating mats are used for laminate floor and under-carpet heating.
By construction, they comprise of an ultra thin electric radiant floor heating system primarily for use under laminate, engineered wood, glued hardwood and other floating floors.
Advantage of using an electric radiant floor heat mat is the ease of use and installation including uniform heating of your laminate flooring. The special materials used makes it free from problems of ‘Hot-Spots’ or localized heating.
Over a period, most of these electric radiant floor heat mats have become masterpieces. Actually, by construction they are made with fluoropolymer insulated heating cables. These are sandwiched between two layers of specially reinforced aluminum foil.
The main point here is that the uniform spacing of the heating elements, further backed by the aluminum foil, ensures even heat distribution. The heating element is connected to a power-supply cable, which exits the laminate mat from one corner. The power lead is a flat thin two core flexible cord, consisting of two insulated conductors with a metal sheath and an outer sheath.
Depending on your heating requirement, they are available in nominal heat outputs of 80 W/m² and 140 W/m². Most of them are available in predetermined lengths with cold tail – prefabricated & tested in a carefully controlled factory environment. In addition, next advantage is that they are also fully geared to meet any of your customized heating requirements.
The electric radiant floor heat mats are portable, easy to install and are suited to make any floor warm. They can be used on any floor, such as under tile; wood or laminate floors in bathrooms, kitchens, entryways and sunrooms.
They are lighter in weight, extra thin, and portable that can be moved easily from one place to another or one room to another. They are designed with sturdy construction that makes them ideally suited for renovation of homes, offices or anywhere you want.
Nowadays, they are easily available at most online stores so you need not to leave your home in cold winter days. Therefore, they are easy to order, ship and are easy to install within no time. The ease of installation makes them an ideal ‘DIY” project. Most of these heating mats come with an installation kit with clear instructions. Therefore, unlike other project at your home related to renovation or refurnishing or construction, there is no need to hire any technicians or experts.
As most of these electric radiant floor heat mats are flexible in design and installation, so you can fir them anywhere you want. They do not have any permanent installation, so you can move them from one place to another in your home.
So folks, forget about expensive installation and construction costs with these heating floor mats. They are built for common people with common requirements. Individual Requirements of heat-loads, voltage requirements, lengths & width can be designed & manufactured. They can be supplied with one-side adhesive with release paper for ease of installation.
Garage Floor Coatings - Getting to Know the Options
If you're like many people, you've got a garage. That garage, if you're like most people, has an ugly, stained concrete floor. There's no shame in this, of course (you're just like most people). However, many are starting to question whether having a rough, ugly concrete garage floor is the way to go. Many are asking themselves if there is a better way.
As it turns out, there is. There are many types of garage floor coverings available, but I'd like to focus on the coating options in this article. While installing some tile or a mat might be the way to go for many, sometimes its easier just to paint on a durable garage floor coating and be done with it.
So, what kind of coating should you buy? It might seem tempting to buy some tough exterior paint, clean up the floor, and paint it on, but there is a better way. Epoxy based floor coatings will prove much more durable and robust in the long run than other types of paints.
Epoxy, as many of you might be familiar with, is a resinous chemical that cures hard when combined with another chemical. This provides a thick, sturdy, moisture resistant coating for your garage floor. No longer will spills and leaks seep into your concrete floor. Instead, they will pool up on top of the epoxy coating, making it easy to clean up.
Installing an epoxy floor yourself is quite easy. Simply buy a kit, clean up your existing floor (this is most often the hardest step), mix up the epoxy, and begin to apply it to your floor. Typically, you will only need one coat, as the paint is really very think. After the painting, you'll need to wait about 24 hours before you can use your garage again.
Once the epoxy is cured, you'll have a garage floor that is both better looking and more durable than the original concrete. Of course, epoxy isn't full proof. Some brands of epoxy will be susceptible to damage from the heat of hot tires, while other may have same bad reactions with certain chemicals. On the whole, though, epoxy flooring is a great option for sprucing up your old garage floor.
David Wilson is the man behind Garage Floor Covering a site devoted to helping you pick the right flooring option for your garage. Visit to learn about the different flooring options, including garage floor mats
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_C_Wilson
How to Make Retail, Shop, and Garage Floors Glass-smooth
Ultra smooth floors (glass-smooth) are often a "required" look for showing off quality operations and merchandise. As is frequently the case in obtaining a high-end result, glass-smooth floors are achievable but at a cost in materials and effort. Of course, it helps to start with a smooth floor but even highly damaged floors can be brought back to glass-smooth with some hard work and…epoxy.
If you are going to invest in achieving a showroom quality smooth floor, you want to first make sure that your efforts are not spoiled by lifting or pealing. This means care must be taken to do a good prep job that will assure maximum adhesion to the concrete base. One good way to obtain a professional preparation is to use one of Durall Industrial Flooring's kits of materials that are customized to owner specification and delivered directly to the job site. These kits include full directions and 24/7 help lines staffed by seasoned flooring experts, so professionals and amateurs alike can successfully install a quality floor. See www.concrete-floor-coatings.com for details.
After the preparation work is done, all of the low spots in your floor should be filled. Joints and concrete cracks from sagging can be filled with the grout provided in the Durall kit. Mixing the grout to a peanut butter consistency and working it into the cracks with a gloved hand or putty knife is the first step. Try not to smear too much on the surface and strike the cracks flush before they harden.
Next come those dreaded holes from tack strips or walls that were removed, or stones showing through from water erosion. These all need to be filled with 100% epoxy for maximum adhesion. Make sure all of the holes are dry and dirt had been sucked out of them during the preparation process. Mix up the epoxy and pour a small amount in each crater and hole. Note that the surface tension of the epoxy will create a little edge to each pour, like honey poured on a counter top. Once the epoxy has set up (12-15 hours) use a grinder with a masonry wheel to bring the edges flush to the surrounding concrete. Then use a vacuum to remove all the ground off powder and loose grout that may be on the floor.
Next comes your 100% solid Dura Poxy coating. To achieve a glass-smooth finish you will need to plan on three coats. The first coat is rolled and brushed on at about 125 to 150 sq. ft. per gallon. When mixing, be sure to do at least 200 strokes or 2 minutes with a drill mixer. Then transfer from the mixing container to another container before application to assure that no material remains unmixed. Use a 9-in. 3/8" nap roller and a 4-in. china bristle brush on broomstick handles to apply. Mix the epoxy as you go to assure that it remains as liquid and fluid as possible. Mixing and applying the epoxy within 30 minutes will help it flow well. After 15 hours, you screen the entire floor with a 60-grit screen on a rotary scrubber. Then check all of the patched areas. If the filled holes or cracks show imperfections, applying additional epoxy to low spots, allowing them to harden, and regrinding may be necessary for that final glass-smooth finish.
For the second coat, plan on about 90 sq. ft. per gallon. Be sure to vacuum the floor thoroughly before proceeding with an additional coat. Again, mix the epoxy as you need it and pour it at the far edge of the floor and then use a 16-in. notched squeegee to pull the material over the entire surface. The notched squeegee will allow extra material to flow into any low spots to make them level. Pull back about 6 ft. and then use a 3/16" nap roller and pull it over the squeegeed areas to remove any rack marks or pools that may appear. Fifteen (15) hours later, screen again, vacuum well, and repeat the process to arrive at your final floor.
Web visitors can obtain free, job-specific quotes on materials or nationwide turnkey installations by completing a simple questionnaire at www.concrete-floor-coatings.com
For a high-resolution photo example, visit www.concrete-floor-coatings.com/photos/flood
For more information, contact Harvey Chichester at harvey@concrete-floor-coatings.com or phone 1-800-466-8910 or 952-888-1488 (24/7).