Hope this is the right subforum - the flooring section seems to exclude tiles, so I'll pick this one!
Long story cut short: Popped into Focus today expecting to get nothing, came out with a load of tiles and 5m2 of Vitrex floorwarm underfloor electric heating for nearly 60% off. Hurrah, bathroom 4.9m2, perfect.
Get home, open pack and read blurb, realise that once shower, sink, toilet taken into account, it's < 3m2 heatable floorspace. Can't cut heating wire of course. But CAN take heating cable off mat to do awkward areas, "but cable must NEVER be spaced less than 5cm". Cable is currently spaced by the mat to be 8cm. Instructions say "never cross cables, purchase slightly less than floor area".
So if I (or rather, someone who has a clue) took the cable off the mat and lay it all at 5cm spacing, would that help to get my bathroom floor warmer, quicker during the 4am-8am off-peak period I plan to run it, when it would be needed most? (It's FREEZING in that bathroom usually).
Why aren't I phoning Vitrex? Because Focus have 1 3m2 pack left, they're holding until tomorrow AM, and where am I ever going to get the opportunity to get almost 60% off? If it was you, would you:
A: Take back the oversize mat, leaving you with a £25 credit you had to spend there and then at a store with nothing else left you wanted?
B: Keep the oversize mat, buy the smaller mat, and chance the oversize mat on ebay?
C: Keep the oversize mat and risk doing the "packing the element at 5cm" bodge and go for a quicker-warming floor.
D: Keep the oversize mat, lay it as normal in the bathroom tiled floor, then extend the rest of the heating cable through an adjoining wall and lay it under a carpeted floor in the next room?
Any other thoughts?
(incidentally, if you're wondering why 60% when it should be 50%, the manager put an extra 15% off a door with a ding, but when we got home we realised it had applied an extra 15% to the post-discounted price of the entire receipt, which I suppose make a total of 57.5% off the total for the flooring? Anyway, we'd lose that on exchange, I'm sure).
Long story cut short: Popped into Focus today expecting to get nothing, came out with a load of tiles and 5m2 of Vitrex floorwarm underfloor electric heating for nearly 60% off. Hurrah, bathroom 4.9m2, perfect.
Get home, open pack and read blurb, realise that once shower, sink, toilet taken into account, it's < 3m2 heatable floorspace. Can't cut heating wire of course. But CAN take heating cable off mat to do awkward areas, "but cable must NEVER be spaced less than 5cm". Cable is currently spaced by the mat to be 8cm. Instructions say "never cross cables, purchase slightly less than floor area".
So if I (or rather, someone who has a clue) took the cable off the mat and lay it all at 5cm spacing, would that help to get my bathroom floor warmer, quicker during the 4am-8am off-peak period I plan to run it, when it would be needed most? (It's FREEZING in that bathroom usually).
Why aren't I phoning Vitrex? Because Focus have 1 3m2 pack left, they're holding until tomorrow AM, and where am I ever going to get the opportunity to get almost 60% off? If it was you, would you:
A: Take back the oversize mat, leaving you with a £25 credit you had to spend there and then at a store with nothing else left you wanted?
B: Keep the oversize mat, buy the smaller mat, and chance the oversize mat on ebay?
C: Keep the oversize mat and risk doing the "packing the element at 5cm" bodge and go for a quicker-warming floor.
D: Keep the oversize mat, lay it as normal in the bathroom tiled floor, then extend the rest of the heating cable through an adjoining wall and lay it under a carpeted floor in the next room?
Any other thoughts?
(incidentally, if you're wondering why 60% when it should be 50%, the manager put an extra 15% off a door with a ding, but when we got home we realised it had applied an extra 15% to the post-discounted price of the entire receipt, which I suppose make a total of 57.5% off the total for the flooring? Anyway, we'd lose that on exchange, I'm sure).
