Underfloor heating in the West Midlands

What does bathroom underfloor heating cost in the West Midlands?

Our guide range in the West Midlands is £700–£2,400 including VAT.

Guide prices for West Midlands including VAT. Your itemised written quote after the free survey is the price that counts.

Which towns do we cover in the West Midlands?

• Birmingham
• Coventry
• Wolverhampton
• Dudley
• Walsall
• Solihull
• Sutton Coldfield
• West Bromwich
• Halesowen
• Stourbridge
• Smethwick
• Willenhall
• Tipton
• Bloxwich
• Wednesfield
• Washwood Heath
• Aston
• Shirley
• Brierley Hill
• Aldridge
• Acocks Green
• Bartley Green
• Wednesbury
• Kingswinford

Supplies across the West Midlands range from soft to hard depending on the source. Mid-tone grout and matt tiles hide the odd water mark better than dark grout and high gloss. Hardness varies street by street, so check the figure for your postcode with your water supplier. If your Birmingham home has a suspended timber floor, insulation boards under the mat stop heat disappearing into the void below.

What the job includes

• The electric mat or cable laid to the open floor, kept clear of where the WC, bath and fixed furniture will sit
• Resistance and insulation tests on the mat before, during and after tiling, with the readings recorded
• A check of the floor construction, the room's heat loss and where the thermostat and supply will go
• A floor sensor set between the heating runs and wired back to the thermostat
• For wet systems, pipes in low-profile boards or screed connected to a manifold or single-zone kit, with any boiler work done by a Gas Safe registered engineer
• Insulation boards over the subfloor, so heat goes up into the tiles rather than down into the joists or screed

Decisions to make first

Electric or wet

Electric is cheaper to install and quick to lay in one room. Wet costs more upfront but is usually cheaper to run where it is fed by a gas boiler or heat pump.

Thermostat

A simple dial thermostat, a programmable one with set times, or a smart thermostat you can control from your phone.

Floor finish

Tiles and stone pass heat through well. LVT and vinyl can work, but check the maximum floor temperature the flooring maker allows.

Mat or loose cable

Mats are quickest on square, open floors. Loose cable is easier to route around awkward shapes, pipe boxing and a curved shower area.

Rules that apply in England

Electric underfloor heating in a bathroom must be on a circuit with 30 mA RCD protection under BS 7671, and the thermostat is positioned to suit the bathroom zones. There is no separate approval for the heating itself, but it should have its own thermostat and timer so it only runs when needed, and the electrical work must meet BS 7671 — in England and Wales it is notifiable as bathroom electrical work. Any work on a gas boiler for a wet system must be done by a Gas Safe registered engineer.

In England, a new circuit for underfloor heating is notifiable under Part P, and so is connecting it to an existing circuit in a room with a bath or shower. The electrician either self-certifies through a competent person scheme or the work is notified to building control.