Heating and cooling
Heated floors cost
A heated bathroom floor is about $1,852 — an electric mat under the 56 sq ft of open floor in an 8 × 10 ft room, a thermostat with a floor sensor and its own circuit — and $3,298 with the old floor up and new tile on top; it runs for about $69 a year. Heating a whole house through its floors is a different job: hydronic tubing, manifolds and a condensing boiler, about $25,080 stapled up under a 1,600 sq ft house or $21,000 in a new slab.
Written and edited by Pablo Ruiz Quintero
Last reviewed 2026-09-26 · Nothing you type leaves your browser
Heated floors cost calculator
The room, the system and the floor
A heated bathroom floor and a house heated through its floors are two different jobs. Only the open floor is heated — never under cabinets or fixtures.
Mats stop short of the vanity, toilet and tub: about 70% of the floor.
Wall to wall.
80 sq ft.
56 sq ft of it.
Heating cable on a mesh, set in thinset or self-leveler under tile.
Floor priced separately.
Used only to pick a regional labour rate. It stays in your browser.
Heated bathroom floor — electric mat under tile or stone
$1,852
$1,852 the heating · $33 a heated sq ft · $69 a year to run
A comfort floor
672 W on one circuit, about $69 a year on a programmed thermostat — warm tile in the morning, not the room's heating.
Not under the vanity
The heated floor is the open floor.
Heating cable stays out from under cabinets, toilets, tubs and built-ins — the electrical code says so, and nobody stands there. A bathroom of 80 sq ft heats about 55; price the mat for that, not the room.
Five ways to heat this floor
56 heated sq ft, installed and run for a year.
What it costs to put in
- Electric mat under tile or stone, 56 sq ft
Heating cable on a mesh, set in thinset or self-leveler under tile. The bathroom and kitchen system.$952 - Thermostat with floor sensor
A programmable thermostat with a floor sensor, one per room.$250 - 1 dedicated circuit, 120 V
A dedicated GFCI-protected circuit from the panel, by an electrician.$450 - Permit
Electrical or mechanical, and the inspection.$200
What it costs
National average. Electric mat under tile or stone under 56 sq ft. Not included: the new floor on top, subfloor repairs or a panel upgrade.
The tile on top, on the tile installation page; the boiler, on the boiler page; heating outside, on the heated driveway page.
Worth knowing
- 80 sq ft of bathroom, 56 of it heated — mats stop short of the vanity, toilet and tub. Electric mat under tile or stone: $952 for the heating itself, $17.00 a heated square foot.
- 672 W at about 12 W a square foot: one 120 V, 20 A circuit, GFCI-protected in a bathroom or kitchen, and a thermostat with a floor sensor.
- A mat is set in the thinset or self-leveler under new tile — it cannot go under a floor that stays. The tile is priced separately here; switch it on to include it.
- On a programmed thermostat — about 600 hours a winter — it costs about $69 a year to run.
- Test an electric mat's resistance before, during and after laying the tile, and photograph the layout — a cable nicked under tile is a floor taken up again.
On this page — 4 sections
Two different jobs
The short version
- Bathroom mat: $1,852, $3,298 with new tile.
- Whole house, hydronic: $25,080 stapled up with a boiler.
- Only the open floor is heated.
- Electric is cheap to fit, dear to run over a house.
“Heated floors” covers two jobs with the same name. One is a warm bathroom or kitchen floor: an electric mat set under the tile, a thermostat with a floor sensor and a circuit from the panel — a day’s work alongside a tile job. The other is heating a house through its floors: PEX tubing in a slab or under the subfloor, a manifold per zone, a mixing station and a boiler. The price per square foot is not that different; the square footage, and what powers it, is.
$1,852
Bathroom mat
56 heated sq ft
$3,298
With new tile
Old floor up
$25,080
Whole house
Staple-up + boiler
$69/yr
Bathroom running
Programmed
MaterialsEstimator, Heated floor and radiant floor heating price survey · checked 2026-09-26
Electric under tile
An electric mat is heating cable on a mesh, about 12 W a square foot, laid over the subfloor or an uncoupling membrane and buried in thinset or self-leveler under the new tile. It stops short of the vanity, toilet and tub — the code keeps heating cable out from under fixtures and cabinets — so an 8 × 10 ft bathroom heats about 56 sq ft. It needs a thermostat with a floor sensor and, in a bathroom or kitchen, a GFCI-protected circuit; about 160 sq ft of mat fills a 20 A, 120 V circuit.
| Heat only | With new tile | |
|---|---|---|
| Bathroom, 8 × 10 ft | $1,852 | $3,298 |
| Includes | Mat, thermostat, circuit, permit | Plus old floor up and 12 × 24 tile |
| A year to run | $69 | $69 |
National Fire Protection Association, NEC Article 424, Part IX — Radiant heating panels and heating cables (2023) · checked 2026-09-26
Floor-heating mat and cable manufacturers, Electric floor-heating installation manuals and hydronic radiant design guides · checked 2026-09-26
Heating a house through its floors
As a house’s heat, radiant floors are hydronic: PEX tubing at 6 to 12 in centres carrying water at 100 to 120 °F from a boiler through a mixing valve. In a new slab it is tied to the rebar before the pour — the cheapest way by far. In an existing house it goes up from below, stapled to the subfloor with aluminium plates and insulated underneath, or into grooved panels laid over the subfloor with new floors on top. Low water temperatures suit a condensing boiler, which is where it actually condenses.
| 1,600 sq ft house | Installed | Per heated sq ft | A year |
|---|---|---|---|
| In a new slab | $21,000 | $15 | $580 |
| Staple-up, new boiler | $25,080 | $18 | $580 |
| Staple-up, existing boiler | $20,560 | $15 | $580 |
| Panels over the subfloor | $33,240 | $24 | $580 |
| Electric film everywhere | $19,390 | $14 | $2,033 |
85% of the floor heated, 4 zones. Running cost as the house’s heat in a mid-country winter.
MaterialsEstimator, Boiler replacement and installation price survey · checked 2026-09-24
US Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly, average residential price by state · checked 2026-09-21
US Energy Information Administration, Natural Gas Monthly, average residential price · checked 2026-09-25
What goes wrong
Before buying
- The open floor measured, not the room.
- The floor on top decided: tile, floating floor, or new slab.
- A circuit, or a boiler with capacity, planned.
- A thermostat with a floor sensor.
- For staple-up, insulation under the tubing.
01Buying mat for the whole room
It cannot go under the vanity, toilet or tub.
Instead — Mat for the open floor.
02Skipping the resistance tests
A damaged cable is found after the tile is down.
Instead — Test before, during and after.
03Electric film as a whole house's heat
It is cheap to fit and dear every winter.
Instead — Hydronic for a house.
04Staple-up without insulation below
Half the heat warms the basement.
Instead — Insulation under the tubing.
05Boiler water straight into the floor
Too hot for tile and wood.
Instead — A mixing valve.
- 01Decide what it is forA warm bathroom or kitchen floor is electric; heating a house through its floors is hydronic.
- 02Measure the open floorLeave out the vanity, toilet, tub, cabinets and built-ins: that is the area to buy mat for.
- 03Check the floor on topA mat goes under new tile; film goes under a floating floor; tubing goes in a slab, under the subfloor or in panels.
- 04Plan the power or the heatA circuit per room for a mat; a boiler, manifolds and a mixing station for water.
- 05Price the floor on topThe tile, and taking up the old floor, are part of the job for a mat.
- 06Estimate the running costA few hundred hours a year for a comfort floor; a whole winter for the house's heat.
An electric mat goes under new tile, so the floor is half the job — priced by the tile, the thinset and the layout on the tile page.
The tile on top- Radiant floor heating
- Heat from the floor itself, by electric cable or by warm water in tubing, rather than from air or radiators.
- Heating mat
- Electric heating cable woven onto a mesh at a set spacing, laid under tile in thinset or self-leveler.
- Heating film
- A thin electric heating element laid under a floating floor rather than set in mortar.
- Floor sensor
- A probe under the floor that tells the thermostat the floor's temperature, so it never overheats the tile.
- Hydronic
- Heating with water: here, PEX tubing under or in the floor fed from a boiler.
- Staple-up
- Tubing fixed with aluminium plates to the underside of the subfloor, from the basement or crawl space.
- Manifold
- The header each tubing loop starts and ends at, one set per zone.
- Mixing valve
- Blends boiler water down to the 100–120 °F a floor wants.
- Heated area
- The open floor that is actually heated — not under cabinets, fixtures or built-ins.
Common questions
- How much do heated floors cost?
- For a bathroom, about $1,852 for an electric mat under 56 sq ft of open floor, with the thermostat, a dedicated circuit and the permit — $3,298 with the old floor up and new tile on top. A kitchen is about $2,614. For a whole house, radiant floor heating with a condensing boiler is about $25,080 stapled up under the floors.
- How much does radiant floor heating cost per square foot?
- About $33 a heated square foot for a bathroom mat with its thermostat and circuit — small rooms carry the fixed costs — and $16 for film under a bedroom floor. For a whole house, $15 in a new slab, $18 stapled up and $24 in panels, with the boiler, manifolds and mixing station.
- How much does it cost to heat a bathroom floor?
- About $1,852 installed for an 8 × 10 ft bathroom, heating the 56 sq ft of open floor, and about $69 a year to run on a programmed thermostat. The mat goes under new tile, so the floor is usually replaced with it: $3,298 all in.
- Is electric or hydronic floor heating cheaper?
- Electric is cheaper to put in and dearer to run. A bathroom is always electric. For a whole house, electric film is about $19,390 to install but $2,033 a year to run as the house's heat, against $25,080 and $580 a year in gas for hydronic.
- How much does it cost to run heated floors?
- An electric bathroom mat of 672 W runs about $69 a year on a programmed thermostat — about 600 hours. Heating a whole house through its floors is about $580 a year in gas with a condensing boiler, at about 30 BTU/h a square foot for a mid-country winter.
- Can you add radiant floor heating to an existing house?
- Yes: from below, stapled up under the subfloor where there is an open basement or crawl space — about $25,080 for a 1,600 sq ft house with a new boiler, $20,560 on an existing one with capacity — or in grooved panels over the subfloor with new floors on top, about $33,240.
- Does heated flooring need its own circuit?
- Usually. A mat draws about 12 W a square foot, so about 160 sq ft fills a 20 A, 120 V circuit, and the code wants bathroom and kitchen floor heating GFCI-protected. Larger areas go to 240 V.
- Can heated floors heat a whole room?
- An electric comfort mat warms the floor and takes the chill off; in a well-insulated bathroom it can be the only heat. As a house's main heat, radiant floors need the whole floor area and are nearly always hydronic.
- Can you put heated floors under hardwood or carpet?
- Under a floating engineered wood, laminate or carpet pad, yes — electric film, about $3,090 for a 14 × 16 ft bedroom. Solid hardwood nailed down is the one floor it does not suit well.
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About the author
Pablo Ruiz Quintero — Editor
Editor of MaterialsEstimator. Decides which documents count as a source, what every default value is, and where the line sits between what the reader parses and what the engines compute.
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