In Floor Heating of Cabin #6

 Decided to go all in as they say and put electric floor heating in the cabin. As the cabin is built on a concrete slab this should make a big difference in the winter comfort level and enjoyment of the cabin.

I decided to lay down 3/4" of foil faced insulation on the concrete floor as a thermal break to the cold.

Next the system I choose comes with a mate that is laid down and the heating resistance wire is snapped into. I comes in 3 foot wide rolls and cuts easily with a utility knife.

OK now with the mate down it was time to start snapping in the heating wire. For this system the wire is spaced every three cones.  There are some rules for this and every system is different. For this one no wires can cross and the length cannot be cut. So you have to order the exact length for the area you are heating. My supplier did all this and it worked out just fine. The sensor wire for the system cannot cross over any wires and should be located near the center of the room. In most situations this type of floor is used where ceramic tile is used for the finish floor. I wanted to use laminate plank. 

Nice. Finished laying the heating wire. Now to place the two sensors and their wires. They send two sensors so there is a back up should one fail. For me it would be a big pain to pull up the finish floor. For a ceramic floor it would be impossible. So two is better than one. However the wiring for all this is another learning experience. A lot of online video to help and the second time will be easier.

The final step would be the finish flooring. I used snap together vinyl laminate. This required a thin layer of foam to be laid down over everything. Snap it together leaving a 3/8" gap for expansion and you have a nice durable cabin floor in a couple of hours.

And there you have it. You can see the main power service panel. The cold end of the heating wire had to be routed up to the thermostat along with the 220 volt supply power and two temperature sensor wires. This all terminate out of view in this picture at the top of PVC pipe where the control thermostat is located. This company is pretty strict about testing the heating wire and sensor wires for resistance and shorts before, during and after installation. But all is well. Will wait until fall to make the finals connections and put the floor to work.

Well I hope you have enjoyed the journey and process of designing and building my Hand Hewn Log Cabin #6 as much as I have over the past year or two.