LESLIE: As if the weather wasn’t hot enough in Florida, Russell is looking to add radiant heat. How can we help?
RUSSELL: Well, my wife is a sissy. (laughter) And we’re about to redo our bathroom …
TOM: OK.
RUSSELL: … and she was – she would like radiant heat. And I was wondering if there was an easy fix for a semi-handy man that can read or is this something (laughter) I should have somebody else do.
TOM: No, it’s – well, it depends. Do you want to give your wife the floor or not? (laughing)
RUSSELL: Yes, I do.
TOM: Alright. Because it actually isn’t that complicated. You know, there are electric radiant heating mats that can go under tile today that are …
LESLIE: It almost looks like an electric blanket.
TOM: Yeah.
LESLIE: It sort of rolls out and has all these sort of electric membranes through it.
TOM: Mm-hmm.
RUSSELL: OK.
TOM: That are easy to install; fairly inexpensive, surprisingly, to run if you use their circuitry on it because it basically maintains the temperature and doesn’t use a lot of wattage. And you can put it on timers so it’s, say, warm in the morning. When you go in to use that bathroom, you don’t have to expose yourself to that terribly cold tile (chuckling). It could be warm. (laughter) And – or you know, or it could be on a thermostat; you just have to turn it up.
LESLIE: You know, all that air conditioning in Florida really does a number.
TOM: Yeah.
RUSSELL: Well we … (chuckling)
TOM: On one hand they’ve got the heat – the floor heated up and the air conditioning that’s cooling the air down at the same time. What’s wrong with that picture? That’s like turning your heat on and leaving the windows open.
RUSSELL: We have radiant heat in one room in our house – from the ceiling, though – and it works like a dream. It’s in the kids’ toy room.
TOM: Right.
RUSSELL: So that’s why we got the idea – or my wife got the idea. And she’s from Wisconsin, too, and she’s in Florida and wants radiant heat. (chuckling)
TOM: Well, why don’t you just give her a sponge and a bucket and let her go in that room and bathe? (laughing)
RUSSELL: I will work on that. I’ll try that approach.
TOM: OK. (laughing)
LESLIE: Yeah, don’t ask her that.
RUSSELL: Thank you for your help, you guys. I really appreciate it.
TOM: Alright. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974.
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