Is underfloor heating necessary in the shower? What do you think about it?

According to our architect and also the tiler, it is common that no underfloor heating is installed in the shower area. It can be done, but it is rather unusual?!

Yes, that is also my impression from many conversations. Underfloor heating in the shower is not seen as standard and is often used by the general contractor/building contractor to charge extra for additional services.

I find it reasonable and will also have underfloor heating in the shower. However, we currently have a walk-in shower without underfloor heating in the rented apartment. Since the water comes out very cold from the tap for the first few seconds anyway and I am a convinced hot showerer, I have to let the water run first. Then warm water eventually comes out, which runs for about 4 seconds. This is usually enough to warm up the tiles, at least the cold feeling on the feet then disappears. So it is possible without it, but more comfortable with it.

I consider the story about limescale to be a nice tale from a tiler obviously equipped with a lot of imagination.

We had the underfloor heating installed in both showers, of course. I also see no reason not to do that. Likewise, I see no reason why it should be more expensive. The heating engineer simply laid the heating loops in for us. The screed layer was then cut out for the shower by the screed contractor using edge insulation strips or something like that. The tiler then installed the floor drain there and created the slope for the shower with quick-setting screed. If this is agreed upon from the beginning, it is absolutely no problem at all. That a general contractor could of course charge a hefty surcharge for this because it is a "nice to have" is another matter.

It simply has to be planned for. The minimum thickness of the screed above the underfloor heating must be correct, despite the sloped screed.

But I don't think it's a big deal if it's missing. As ruppsn wrote, the tile warms up quickly when water hits it. No big drama.

Whether the tile is preheated to 28 degrees or has a room temperature of 23-24 degrees is not really a deciding factor.

Of course, we had underfloor heating installed in both showers. I don't see any reason not to do that. Likewise, I don't see any reason why it should be more expensive. The heating engineer simply laid the heating loops inside for us. The screed builder then omitted the shower area with edge insulation strips or something similar. The tiler then installed the floor drain there and created the slope for the shower with quick screed.

If this is discussed from the start, it is not a problem at all. That a general contractor might charge a hefty surcharge for such a "nice to have" is a different matter.

No idea if it is expensive with the GC. We decided on it as well (contrary to the opinion of the architect and the tiler), but it wasn’t more expensive and executed exactly as you mentioned here.

But it has to be planned from the beginning.

Whether the lime story is just a myth, I don’t know, we will see...

Of course, we had underfloor heating installed in both showers. I also see no reason not to do that.

There is still (and probably only) the formal reason that the minimum coverage of the heating coils by the screed could be undershot due to the slope below - since the screed height decreases along the slope. The base slab below remains flat and fixed. The screed could therefore crack later.

But everyone does it that way - and it still works perfectly ...

For me, they simply adjusted the insulation to a 3 cm slope.


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