Pro's Picks: Schluter Ditra-Heat

Brad Burgin

President, Burgin Design Remodel

Santa Ana, Calif. 

Even in southern California, tile floors installed on top of concrete provide a cold shock to the system when you’re barefoot in the bathroom. Installing Schluter Ditra-Heat between the concrete and tile helps us help clients avoid starting their morning off on the wrong (cold) foot.

Ditra-Heat combines the uncoupling, waterproofing, and vapor management of original Ditra membranes with electric floor warming. The loose heating cables for the system can be run between the studs of the Ditra-Heat mats wherever clients want heat—typically ours want it in the entire bathroom floorspace, but you can customize to any space. After electricians run the circuits, our lead carpenters come in to lay the mats and wiring, and the tile crew follows up by floating concrete before placing the tiles. Installation time for Ditra-Heat is half that for mesh-based systems we’ve used. 

In the last two years, we’ve used Ditra-Heat in about 20% of bathroom remodels, and I anticipate that will grow as people realize heated floors are actually an affordable option. And it isn’t limited to bathrooms—the mats can be installed anywhere clients want heated floors.

Schluter also provides great guidance for contractors: We can send them a drawing and get expert feedback on things like how long the cabling needs to be or if they see any areas that could make for a tricky install.

The easy-to-understand installation process combined with a product that is of high value to clients makes Ditra-Heat a huge moneymaker for us.