Flooring Tile - Floor Heating - Ghetto! Will it work?

:p I dont think so but, you tell me...
My step-dad, a tile setter for over 25 years wants to lay tile in the basement area where he's going to make his small shop. His bright idea is, since floor heating is so expensive, to buy a couple electric blankets and lay them down on top of the thinset and then lay the tile on top, then route the electric blanket cords into the wall, and mate it to a switch. He thinks it will work fine, but I'm wondering if the blanket will create enough heat to actually heat the tiles! I looked around for electric floor heating temperatures but I couldn't find any specifications on that. LOL somone help...Thanks In Advance.

Might work perfectly. Then again, it might electrocute him or quickly fail. That's the beauty of these crackpot ideas -- nobody has ever tested them for safety or effectiveness. If it works, he might make a fortune. If it doesn't, he might not need it.

ROFLMFAO

Elec. blankets under a tile floor :rolleyes:, who gets to be the guinea pig & flip the switch the first time? I think I'd stand on a rubber mat! :D LOL :D

Please post back & keep us informed!:

1.not made for that and will burn up.(short out)
2. not a suitable substrate for tile and tiles will break!
3.will cost much more in the long run and hopefully no one will die if the house burns down.

DO NOT DO IT!!!!!!

I don't think anything drastic would happen, but I also don't think it would work. An electric blanket just isn't going to have the heat output needed.

He'd be better off just running another vent from the central system and letting it absorb the load or using a more traditional baseboard or oil filled type heater.

LOL...thanks for the warnings but my step dad is pretty "special". Well he put an electric blanket down on the thinset, put some thinset over the blanket and packed it in the cotton...We let it harden, then we walked on it and it was squishy (I guess to be expected), the thinset was hairline cracking around some flex areas. So instead of laying ceramic over it, we opted for pvc for obvious reasons. And now the pvc is down, it looks pretty good, but when you walk on it you can really tell the base isn't solid. we can feel the heating effect though, it's kind of decent too. But I would never do this in anyone elses house haha :p
If you guys wanna be ghetto, and lay it in your little workshop area, go ahead, but I wouldn't ever do it under tile or a customers floor.

Haha you guys are much cooler than the automotive peeps:D

yep! dont do it with tile! let us know this spring how well its working.(if it is)

why didn't you just buy the electric heating wires that are designed for this purpose?

Why would anybody do this? I just don't believe this post is real. Not only is this stupid, but it's flat irresponsible, looks bad, and makes tile setters in general look ridiculas. I can't believe your insurance company would cover you with this, and if it burns down, and it probably will, your not going to get a penny from insurance and you shouldn't. People like you keep everybody else's insurance rates up. This is pure idiotcy.

There are warning labels on electric blankets saying not to cover them or lay on them. The wires can't handle the weight and will break over time.
My guess is that the floor won't be heated for very long and you're going to have a great time removing the blanket from the adhesive when it comes time to remove it.

For the cost of cleaning the mess and putting new tiles down "twice", you could have done it RIGHT for the same price.

my .02

TRIED TO TELL HIM! some time you cant keep the whales of the beach!

People like me?? As I told you before, I thought/think this is a super crackpot idea, thats why I posted on here in the first place. I wanted my step dad to read your replies so maybe you could convince Him not to do it. I dont think the insurance will know about this stupid idea, but if it burns down at least I know who to blame, cuz he was warned.
I'll post up and tell yall how it's doing, if we died or whatever else might have happened.:)

i agree with MULEY this has to be the dumbest idea i have ever heard of if this guy has been laying tile for 25 yrs then i think i had better quit now because all that post is telling me is that in the next 20 yrs i'm going to lose my mind somewhere along the way.......I'm all for new ideas but this one is nuts......i would have just worn a pair of shoes to keep my feet warm

Originally posted by car_boy_16
People like me?? As I told you before, I thought/think this is a super crackpot idea, thats why I posted on here in the first place. I wanted my step dad to read your replies so maybe you could convince Him not to do it. I dont think the insurance will know about this stupid idea, but if it burns down at least I know who to blame, cuz he was warned.
I'll post up and tell yall how it's doing, if we died or whatever else might have happened.:)

when houses burn down, insurance companies do full investigations. THEY WILL FIND OUT.

It works? Still ROFLMAO :D

MT's got a point about fire investigations, real serious cats those guys, but hey the man was warned. Time to move on now.