# Radiant Heated ceilings.



## andeeznuts (Feb 21, 2008)

Hey got an insurance job possibly coming which involves radiant heated ceilings 
whats the skinny on this. Im not doing the electrical just the plaster part and boarding part so any help will be appreciated and no im not getting over my head because im not taking the job if i feel umcomfortable with it... thanks


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## Tech Dawg (Dec 13, 2010)

Don't put any screws in the ceiling...


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## woodworkbykirk (Sep 17, 2008)

arent these when the guy who installs the radiant, puts it on the wrong side of the floor so it reflects down


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## Warren (Feb 19, 2005)

We did a remodel like this about 2 years ago. The wires are sandwiched between drywall and a layer of mud. They are almost impossible to find. Using my little tic detector, it would go crazy anywhere in the room when I raise it to head level. Many of these systems are no longer in use, as they aren't very efficient I guess. If you break one of the wires, I guess it's almost impossible to repair. Good luck!


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## Tech Dawg (Dec 13, 2010)

I got a call the other week to install a floor mounted sec. bar by the tub until they could afford a tub to shower conversion... Was about to grab my tools, then noticed a Nu Heat thermostat. Didn't install that bar


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## Dierte (Dec 18, 2010)

I believe that you can mist a ceiling with water with the heat on and the ceiling wires will become visible. I don't know if that bit of info is relevent or not?


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## Warren (Feb 19, 2005)

Dierte said:


> I believe that you can mist a ceiling with water with the heat on and the ceiling wires will become visible. I don't know if that bit of info is relevent or not?


We tried that and it didn't seem to work.


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## Hardly Working (Apr 7, 2005)

You can go through electrical box with a Rigid See Snake or pay someone to come out with a FLIR camera. We paid for the camera guy to come out and take pics as we laid out the grid with chaulk lines. 

Some in lid systems are laid on top of the lid as well. If you can go through a "J" box in the lid to get a look you'll be better off.


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## CCCo. (Jul 19, 2009)

Whats the real benefit? 
Heat rises, sounds like a waste of money to me.


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## Muddauber (Nov 2, 2007)

andeeznuts said:


> Hey got an insurance job possibly coming which involves radiant heated ceilings
> whats the skinny on this. Im not doing the electrical just the plaster part and boarding part so any help will be appreciated and no im not getting over my head because im not taking the job if i feel umcomfortable with it... thanks



I installed a lot of those ceilings in the 1970's & 80's. There are 3 different systems for radiant heat ceilings.

system #1. Hangers go in & hang ceiling board. Sparky comes in & installs cable. Hangers come back in & roll a heavy coat of mud over the cables, then hangs a 2nd layer of board over that & walls out. 

system#2. Hangers hang ceilings. Sparky runs cable. Hangers come back & hang walls only. Tapers come in & finish walls only. Then taper applies a plaster like product called Radex over the cables, then textures ceiling.

system#3. Hanger hangs a drywall called Pan-Electric on the ceilings. It's a 5/8s" drywall with the cables sandwiched in the center of the board. Tapers finish like reg. board.

So Andeeznuts, what do you need to know?


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## ohiohomedoctor (Dec 26, 2010)

I still dont get the point of it. Maybe you could help me understand why you would want a heated ceiling.


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## Heritage (Mar 20, 2007)

ohiohomedoctor said:


> I still dont get the point of it. Maybe you could help me understand why you would want a heated ceiling.


Birds...raccoons and other critters like nice toasty roofs to walk on.

Yeah...beats the hell out of me too. Like Ccco said...heat rises. The whole idea of radiant is to have it travel through you from your feet and all the way up vs conventional forced air where the warmth is bouncing around all over the place.


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## Tech Dawg (Dec 13, 2010)

Over the years I've noticed that most of the homes that have this are smaller ranchers with 84 to 90" ceiling heights(in my area). Sooo, maybe there was some kind of wacko calculation for sq.ft and lower ceilings.... who friggin knows...


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## Morning Wood (Jan 12, 2008)

CCCo. said:


> Whats the real benefit?
> Heat rises, sounds like a waste of money to me.



Hot air rises, not heat. Those radiant heated ceilings I believe originally were used in Europe as back up heat when the temperatures got really cold and primary heat source couldn't keep up. Not worth it in this day and age with a properly built house.


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## crackersandmilk (Jan 10, 2011)

*Heat doesn't rise*

That sounds like a tricky job. In reference to whether it is a good idea to have a heated ceiling. The sun is a good example of a radiant heat source. Radiant heat flows in the direction of least resistance. So if the insulation above the ceiling is greater than the r-value of the plaster it will warm the room beneath it. Similar to a big low temperature radiator.


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## Wayfarer Doors (Feb 2, 2010)

I did a kitchen reno a couple years ago. They ended up putting in a forced gas furnace to avoid all the icicles.
Work there was tough for a bald guy like me, I litterally got a burn on the top of my head.
We could see the lines while waiting for the paint to dry.


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## GreatPlainsTrad (Jan 11, 2011)

Morning Wood said:


> Not worth it in this day and age with a properly built house.


Agreed


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## ebivremodel (Nov 15, 2010)

I'm sitting in a 70's brick ranch right now with Everwarm radiant ceiling heat. It works great with a ceiling fan. Each room has its own stat. We turn up the main living areas, and turn down the guest room, bathrooms, and any other room we don't use. The bigggest complaint we have is the damn toilet seat in the mornings! Whoever sits down first gets their breath taken away.
We are in Southern Indiana so our weather is very mild. Although we have 4" of snow on ground and temps in the teens tonight! Cold enough for us!

Our wires are sandwiched between drywall board and a heavy "scratch coat" of mud.


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## Tinstaafl (Jan 6, 2008)

ebivremodel said:


> The bigggest complaint we have is the damn toilet seat in the mornings! Whoever sits down first gets their breath taken away.


UltraTouch Heated Toilet Seat


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## ebivremodel (Nov 15, 2010)

*seat*

I'm ordering tonight!

Thanks!


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## Susan K (Nov 15, 2020)

andeeznuts said:


> Hey got an insurance job possibly coming which involves radiant heated ceilings
> whats the skinny on this. Im not doing the electrical just the plaster part and boarding part so any help will be appreciated and no im not getting over my head because im not taking the job if i feel umcomfortable with it... thanks


Hello, my mother resides in a house w radiant ceiling heating installed when the house was newly built in the 1980's. She has had occasions when the ceiling in one room seems to get super hot...and she has to shut off the heat completely to stop it and then she can turn it back on and it seems to function normally. She recently had this happen again and the system seems to be stuck on super hot. It does not respond to just turning off and then restarting via the thermostat. Can you advise if this is repairable....is it something with the thermostat, or who to contact? She is in central MN. Thanks!!


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## Kingcarpenter1 (May 5, 2020)

ebivremodel said:


> The bigggest complaint we have is the damn toilet seat in the mornings! Whoever sits down first gets their breath taken away.


Don’t freeze your snatch


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## Candace (Dec 12, 2020)

CCCo. said:


> Whats the real benefit?
> Heat rises, sounds like a waste of money to me.


I just bought a 1964 house with forced air heat and funny old thermostats in every room with a cat on them. I was painting a room and turned the knob accidentally. The next day the room was so hot I thought there was a fire in the attic. Turned out to be radiant ceiling heat. I'd never even heard of it, and can't believe its still working. It DOES work, but I won't turn it on again for fear its too old.


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## SeattleSue (Jan 25, 2021)

Following: We too just bought a mid 60's quasi Franklin Lloyd Wright wannabe house with a massive amount of windows. We were a month into living here before we figured out the old thermostats all over the house actually control radiant ceiling heat and that the 2 little baseboards in the 'blue room' were part of a later addition and further, that someone didn't just rip out the baseboards in the rest of the house. Don't ask the obvious, because the answer is we waived inspection. So anyway, I am familiar with radiant floor heat - but never encountered radiant ceiling heat. I haven't got my first bill, let alone a full season cycle, so I can't speak to the efficiency but I can speak to user comfort. This is THE MOST incredibly comfortable system I've ever had the pleasure of living in. Maybe the most important comfort aspect to me is its consistency. It doesn't fluctuate at all. It doesn't kick on and off, it's silent and it is quick if I do adjust. So I mentioned Franklin Lloyd Wright, because as I was researching radiant ceiling heat, I ran across a Bob Villa article that mentioned it was Franklin Lloyd Wright who brought the tech to the U.S. (its been around for centuries). Apparently, it twisted some engineering minds (in point, the discussion here about heat rises and the converse that hot air rises, heat doesn't). Anyway, maybe no one gives a a fiddle - but I wanted to add that with the massive window wall I have that faces due west - my tinted windows don't reflect 100% and there is still captured radiant heat in the afternoons - BUT, turning my radiant ceiling thermostat down actually cools the interior also. Kind of cool. OK, personally - I'm sitting in this really cool house with an amazing view and singing, O' happy day because I lucked out with some whiz kids engineering on the HVAC system on my house and I get to pocket that $30K i set aside for upgrading it, at least at this point.


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