Anybody have any experience with these products? Is there much of a difference in performance? I know the Warmboard is kind of pricy but is it worth it? I don't have a price on the Thermalboard yet. We are about to a radiant system in a 100 year old house I searching for information. Thanks,

We do new construction and old using both WarmBoard and ThermalBoard since every job is different. All start with a proper heat load. The output will vary and the advantage of using WarmBoard as the sub-floor for a finished floor is a real labor saver. Naturally much of the savings is paid in extra cost, but still it is a nice product with respectable outputs. The WarmBoard is similar in output but must be sandwiched between a structural sub-floor and the finished floor. It is rarely an either/or, rather a, what fits the dimensions and loads.

Thanks. All of this project will be over existing sub-floor with and engineered wood floor overlay, so I can't take advantage Warmboard-S product's advantages. I would be using the Warmboard-R product. I got a quote for that today. It seems to be much more expensive than the Thermalboard. I was wondering if the price differential is worth it for the "retro fit" version of the product.

I like the idea of fitting a board and popping in the tubing and being done, but do these produces out perform routed plywood with an aluminum insert panel? I'm providing the labor so the labor savings are a mater of convenience, not economics.

Performance should first be gauged by requirements. The ThermalBoard output is adequate for the majority of home we work in but a proper heat load and heat source optimum output temperatures should be considered.

Above floor HR heating system remodels of old buildings are often very expensive, noisy, and inefficient. Doing your own labor will mitigate some of this expense. Why are you going with HR floor heating instead of something else that would be much efficient and keep your heating utility bills much lower?

Hi Arcamm. Wanted to respond to this. As a disclaimer, this is a Warmboard employee commenting. If you'd like to see a video comparing the performance of the two systems, we do have one on our site. warmboard com/media/141 Yes, we do have a higher material cost, but other costs can be offset. As an example, for a 2000 sq ft house, you'll need about 3x the number of fasteners (3000 vs 8500) and about 500 additional linear feet of tubing. You'll also need several more manifolds to accommodate the additional tubing, the narrower tubing and the shorter maximum loop length. We had a client do a photo blog of a Warmboard-R installation. Non-professionals, did all the installation themselves, except for plumbing. They talk about it here: bit.ly/QrNDMv and there's a direct link to their site as well. Hope this is helpful. Whether or not you choose us, we hope your renovation goes really well.

It is hard to know where to start. First, there is nothing like radiant floor heating, either for comfort or efficiency, when designed and installed correctly. My own 1921 renovation, with sub-floor aluminum panels, has never operated above 120°F. This puts the design water temperature well within the optimum operating temperature for ground source and air to water heat pumps, not to mention condensing boilers. All this with a sub-floor system and plates. A sandwich system such as WarmBoard, Thermal Board or the more recent Roth panel will improve the output at even lower operating temperatures. As for tube spacing etc. etc. there is no tube spacing, design water temperature or manifold until a proper ACCA Manual 'J' heat load is performed. Once the loads are known and intelligent, informed decision about distribution can be made. All else is conjecture. By the way, we design and install all kinds of residential heating and cooling systems for very old and brand new houses. Our radiant floors are quiet, efficient and comfortable. The cost of the system either to install or operate is dependent on many factors yet to be mentioned in this thread.

I can appreciate the need that some companies have to market their products and services wherever they can, but this is a green building forum after all. Many folks that visit this forum are interested in using products and services that adhere to green building principles while also minimizing their heating system acquisition cost and utility expenses.

The high efficiency (in some cases) of radiant floor heating is well documented/modeled. There are people here marketing other little-known systems, but beware of the ones where real-time publicly accessible numbers (for example, WEL) supporting the claims are never available.

Very true Jonr and John Siegenthaler’s Modern Hydronic Heating does a very nice job of documenting and explaining all this. Not sure we would give much credence to WEL as it costs more money and the results can be easily faked. It’s always best to carefully check the credentials of the designer/installer you plan to hire. Hiring someone who is licensed, insured, and bonded to operate in your state building jurisdiction is important to some folks. Even simply Googling the company name that you plan to hire with the words “complaints” or “problems” can be very enlightening too.  BTW, what company do you work for?

Posted By BadgerBoilerMN on 17 Apr 2014 07:08 PM
It is hard to know where to start. First, there is nothing like radiant floor heating, either for comfort or efficiency, when designed and installed correctly. My own 1921 renovation, with sub-floor aluminum panels, has never operated above 120°F. This puts the design water temperature well within the optimum operating temperature for ground source and air to water heat pumps, not to mention condensing boilers. All this with a sub-floor system and plates. A sandwich system such as WarmBoard, Thermal Board or the more recent Roth panel will improve the output at even lower operating temperatures. As for tube spacing etc. etc. there is no tube spacing, design water temperature or manifold until a proper ACCA Manual 'J' heat load is performed. Once the loads are known and intelligent, informed decision about distribution can be made. All else is conjecture. By the way, we design and install all kinds of residential heating and cooling systems for very old and brand new houses. Our radiant floors are quiet, efficient and comfortable. The cost of the system either to install or operate is dependent on many factors yet to be mentioned in this thread.

Think maybe that was the "other"Borst??

FBBP, what other Borst? Speaking of great companies, what company are you associated?

The radiant heat was picked primarily for the comfort level. I know there are cheaper and more efficient ways to go.

I've looked into the Roth products and I can get those locally. I also found the Sunboard products. Anybody ever use those?