I have put several of the systems in.  I have found the easiest to be warmfloors by far.  And safety is built into the system as it cannot overheat due to its chemical properties. Low voltage does not need GFCI equiment breakers which is an extra cost for cable systems.   You can also nail through the mat so you cant damage it during installation.   I have had 2 cable systems fail on me .  Under full warranty by the Mfr.  In both cases after sending the cables back to them and they replaced them without charge.  Awesome right.  No.   what it cost in Labor to to tear up and re lay ate my profits up on the next 3 jobs.  So no cables for me every again.  Remember you get what you pay for!

We are a distributor and installer of the Heatizon Zmesh low voltage system and I have installed lots of systems as floor warming and as primary heat and I find it to be superior over all. It's a low voltage bronze (doesn't deteriorate or corode) screen that just staples or glues down. You can also cut holes in it anywhere for outlets or registers in the floor without effecting the element.

It's all American made materials and they are approved for use in the U.S. or Canada. It's the only element that can be installed directly under any hardwood (solid or engineered, wide or short plank) without affecting the integrity of the wood.  It also makes the hardood installer happy too because they don't have to be carefull where they nail through, unlike Warmfloor which does not allow for staples through the Buss bar along the edges. Zmesh is also repairable if damaged.

First: let's make an attempt at keeping the discussion of the products that can be used in "Building Green" about those products and give the marketing of Warmzone as a distributor, not a manufacturer, of the radiant heating products a break. The site rules are clear: "All links within a post are subject for review and/or deletion and blatant advertising of websites and products is not accepted."

That said:

jfchenoweth:
Zmesh will not get any warmer than 85 degrees in the floor. That's less warm then the sun will make your floor shining in the window. Yes, hardwoods need special attention to their moisture levels and the homeowner must always be instructed to keep their humidification at specific levels (based on the woods' manufacturers instructions) whether they use floor warming or not. True?

Yes, it is an electric element and if abused, will cause a fire. Just like your table lamp, your toaster or a Ribbon Element if you nail through it and ground it to an air duct. However, the Zmesh computer controller (one of the reasons for it's price) has as many safeties built in to it that it is more likely your furnace or wood burning flu (did I spell that right?) will cause a fire over the Zmesh system.

The biggest problem I have, as a distributor of electric radiant systems of any kind, is that the installer (homeowner or contractor) did not read instruction manual. I can guaranty you that if you don't read the manual of an electric radiant system, you will have a problem of some kind. The floor isn't warm enough, you wanted a primary heating system and you're not warm enough or, yes, you nailed through the element into a metal air duct and didn't test the element before connection. When the breaker kept tripping, you held it on to try and figure it out...yes, that's happened! That is a fire hazard. Ok, not you, but it has happened.

I can't speak for the Step elements. I have never installed their products. The only furniture you shouldn't put over a Zmesh system is permanent fixutres or insulated items such as bean bag chairs or dog beds with insulation in them. If you go to my site (that I can't list here) you will see in my gallery of pictures a duplex apartment in New York City that has, let me get this right, African water grown, tiger stripe 6" wide exotic wood over zmesh. Works beautifully and I have the letter of recommendation from the Architect client saying so.

I had a client who put a dog bed down on her hardwood floor. Two weeks later, the hardwood had a round dark spot in the floor. I instructed her about the part of the manual that says, "no insulators" and then all she had to do was to sand that area's poly finish off and refinish it. Good as new. The wood was not harmed.

Handy:
Zmesh does not have to be in a mortar. Absolutely not. In fact, I prefer NOT to insert it in mortar because IF the tile guy comes back to replace a tile and cuts through the Zmesh, the mortar makes for a long and difficult exposing of the element to splice the cut...though, it can be be repaired. Though I have installed it ON concrete, under carpet padding in a basement and it works great. I like to install Zmesh UNDER cement board so that it has more mass to heat and in 10 years when the client is tired of their tile, they can remove the tile without effecting the Zmesh under the board. You have to admit, that's a good one and no other element does that!

Zmesh is a bronze screen. Bronze statues that are hundreds of years old do not deteriorate exposed to the elements. Now, take the bronze and insert it on to a subfloor and protect it from wear by covering it with a finished floor and you get a 25 year, non-prorated warranty. The only one with it. (P.S. For those who need clarificaion, non-prorated means that in 24 years, 355 days, it still has the same value as 1 day old.)

Russell Hacker
Comfort Radiant Heating
 

John:

First, I must apologize for coming accross as beligerant. I don't mean to. It's difficult to express myself in the written word.

I have installed Step a few times for clients who wanted to use it instead of Zmesh and I was ok installing it. I've never said it was a bad product. I've said many times, I use what fits the project. I just use Zmesh, where ever I can because it's my preference. I also have had hardwood guys tell me they like Zmesh better because they don't want to have to be careful while nailing.

As a builder, I'm sure you know that when they're throwing nails down, they don't want to have to stop and not put a nail where they feel one is required. In and out as fast as possible. Step's instruction is that you can not nail through the buss bars or the end where connections to the strip are made. That issue doesn't exist with Zmesh. I also like the ability to make the zone up to 600sf off of one controller/transformer. Yes, the xfers are heavy when covering that much area but I'm ok with that too. I used Step when the location for the controls was too small for a Heatizon unit so I broke it down to using several Step controls.

I'm not sure what you mean about not throwing a rug over the hardwood with Zmesh. That problem exists when higher floor temps are utilized. Zmesh doesn't have that problem and I don't know who told you that but they are wrong. I do it in my own home, before I became a distributor.

I'm not closed minded at all. I do also sell and install Danfoss as well. When I said I like to install Zmesh under cement board without the use of mortar, I was wrong in my use of the words. Again, I apologize. Zmesh can be in mortar, it's just not required like it is with Tuff Cable, Danfoss, Nexans or Orbit's wire. It was the concept of saving the 25 year element that was what I was eluding to. No other electric element on the market (that I'm aware of) can be under the cement board since there are so many screws used to hold it down...along with the mortar. ;) I'm not sure if Step can be in mortar.

As for the my comments about sounding like an AD for Warmzone; almost everything we type here, if we promote what we are using for those who are asking for our opinion, is going to sound somewhat like an Ad for that product. I use Zmesh, you use Step anothers use Orbit Blue Cable which is not an ad that says YOU SHOULD BUY FROM XXX DISTRIBUTOR and talk to XXX. That is against the rules of the site and it starts something that shouldn't be approached. It causes me to become defensive and say "Hey, we're better then they are, and we have better prices and more hands on..etc, etc..the wrong way to go on this site... unless of course if I'm paying for ad space !

As for Bamboo or cork floors, I'm in line with you on that.

Russell

Yes, I thought that would be a fitting way to end that bit of insight. I'm glad you saw it as funny too!

If you look back in this thread and others I have contributed to, I have always said from the start that I sell and install Zmesh. (Note the entry in this thread on 03/01 at 6:25) I'm not sure how that was not clear. Are you employed by or connected to Warmzone in any way?
 
Yes, carpets over hardwood with Zmesh are fine. It's the resistant value of the Styrofoam balls in some of the dog beds, Bean Bag chairs or mattresses that are the problem for radiant in general under hardwood, not just Zmesh.

P.S. 30+ watts of Tuff Cable is 4" spacing, not 2". You can see a before and after project we did utilizing 4" spacing under pavers on my site.