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FEATURE Schluter Systems heats up the floor systems have made it so that warm floors are no longer a luxury for the few but an attainable option for every home with tiled floors. The basics The heat source for most electric floor-warming systems is a cable comprised of a heating element wire that is protected by sheath- ing and surrounded by a ground element and a polymer jacket. The resistance of the wire causes electrical energy to be converted to heat energy. This heat energy warms the floor covering above. Heating cable assemblies are produced in different configura- tions. In the simplest form the cable is purchased on a spool and placed on the floor at the manufac- turer-specified spacing. It is held in place by clips or tracks fastened to the subfloor. Cables may also be purchased mounted on a plastic mesh or within a sheet at a con- sistent spacing and attached to the floor. These products are available in standard and custom sizes. For loose cables and those mounted on mesh best practice is to embed the heating cables in a self-leveling underlayment. Once the SLU sets tile installation may begin. Todays innovations The latest innovation in elec- tric floor-warming is a new form of uncoupling membranes which feature studs that secure heating cables without the use of clips or fasteners. These systems offer com- plete flexibility because cables can be placed wherever heat is desired without creating height differences in the floor. Furthermore self-lev- eling compounds are not required to encapsulate the cables. Tile can be installed immediately after the cable is placed thereby signifi- cantly reducing installation time. In addition to the floor-warm- ing installation benefits uncou- pling membranes provide other functions to protect the assembly. A thin sheet of plywood was used as a placeholder for the mosaic tile inlay while the 12 x 24 marble field tiles were installed. The heating cables were first protected by a layer of unmodified thin-set mortar. 34 TileLetter May 2016