I knew my sister-in-law was gone for two weeks.
She was visiting their daughter who had just had a baby. She wanted to help with the baby until their daughter was moving around a bit better after having a c-section. Two days after she left, he called and asked me to come over. He told me his wife had always wanted radiant heated flooring in the bathrooms, and he wanted my expertise. I was an HVAC technician, but I wasn’t the HVAC tech who worked with radiant heated flooring. That didn’t keep me from going to his house. He asked if his furnace would work with radiant heat. I didn’t think so. He had a traditional HVAC system. Most places with radiant heated flooring had boiler systems. The water pipes were beneath the flooring and it was the hot water that heated the floors. He had a central HVAC system which used ductwork to pull the heat to the rooms. He asked me if there were other ways to give the effect of radiant heated flooring. Some of my customers had installed heat tapes under their walkways and ramps. The electric heat tapes radiated heat up to the surface, and it didn’t allow ice or snow to form on those areas. I told him heat tapes should work just as well, or better, under the bathroom flooring. All I had to do was lift the carpeting or tiles, and place the electric heat tape. He volunteered me to help him with the radiant heated flooring in his bathrooms. I was probably the only HVAC tech who would work with him for free.