Radiant heated floors.

Miami does not need radiant heat the way Boston does. It needs it for the 14 mornings a year a homeowner steps onto an unheated porcelain floor at 6 a.m. and the slab reads 64 °F under bare feet. That is the moment radiant earns its keep — and the only moment that matters.

We install Schluter Ditra-Heat under master-bath floors, primary-suite walk-throughs, and the occasional kitchen-to-breakfast-room transition where the slab gets cold. The system is one product — heat cable woven into the same uncoupling membrane that protects the tile from substrate movement. One trade, one assembly.

How radiant heat actually goes under the floor

1 · Load and zoning calculation

We calculate the conditioned floor area, the heating cable spacing (3” or 4” o.c. depending on output target), and the wattage draw per zone before the order is placed. Single-zone master bath, dual-zone primary suite, or kitchen-plus-breakfast — every layout gets a wiring diagram on the proposal.

2 · Substrate prep

Substrate flat to ± 1.5 mm over a 3 m straightedge — same spec as every other tile install we do. Plywood subfloors get a primed wood preparation; concrete slabs get a vapor-barrier check (see floor leveling). Substrate is signed off before the membrane lands.

3 · Ditra-Heat membrane

Schluter Ditra-Heat membrane bonded to the substrate with unmodified thinset — 1/4” × 3/8” notched trowel, combed in one direction, beaten flat. The membrane has a stud profile that locks the heating cable into a fixed 3” or 4” spacing without staples or clips.

4 · Heating cable lay-up

Schluter Ditra-Heat-E-HK cable woven between the studs of the membrane. Floor sensor laid into a stud cavity, run back to the thermostat junction. Cable resistance tested with a multimeter before tile is set, again after embed, and a third time after grout — three documented continuity checks.

5 · Tile, grout, sign-off

Tile or stone set directly into the cable field with LATICRETE 254 Platinum. The cable is fully encapsulated in mortar — no air gaps. Thermostat (Schluter Ditra-Heat-E-WiFi) installed and programmed before the GC walks the room. We hand the homeowner the app credentials and the warranty registration.

Partner systems we set every day

• Schluter Ditra-Heat-E-HK cable — 120 V or 240 V, 12 W per linear foot, factory-terminated. The cable we install on every electric radiant build.
• Schluter Ditra-Heat membrane — uncoupling + heat-cable management in one product. The base of every system we build.
• Schluter Ditra-Heat-E-WiFi — programmable thermostat with floor and ambient sensing. App-controlled, schedule-driven, the only thermostat we install on a Schluter system.
• LATICRETE 254 Platinum — polymer-modified thinset rated for radiant assemblies. The mortar we set every tile and stone over the cable in.

Where this matters most

Coral Gables historic-home master baths sit over crawlspaces — the tile reads cold even in July. Pinecrest single-story primary suites have slab-on-grade floors that drop to 60 °F on a December morning. Brickell waterfront condos with unheated lanai floors transition into a heated bath that reads warm 365 days a year. Key Biscayne primary suites pair radiant under a large-format Calacatta floor — the slab holds heat, the cable warms the slab, the homeowner steps onto 78 °F porcelain at 6 a.m. Each room gets a different cable layout; the system is the same.

What the spec sheet should say

If you are an architect or designer specifying our install, three lines are enough:

Radiant assembly: Schluter Ditra-Heat membrane with Ditra-Heat-E-HK cable, 120 V or 240 V per electrical engineer, spacing per heat-load calc. Substrate to be flat to ± 1.5 mm over a 3 m straightedge prior to membrane install. Thermostat: Schluter Ditra-Heat-E-WiFi with floor and ambient sensors, programmed and registered to homeowner at sign-off.

We will hit those three lines, we will document each continuity check, and we will hand the homeowner a working app-controlled system on day one.