Natural stone is becoming more popular due to its durability and price. They are also easy to maintain. In order to have a good experience with natural stone floors, there are important installation guidelines to follow and also simple cleaning has to be done properly to avoid unnecessary damages.

In this article, we will only discuss the importance of installation and proper usage of underfloor heating with natural stone floors. Underfloor heating is the best solution available compared to other heating solutions. It is cheap, clean and effective. Currently, electric or water based underfloor heating systems are available for installation.

Although marble, limestone, granite or other harder materials do not exhibit any problems with underfloor heating; we recommend extra care with travertine tiles. Compared to marble or granite, travertine is softer material and more susceptible to sudden temperature changes. Also travertine is full of holes and in most cases these holes are filled with some sort of grout powder. In the event of temperature changes, the expansion rate in the stone will exceed the one in the grout powder which will result in cracks and appearance of holes.

In order to avoid these issues, the following guidelines should be followed.

1) Adhesives to be used must be suitable for natural stone tiling. They must be highly flexible - normally polymer modified. This will result in better bonding of the stone and adhesive. Please note that better bonding will accommodate reasonable movement, expansions & contractions on the floor. In case of underfloor heating installations, doubling the bed adhesive is also required. In normal installations, 3mm bed thickness will be adequate however, for underfloor heating installations at least 6mm bed thickness is required.

2) Movements on the floor must be limited. Expansions and contractions will cause cracks on the floor regardless of the heating method.

3) Grouts also should be highly flexible; however they are not crucial as flexible adhesives.

Apart from these guidelines, electric underfloor heating systems should be used properly to avoid problems which are not related to installation. As mentioned previously, sudden temperature changes might result in different expansion rates within the tile which in the end might deform the whole floor. As a result, when you are away for a couple of weeks or months and the floor becomes very cold, we always recommend increasing the heat gradually when using the underfloor heating. This is also valid if the weather is very cold and you have been away only for a short period of time.