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Electric underfloor heating buying guide

Updated: 22 October 2026

You are about to order a mesh mat while the bath, the WC and the cabinets are still on the plan. An electric underfloor heating buying guide starts with the floor you can walk on, not the estate agent’s rectangle. The nine amazon.co.uk listings in our [electric underfloor heating comparison](/hub/heating/electric-underfloor-heating) are mostly 230 V cables on mesh for tile and stone. One 12 V film belongs to caravans. This page walks free floor, output, the box contents, load and finish, from the 19 October 2026 prices. Peter F. compared the listings. Nothing was tested in a lab. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

You are about to order a mesh mat while the bath, the WC and the cabinets are still on the plan. An electric underfloor heating buying guide starts with the floor you can walk on, not the estate agent’s rectangle.

Our top picks

HEATIT HEATIT 3 m² 200 W/m² mat

Best overall

HEATIT HEATIT 3 m² 200 W/m² mat
8.9/10about £42.99
View offer
HEATIT HEATIT 2 m² mat with ET-81 thermostat

Rank 2

HEATIT HEATIT 2 m² mat with ET-81 thermostat
9.1/10about £99.99
View offer
HEATIT HEATIT 5 m² 150 W/m² mat

Alternative

HEATIT HEATIT 5 m² 150 W/m² mat
7.6/10about £46.54
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.Measure the free floor, then buy smaller
  2. 2.Pick 150 W/m² or 200 W/m² for the room you have
  3. 3.Check the thermostat and the floor finish
  4. 4.Leave the 12 V film out of a house-mat order

Measure the free floor, then buy smaller

If you cannot walk on it, you should not heat under it. Heat Mat’s measuring guide tells you to mark baths, shower trays, WCs, fixed cabinets, islands and floor-standing fridges, then measure those footprints instead of guessing a percentage of the room. Porcelain Superstore adds a perimeter gap, often about 50 mm, before you round down, because the heating cable cannot be shortened. BN Thermic’s rule of thumb, after those deductions, is a mat about ten per cent smaller than the free floor. A three-metre by two-metre bathroom is not a six-square-metre order once the bath and WC are on the plan. BodenWärme’s worked example rounds a deducted bathroom down to five square metres. That is their maths, not yours. The yellow element must stay whole. Only the mesh can be cut to turn a corner.

Pick 150 W/m² or 200 W/m² for the room you have

Warmup’s StickyMat line treats 150 W/m² as enough for primary heat in a well-insulated area when insulation boards sit underneath. They point 200 W/m² at higher heat loss, such as a conservatory. BN Thermic uses the same split for tiled floors: 150 W/m² when insulation is good, 200 W/m² when loss is higher or you want a faster warm-up. Heat Mat pushes small tiled bathrooms toward 200 W or even 240 W/m² unless you only want to take the chill off the tiles. In this capture only one mat is 150 W/m²: the HEATIT five-square-metre listing at £46.54. Every other 230 V mesh mat states 200 W/m². Output and area are linked to what is for sale. The 150 W versus 200 W comparison keeps that argument in one place.
HEATIT HEATIT 3 m² 200 W/m² mat

Testsieger

HEATIT HEATIT 3 m² 200 W/m² mat
8.9/10about £42.99
View offer

Check the thermostat and the floor finish

A high-current electric mat needs a controller that reads the floor, not just the air. ThermoSphere’s guidance is that a low-current air thermostat is the wrong control if you need to hold a floor temperature. Quick-Step’s UK laminate FAQ caps contact temperature at 27 °C and thermal resistance above the heating at 0.15 m²K/W. Two kits state a thermostat in the box: the two-square-metre HEATIT with ET-81 at £99.99 and the five-square-metre HEATIT with ET-84 at £142.49. Bolisi’s three-square-metre mat includes a two-metre sensor tube and sells the thermostat separately. HEATIT colours labelled Only Minimat-d do not state a controller. YeloDeer reviews describe the pack as mat only. None of the nine listings includes insulation board. Who each row is for sits on the best mats in this set page.

Leave the 12 V film out of a house-mat order

The 12 V film with an M3 thermostat is listed for caravans, motorhomes and floating floors. It is not a substitute for a 230 V mesh mat under tile adhesive. Piped wet underfloor heating is a different system, with manifolds rather than a resistance reading on a yellow cable. Filter by supply voltage before you compare square-metre prices. A rule of thumb is that a sixteen-amp controller is about 3,600 W, roughly eighteen square metres at 200 W/m². The twelve-square-metre YeloDeer mat prints 10.43 A, about 2,400 W at 230 V, and also a 230 watt fragment that does not match. Use the amp line and let the electrician confirm the circuit. BS 7671 commentary for floor heating expects 30 mA RCD protection. Connecting a new circuit is electrician work.

Common questions

How do I measure the heated area for an electric mat?
Draw the room, mark every fixture you cannot walk on, measure those footprints, then apply a fitting allowance and round down. The cable cannot be cut to fit, so the mat you buy should be smaller than the free floor, not equal to the room label on the plan.
Why is the mat smaller than the room?
You leave border gaps, avoid baths and trays, and keep the heating wire away from fittings. Sellers size mats in fixed rolls, 0.5 m wide by a set length, so the heated area is a product size, not the room’s gross area.
Can I cut the heating cable to fit?
No. Listings for HEATIT, bolisi and MINCOHEAT say the element must stay whole. You may cut the mesh to turn a corner. Cutting the wire voids the mat and is unsafe.
Should I buy 150 W/m² or 200 W/m²?
Use 150 W/m² when the room is well insulated and the finish allows the heat to reach the surface. Use 200 W/m² when loss is higher or you want a faster warm-up. Small tiled bathrooms are where UK guides disagree, which is why the wattage argument has its own page rather than one figure for every bath.
Do I need a floor probe rather than an air thermostat?
For a high-current mat under tile, yes. A floor sensor is how you hold a safe surface temperature, especially under laminate with a 27 °C cap. Bolisi includes a sensor tube. Most minimats do not.
What changes if the floor is laminate rather than tile?
The thermostat must limit contact temperature. Quick-Step publishes 27 °C and a resistance limit above the heating. One UK review of the 150 W/m² mat under laminate made for underfloor heating reported barely warm floors. That is one story, not a lab result, but it shows why output and control both matter.

Related pages

Bathroom electric underfloor heating

How to install a mat

Electric underfloor heating

150 W/m² versus 200 W/m² electric underfloor heating

Best electric underfloor heating mat for a UK room

Sources

Public UK sources named below. amazon.co.uk prices, stars and review counts on these nine listings were taken from the listing files captured on 19 October 2026. Page updated October 2026.

  1. Approved Document P (2013) (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  2. IET Part P FAQ (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  3. Professional Electrician, heating cables (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  4. Voltimum, electric floor heating (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  5. Warmup StickyMat (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  6. BN Thermic, tiles (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  7. Heat Mat, measuring up (retrieved 20 October 2026)
  8. Quick-Step UK laminate FAQ (retrieved 20 October 2026)