Is this a good idea or a bad?

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JohnfrWhipple

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Jim Mills

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Reminds me of the RPM mat system, except the RPM mats are glued with vinyl floor adhesive & stapled to the sub floor, then the wires are burried in SLC. I like it. I bet the Schluter system is $$$

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Jadnashua

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Schluter is a very conservative company...IOW, they don't jump to market with products until they've done their homework. It takes time to actually test, revise, and evaluate things, so it should be no surprise that it takes awhile. Then, you have to actually build the production capability, build up some stock so that you don't disappoint potential buyers when you do actually offer it for sale. I have no idea how many iterations there were, or how many tweaks had to be made to make it mass producible. And, they'll probably never tell anyone. All they said was that the prototypes were working last May...whether that version is the same as what is being presented here is unknown...working and mass production capabilities don't always match up until you determine the magic combination...that's what testing is for.

I'm sure there will be lots more comments after people can actually touch and feel the stuff. Anything now is just speculation.

FWIW, Schluter treats anyone going to one of the classes quite well...everyone in the class is treated the same. If you have an opportunity to take one of their classes, it sheds some insight on them as a company and to better understand their products and how best to use them. Don't knock it if you haven't tried it.
 

Jadnashua

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What's with the inverted pyramids - surely the shear rating for this type of systems is way low. If I had to guess I would say 25% less strong that Ditra. Just a hunch. The ANSI Shear testing data I get will tell the rest of the story.

Ever done a floating floor with say wood or laminate? As long as it locks together, one to the other, the weight of the stuff just stays where you put it. Put a tile down on that, and it's not going anywhere. Until one can actually look and feel, any speculation is just that.
 

Jadnashua

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John always seems to forget that this is a DIY'er forum, and setting tile, adding a heated tiled floor may be the first and only time someone does it. What is simple for a pro, is often totally Greek to a first time DIY'er. Rather than helping along that path, he chooses to degrade, and discredit anyone that disagrees with him.

Trying to level the floor after placing heat wire or mats can be a little awkward. It's an acquired skill, some have long mastered, but a first time DIY'er can easily find troublesome. Ditra Heat seems like a good way to handle it. Apparently, not all people think like John Whipple, otherwise, Schluter would not have spent more than a year and a pile of money working out what it takes to make the system easy to install and reliable.

Prior to cbu, the only reliable way to build a shower was to mud the walls. THen the cbu became readily available, the rules changed some. Think about thinset...that is a relatively modern invention...prior to that, the only reliable way to set tile was quite different. It took years for people to make the switch. Then, waterproof membranes came along and evolved, with some working better than others, and the rules changed again. So, what one 'knows' may often end up wrong, as is the case with John Whipple who does not believe the testing and wants to only do things his way and force everyone to follow. Whatever you are comfortable with, just don't foist it on the rest of us, we are capable of learning.
 
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