Can You Install Rubber Flooring Over Radiant Heat?

Rubber is a highly durable flooring choice, and it’s a top pick for many reasons. Best of all, you can install rubber flooring over radiant heat, since the rubber flooring works extremely well for almost any type of layout. Rubber slowly transfers heat into the floor of the room, eventually creating your desired level of warmth.

The Benefits of Installing Rubber Flooring Over Radiant Heat

When you consider the many benefits that rubber flooring offers, it’s easy to see why combining it with radiant heating can make for an ideal setup. Rubber is one of the more durable flooring types that you’ll find, and most rubber can withstand significant foot traffic, wear and tear, and even impact. It can provide critical protection to your heating tubing, maximizing the system’s lifespan and buffering it from traffic and wear and tear.


The strength of rubber tiles and mats also makes them an ideal choice for many settings, including gyms, basements, warehouses, industrial applications, commercial settings, and more. Many thicker rubber flooring products can withstand significant weight, including the weight of gym equipment.

Rubber’s performance can enhance the comfort of many settings. Its shock and sound absorption properties help to protect a concrete subfloor while creating a more enjoyable space.

Best of all, rubber flooring is well-suited for most radiant heating systems. Most rubber flooring has an R-value of around 2, which will allow the heat of your subfloor to radiate through the rubber flooring.

How to Choose the Right Rubber Flooring for Installation Over Radiant Heat

Before installing rubber flooring over radiant heat, think carefully about the type of flooring product that’s right for your needs. Rubber flooring is available in many dimensions, styles, thicknesses, and even colors, all of which can affect its performance.

Rubber mats, tiles, and rolled rubber can all work with radiant heat. However, each option offers some pros and cons.

Rubber Rolls

Rubber rolls have a low cost per square foot, making them ideal for a variety of installations, including as rubber flooring over radiant heat. The Geneva Rubber Flooring Roll works nicely with a radiant heat floor, as it measures only 3/8 inches in thickness, which facilitates the transfer of heat better than a thicker roll would.

When making use of a rubber roll in this type of use case, it is important to stick with a high-quality roll that uses the purest materials. An impure rubber roll may generate odor as it heats up atop the radiant flooring. This Geneva Rubber Roll is American-made, allowing customers to trust the manufacturing process.

Rubber Tiles

Rubber interlocking tiles work nicely when people are seeking a durable type of floor to place over the top of a radiant heat system. The layout of the interlocked tiles doesn’t require glue, which simplifies installation.

The primary drawback to using interlocking rubber tiles for this use case is the possibility of expansion and contraction. The slight change in the tile’s size from the temperature change could cause a temporary buckling of the interlock system. However, this rarely occurs.

The 8mm Interlocking Rubber Floor Tiles are thin enough to allow the heat to move through the rubber. With only 5/16 inches of thickness, the heat from this tile should move into the room more quickly than with thicker rubber flooring over radiant heat.

This is a high-quality type of American-made rubber tile, which reduces the possibility of the release of odors as it heats up from the radiant floor.

Rubber Mats

Rubber mats can be easier to install than rolled rubber, but they also usually have enough weight to keep them securely in place. Mats tend to be a better choice for smaller ground-level areas. They are still large and heavy enough to make carrying up or down stairs a challenge.

Thinner rubber products heat up faster, so a thicker rubber mat may take longer to heat up. However, thicker mats offer more durability.

What Other Types of Flooring Can Be Installed Over Radiant Heat Floors?

Beyond using rubber flooring over radiant heat, a few other flooring materials are usable with this type of layout.

• Porcelain or ceramic: Hard styles of flooring, like porcelain tile, will do the best job of transferring the heat from the concrete radiant flooring into the room. However, these floorings are extremely expensive and fragile compared to rubber and other materials.


• Foam tiles: Foam is safe to use with a heated floor. However, foam is more of an insulative material than a material that would transfer heat, so installing foam tiles over the radiant heat flooring will block some of the heat, making the system less efficient. They will also have a greater tendency to expand and contract.


• Carpet: Carpet is a safe material to use over radiant heat, but because it usually requires a foam layer under it, this blocks some of the heat transfer. Consider a carpet tile over the top of a raised plastic base for the best results with an electric radiant heat floor.

Tips for Installing Rubber Flooring Over Radiant Heat

When you install your flooring over a substrate that includes a radiant heating system, you need to turn the radiant heat off 48 hours before the installation. Make sure that the heat remains turned off during the entire installation process. During the installation, follow the instructions for both your rubber flooring and your radiant heating system.


Once you’ve installed your flooring, you can turn the radiant heat back on 48 hours after completing the installation. Gradually increase the thermostat to reach normal operating temperature over the course of 24 hours.

It’s important to avoid making any abrupt changes in your radiant heating temperature. Instead, make these changes gradually and ensure that your system never exceeds 85 degrees Fahrenheit.

Installing rubber flooring over underfloor heat can help you to get the best results out of your electric or gas system. Whether you’re looking for a solution for your residential or commercial space, rubber flooring can be an ideal choice.

Contact the Greamats customer service team with any questions. We’re happy to help you find the right product for your flooring project.