# Electric Heat Sheetrock



## compute

Is anybody here old enough to remember electric heat sheetrock? We had one particular contractor that put it in all of his houses. The sheets had a
"pigtail" that you pitched up over the ceiling joists and the electrician wired
them later. All of the heat was in the ceiling. They had full heat sheets, half heat sheets, and 1/3 heat sheets. You received a plan on which sheets went where. The remainder of sheets were 5/8 firecode. (typical houses in those days were all 1/2" regular walls and ceilings) It was a really clean even radiant heat. Only drawback was you still had to put in an air conditioning system. Sheets were marked so you didn't nail thru the wires. Just Curious


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## alltex

I remember. I wonder if it still works after all these years.


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## Muddauber

Sure, I remember. It was called PAN-ELECTRIC made by Gold Bond. Gold Bond sold that division to a co. here in Ky. in the early 80s. Not sure if they are still in business.


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## evolve991

:blink: Uhhhhh no I never heard of it:blink: Sounds ingenius.... yet.....disastrous too. I'd hate to get paid piece rate if the sheets were jumbled out of order.


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## compute

I understood that it was extremely reliable. My uncle's house house had it and for 35 years I know they didn't have any problems with it. You had a different thermostat for
each room. It also was a very even heat. We had a separate price for the ceiling board
since it did take more time. Back then a normal house was all 1/2" thick 12' length board. There wasn't 6 different types and lengths of board in a house. The average house was a FHA house with 90 or so sheets. Everything was 8' and nothing wrapped. Everything was nail on. Occasionally it would be glued.


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## kathie barton

*got a question*

has anyone ever heard of smoothing with a sponge and using dish detergent for the cosistancy?


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## Whitey97

That would be kind of cool to have for garages.


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## SuzieHomeMaker

*Hot rock lives!*

I just purchased a home with a mystery power drain. Upon checking the beaker box discovered beaker labeled "hot rock.". This is what led me to find out I have an electric heater in my Sheetrock. This was a foreclosed home so I had no idea, I had electric heat until I got my electric bill. Ouch!!!

Does anyone know exactly what it is really called? Who makes it? What are the dangers if you accidentally drill into it? Actually any info would be helpful.


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## cdwoodcox

SuzieHomeMaker said:


> I just purchased a home with a mystery power drain. Upon checking the beaker box discovered beaker labeled "hot rock.". This is what led me to find out I have an electric heater in my Sheetrock. This was a foreclosed home so I had no idea, I had electric heat until I got my electric bill. Ouch!!!
> 
> Does anyone know exactly what it is really called? Who makes it? What are the dangers if you accidentally drill into it? Actually any info would be helpful.


 Is it still in working condition or is it just a power drain.


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## SlimPickins

I've never heard of such a thing. Crazy!


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## SuzieHomeMaker

*It still lives!*

Yes,it works we had it turned on accidentally, we thought the thermostat went with the propane heater. Not knowing it was in the ceiling we drilled two holes to hang a light. Oops still working but how do we determine if it is damaged now? How do we figure out where the wire grid is located? Now that we know it is there, we may want to use it. This is on open ceiling without an attic, so we can,t see how it is attached to power. We also would like to hang speakers for our home theater system, so this could pose problem.


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## Mudshark

I think I am old enough, but dont remember. Who the hell wants to heat the ceiling anyhow?


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## kj6887

Just had to replace two sheets for a fire job. Total pita had lines all over where to and where not to screw . No go go go just slow slow slow!


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## fr8train

SuzieHomeMaker said:


> Yes,it works we had it turned on accidentally, we thought the thermostat went with the propane heater. Not knowing it was in the ceiling we drilled two holes to hang a light. Oops still working but how do we determine if it is damaged now? How do we figure out where the wire grid is located? Now that we know it is there, we may want to use it. This is on open ceiling without an attic, so we can,t see how it is attached to power. We also would like to hang speakers for our home theater system, so this could pose problem.


Easiest solution I can think of is to turn it on, let it heat up, and then feel the board. I would imagine that where the elements are would be warmer than the rest of the ceiling. Can you hang the speakers from the wall instead?


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## comremodel

Yeah, I remember it from back in the early 80's. You don't see it any more because nobody can afford to heat with electric today and it's a major PITA to cut holes in it if you are adding lights for instance. There were lines printed on it to tell you where to screw or cut holes but all that is gone once it's painted. A lot of guys didn't even know it was being used and there is no easy way to tell. If the heat wire in the board is cut the rest of the sheet won't heat and there is no way to repair it. The whole sheet must be replaced.


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## fr8train

Around here it's cheaper to heat with electricity than it is to heat with fuel oil


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## Checkers

fr8train said:


> Around here it's cheaper to heat with electricity than it is to heat with fuel oil


Around here our Government uses fuel oil to create electricity...:blink:


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## P.A. ROCKER

I've dealt with the hot rock. The element is a continous loop (of course) and are spaced about 1 1/2" -2" apart. On older paint jobs you can see the path of the element because the paint gets discolored from the heat. 
Good luck.


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## cdwoodcox

I switched over to electric heat pump and backup air handler 5 years ago. My heat bills are lots cheaper than the guys buying the lp and natural gas.


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## fr8train

cdwoodcox said:


> I switched over to electric heat pump and backup air handler 5 years ago. My heat bills are lots cheaper than the guys buying the lp and natural gas.


The problems with heat pumps are the up front cost is high, and in my neck of the woods they don't produce enough heat in the winter by themselves, they need some sort of supplemental heat. What you use is up to you. Some use an electric coil, some use a gas or oil burner.

I want to put one in my place, but I can't swallow the $15,000 I was quoted.


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## cdwoodcox

fr8train said:


> The problems with heat pumps are the up front cost is high, and in my neck of the woods they don't produce enough heat in the winter by themselves, they need some sort of supplemental heat. What you use is up to you. Some use an electric coil, some use a gas or oil burner.
> 
> I want to put one in my place, but I can't swallow the $15,000 I was quoted.


 That sounds really high. When I got my heat pump I also got a backup air handler with it. Basically that is an electric furnace that sits in my basement and when the temp drops below freezing it heats my house. Some company's try and get rich off every installation mostly the ones that are geared more towards homeowners. I got 3 estimates when I got mine one was close to 11,000 (geared towards homeowners) the other 2 I called guys I knew from different jobs they both came in around 4700 I used the most local guy for service reasons and it works great. I could have a geothermal installed for under 11,000 you might want to call some different people to get your estimates.


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## CatD7

fr8train said:


> Easiest solution I can think of is to turn it on, let it heat up, and then feel the board. I would imagine that where the elements are would be warmer than the rest of the ceiling. Can you hang the speakers from the wall instead?


 

I seen an electrician find those wires one time. He had some kind of tracer that picked up a signal and located them.


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## comremodel

Checkers said:


> Around here our Government uses fuel oil to create electricity...:blink:


Around here our govermment uses electricity to create money...


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## Mudshark

Around here we produce electricity from hydro power, sent it to California when they need it and we are still waiting to get paid for it. We got ripped off again.


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## 2buckcanuck

Mudshark said:


> Around here we produce electricity from hydro power, sent it to California when they need it and we are still waiting to get paid for it. We got ripped off again.


Got you all beat, Our stupid province pays Quebec and the USA to take our surplus power(6.6 million), then gets it's losses back through it's regular rate payers, meaning me:furious:

http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1046585--ontario-pays-others-to-take-its-surplus-power


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## Amish Electrician

I do electric work as my 'main' line- though that usually involves making holes in walls, then fixing them. Still, I have never encountered this sort of drywall.

Here's a link:
http://panelectricradiantheat.com/

An interesting idea, though it probably just didn't do too well in the market.


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## diverjer

I just bought a house that has it working in each room, don't use it as the previous owners added 95% efficient gas furnace. Still kind of cool, I could add a little heat in a room if I wanted. Never put this up when building houses, but electricity use to be cheap and people did use it. Kind of like zone heating. BTW this house was built in 1967. 

Wish I could see the marks for where the wires are, want to add some lights. Doubt I will ever turn it on so I could just start cutting and fill holes where the thermostats are in each room, just hate to take and destroying something still working. Taking it off would free up a lot of breakers.


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## icerock drywall

diverjer said:


> I just bought a house that has it working in each room, don't use it as the previous owners added 95% efficient gas furnace. Still kind of cool, I could add a little heat in a room if I wanted. Never put this up when building houses, but electricity use to be cheap and people did use it. Kind of like zone heating. BTW this house was built in 1967.
> 
> Wish I could see the marks for where the wires are, want to add some lights. Doubt I will ever turn it on so I could just start cutting and fill holes where the thermostats are in each room, just hate to take and destroying something still working. Taking it off would free up a lot of breakers.


turn it on high and get a http://www.thermalcameraexperts.com...mpaign=Brand Names&utm_term=Milwaukee Thermal


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## endo_alley

compute said:


> Is anybody here old enough to remember electric heat sheetrock? We had one particular contractor that put it in all of his houses. The sheets had a
> "pigtail" that you pitched up over the ceiling joists and the electrician wired
> them later. All of the heat was in the ceiling. They had full heat sheets, half heat sheets, and 1/3 heat sheets. You received a plan on which sheets went where. The remainder of sheets were 5/8 firecode. (typical houses in those days were all 1/2" regular walls and ceilings) It was a really clean even radiant heat. Only drawback was you still had to put in an air conditioning system. Sheets were marked so you didn't nail thru the wires. Just Curious


That electric radiant stuff was crapola. Cracked all of the ceiling joints due to expansion and contraction. It was around for a couple of years in the early 1980's. Then there were mylar pads installed to the framing beneath the sheetrock. Very expensive heat to use, but cheap to install. Mostly used in condos. Hot water radiant heat seems to be much better.


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## SimonT

Just gutted a whole house with it in it still worked but is super expensive to run


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## Pixie777

Sorry to bump such an old thread. I am looking at a small house that has this for heat. My question is...would you buy it? It is working currently, but I probably would switch to a different heat source. How expensive would this be to replace. From your knowledge would you walk away because of this kind of heating?


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## Rocky

I remember seeing that stuff when I was starting in the trade / late '70,s
Used it up in Idllywild mountain homes [ elv. 5300 ft]

Lots of time up in angled ceiling loft rooms
Think A. Frame cabin
That way would not have to get ductwork up there


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