How to heat a shower room (no central heating)

[bimbabirba]

We're renovating the shower room in the outbuilding and I need an electric way to heat it. Electrician has suggested a fan heater but I'm wondering about towel heaters and convector heaters
Can someone advise please? I've ruled out underfloor heating as I'm jot sure what the damp proofing is like (it wasn't us who converted it!)
Thanks

We have electric underfloor heating in our bathroom and it works a treat. They put a membrane down underneath, so surely damp shouldn't be a problem.

Why not a fan heater mounted high up on the wall. We have that and it's very effective, very fast way of heating the room.

We have a heated towel rail that seems to do the job. There is underfloor heating but I rarely use it as the towel rail seems to emit enough heat.

How is the water heated for the shower? If it is heated by a boiler then you can have a radiator that only heats up when the hot water is being heated, which means it turns on as you run the shower. We have a towel rail which works that way.

We also have electric underfloor hearing...mmmm-ahhhhh...niiiiice.

Underfloor heating. Keeps everything warm and dry. Cheap to install and easy to run with a timer.

A heated towel rail is good - warms the place up and no damp towels.
Underfloor heating is lovely, too. Probably one or the other should suffice.

You said outbuilding.

If that means it has several external walls, a flat roof, single glazing and poor insulation, it will be cold and lose a lot of heat, so needs powerful and costly heating.

A fan heater will be fastest if you are not keeping it constantly warm.

It will need a powerful extractor to control condensation.

When you say renovating, how far are you prepared to go? It might be worth insulating the wall and ceilings if you're going to be taking off all the tiles and replastering anyway.

Thank you all for your messages!
Pigletjohn yes it is an outbuilding. We're upgrading the insulation in the walls and roof. It is double glazed and it has a pitched roof. It has floorboards currently covered by cheap vinyl- presumably concrete under the boards?
Electrician is installing an extractor fan.
What are my best options? I would like to have it warm most of the time, not just occasionally. I'm worried underfloor heating will cause problems if the damp course hasn't been done properly. It's been there in its current form since the 1990s and no problems with dampness.
Thank you very much.

I should add that there is a large room attached to the bathroom which also needs heating and which is constructed in the same way. We're upgrading the wall and roof insulation in the big room as well. Will upload a profile picture.

how thick is the insulation?

UF heating is slow-and-steady, so could be a good option. Why do you have doubts about the DPC?

How are you heating the shower water? If gas is inv

PigletJohn - The wall insulation boards that the builder will
stick in on the walls are 50 mm thick. What are your thoughts? I'm really keen to hear your thoughts
Ilove - the water will be heated by a tank with an electric immersion heater.

Then there's no point trying to run a rad off it.

I do think UF heating with an electric towel rail is the way to go. Perhaps also a fan heater or halogen radiant heater for an instantaneous blast if you need it.

UF hearing in the adjacent room, too. You won't want to return to the main house!

50mm of rigid foam such as Kingspan or Celotex will give good insulation. It sounds like they will be applied to the insides of the walls, with plasterboard over, so it will have low thermal mass and warm up quickly. If you have floorboards on joists, it is essential to ventilate the subfloor void well with airbricks. You can insulate between the joists, this is more cost effective if the floor has to come up anyway for some other reason.

remember that electricity is a much more expensive source of energy than gas.

I don't know if the subfloor is insulated with airbricks! In fact I know nothing about what how the subfloor was constructed and what it's made of. All I know is that under the vinyl there's floorboards. Should I investigate before going for underfloor heating? I mean, can it be unsuitable depending on what's underneath?
And yes I know it will be expensive to run . We have gas in the main house but every single plumber or builder we've asked has advised against bringing gas from the house as it would have been major work
Thank you a bunch

Meant to say thank you to Pigletjohn and the other posters not sarcastically to the builders!

if it is a wooden floor, then it almost certainly is (or should be) laid with an airpace underneath, which must be ventilated to remove the damp air and prevent it causing rot of the timber.

p.s.

and if you have underfloor heating, you must insulate under it, unless you want to breed tropical worms.

Ew. Tropical worms. I wish you hadn't said that.

unless you want to keep the worms warm, then.

We've got a big issue that's come up today. They have built a fake wall to allow pipes through behind the basin, toilet and shower and it's been built with MDF. The tiler today's said that it's not good to tile on MDF!! I'm so angry with the stupid builders
What are my options? Would a showerproof panel like Showerwall be ok on MDF or do I need to get them to take it all down and start again? The other option I've been given is to have them put a layer of plywood? I'm so

I don't like MDF. WBP ply might do. But the tiler can apply a sheet of tile backing board. Let him say what he thinks best. If you have a concealed shower or any other fittings with a probable life less than 100 years, allow for a hatch or other access panel to save ripping the tiles and wall apart.

Brilliant you're a star