While I originally thought getting belly heat through a melamine enclosure (UTH directly under the wood) was a hopeless endeavor I seem to be hearing quite the contrary from most of the people I ask. Here is my set up which I have all the "parts" for laid out in the garage:

2x4x1 (depth, length, height) melamine enclosure, sliding glass front. I was planning to heat it with a 40Watt RHP and two 11x17 UTH's under the cage. RHP for ambients, UTH for the "myth" based digestive aid for my BP. This melamine is 3/4" thick, will those UTH's be completely useless from the outside? If so, should I bump up to an 80Watt RHP and would that alone get the job done? I don't want to deal with tiling the inside of the cage. Sounds like a pain in the ass, especially if you ever need to replace the UTH's... dear lord what a project that would be .

PS- If I decide to go with just the RHP I'll be dealing with Pro-products .

Thanks,
Fatal