Wood Flooring Over Concrete Radiant Heat

Concrete slabs that contain radiant heating can limit the style of wood floors that you have to choose from but all in all i feel you can create a dazzling look in your new home by mixing a few wood species and being creative with the actual layout of the hardwood flooring.

Wood flooring over concrete radiant heat.

Excessive heat rapid heating and or failure to maintain humidity levels between 30 and 50 is likely to result in cracking cupping squeaking and other forms of floor issues. We wanted a wood floor and spent a lot of time talking to flooring experts. Do not use power actuated fasteners or concrete nails when radiant heat pipes are embedded in the slab. With strip flooring the wider the board the greater the potential for gaps between the boards when they contract with seasonal changes in temperature and humidity.

Quite simply concrete floor radiant heat is a system of pex tubes that carry hot water throughout a concrete floor or slab. While you can install hardwood flooring on top of concrete slabs even if they re radiant heated concrete slabs there are some things to keep in mind to ensure the longevity of the wood and keep. By installing the radiant heat tubing within the concrete slab during the pouring of the concrete. But if you do wish to put radiant heating under solid hardwood use quarter sawn wood flooring instead of plain sawn wood flooring.

Quartersawn wood flooring is always more stable under conditions of extreme moisture or heat and is always a good choice over radiant heat especially when going with flooring wider than 4 inches. In 1973 it has a concrete slab foundation with radiant heat water runs thru copper tubing within slab. 14 years later still in good shape and seems to keep house warm and comfortable. Any wood flooring that can be used over radiant heat systems must be brought into the area in which it will be installed and allowed to acclimate for at least two weeks prior to the flooring being installed.

Plainsawn wood will move more than quartersawn especially when it is over 4 inches wide. Radiant heat can be an electrical heating element embedded into a very thin concrete overlay then tiled carpeted or have wood flooring installed over it. Small surface splits checking particularly at the ends of planks should be expected with installations over radiant heat and does not constitute a product failure. Instead cut the plywood into 2 by 8 planks and score the backs 3 8 deep on a 12 grid.

The heating element should be embedded within a sleeper system subfloor under a traditional subfloor or embedded within concrete. Engineered wood flooring works better for radiant heating than under solid hardwood.