Engineered vs. Solid Hardwood over radiant floor heating
Janna Andrews
24 days ago
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Minardi
24 days agoRelated Discussions
Solid hardwood over radiant heat
Comments (10)Hardwood floors over radiant is a beautiful thing & very comfortable. If installed correctly you can use virtually any type of hardwood on top of radiant, whether its solid, engineered, nailed down, nailed & glued down or floated. It is a misconception that radiant floor hurts hardwood, but really it is the relative humidity of the home & the hardwood that makes wood expand & contract. If you want to speak with a great hardwood company go to www.launstein.com they warranty all their wood products on top of radiant & have testing facilities of their own. Additionally, the company I work for, Warmboard, uses lower water temperatures than other systems. You can also nail hardwood directly to our product. Feel free to call or email if you have any questiosn 877-338-5493 cwebber@warmboard.com...See Moreradiant floor heat and hardwood floors
Comments (1)We have warmboard under oak flooring, not engineered wood. It is great - even heat. We did use quartersawn lumber rather than plain becauase it is much more resistant to expansion and contraction....See Moreengineered hardwood over radiant heat
Comments (1)How was the flooring installed? Bead glued? Just pull up the quarter round and expose the underlayment. Electric underfloor systems are warming systems only, not room heating systems. They keep your feet from feeling cold. That's it. The temerature that you describe would be almost the max that you would want to heat the wood. Even hydrionic systems which are designed to heat the room shouldn't heat the floor above about 82-85ð....See MoreCork vs. Felt underlayment for heated engineered hardwood
Comments (1)I'm assuming the cork will be UNDER the heat mats...and then the heat mats will have the hardwood OVER TOP? Cork is rated for in-floor radiant heat....but I always worry about putting electric heat mats DIRECTLY over a product that will CATCH FIRE! Yes. Electric heat mats have a long and glorious history of "shorting out" (although I must admit they are getting much much better) which can cause a spark. Cork doesn't like to burn but it CAN burn and it WILL burn if something is hot enough and allowed to sit long enough (like a sparking electrical wire sitting underneath hardwood). For that reason, I have always said that cork should be encased in concrete if heat mats are being used on top. I always err on the side of caution with fire ratings. The next thing you MUST do is to find out if the FELT material is rated for in-floor electric heat (many are not because they are made up of mixed fibres like PLASTIC = they can melt). And then, finally please check to make sure your engineered hardwoods are rated for ELECTRIC in-floor radiant heat. Many are NOT. Many ONLY ALLOWED the hydronic heating system (water/oil/gel filled tubing). I'm sorry to say but the BIGGEST problem isn't the cork or the hardwood or the felt. It is the ELECTRIC heat-mat system. More than 30% of flooring products on the market do NOT allow use with ELECTRIC heat-mat systems. The heat produced is often TOO HOT and the wires themselves are too delicate for use under many floors (delicate wires break = sparking = fire hazard). Ignore the heat-mat company's advertise. Investigate the OTHER materials used below/above the mats. I think you will be surprised what you find (or don't find...many do not allow this type of install). Personally if it were me, I would work with 1/4" cork and upgrade the wall heaters with lovely little baseboards that are efficient. The cork + new heating baseboards = wonderfully efficient. Save the $10K from the heat-mats and invest a little bit into upgrading the baseboard heaters. Cork will do the rest - both thermal and acoustic insulation all in one product. Skip the electric heat mats....See Moredan1888
24 days agoUptown Floors
24 days agoJanna Andrews
24 days agoJanna Andrews
23 days agodan1888
22 days agolast modified: 22 days ago
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