engineered wood and undefloor heating

5 years ago

last modified: 5 years ago

Hi, have heard that underfloor heating and engineered wood doesn't work as well as tiles. Our builder, who will install for free, doesn't have much experience with wood but have seen his projects with tiles. We prefer wood but it may create issues long term, or more prone to getting damaged (due to underfloor heating). Any experience with engineered wood and underfloor heating. Thanks for any advise.

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PRO
The Avenue Design
5 years ago
Hi. This is very good question and you are doing well to stop and think. Yes comparing wooden floor and tiled floor with under floor heating it's quite difficult as theirs heat conductivity can’t be more apart. With the same Watts (for wooden flooring is recommended 150W) Tiles will feel much much warmer. The surface of wooden floor would be just pleasantly warm. Wood insulates much better so the heat lost will be greater than on tiles. Also, you need to use reflective underlay not to loose any heat into concrete subfloor or hallow floor board floor. Your builder should be aware of few things which are different from laying the floor without the underfloor heating. Dilatation gap around the room 8-10 mm , thickness of the floor max 18mm (still would recommend the thicker the top layer the better 3-4mm do go for veneer as it’s almost impossible to resend and rejuvenate the floor. If possible, monitor air and the wood moisture and temperature. Basically, the wood shouldn’t be too dry or wet and not too cold. Just store it for couple of days in the room where it will be laid. Don’t keep it in the garage or outside particularly now in winter. I could go much longer but I guess it might be easier if you check links bellow. Please don’t hesitate to ask for more info if you have a specific type of flooring already chosen etc.

https://www.kahrs.com/en/how-to/underfloor-heating-and-wood-flooring/ https://www.warmup.co.uk/underfloor-heating/floor-coverings/wood
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engineered wood and undefloor heating

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