Radiant Heat For Wood Floors

The ability inability of a wood flooring material to transfer heat will directly affect the radiant heating system design.

Radiant heat for wood floors.

The radiant heated wood floor shown in our photo left was installed in a new york home. Typical radiant heat temperatures under finished wood flooring. A good compromise is to install the hydronic system right in a concrete slab and install the wood on the concrete. Temperature range or about 105 115 f.

The ability of the radiant heating system to either adequately heat the facility or to simply warm the floor without damaging the wood must be taken into account when specifying a radiant heating system within any facility. But that said even a wood floor will warm up and heat you and the room quite well. Launstein r value testing results. Radiant heating systems warm rooms from the floor upwards resulting in the capability and comfort of setting home thermostats to lower temperatures which effectively reduces energy consumption and saves money even more so for hardwood flooring since it retains heat for longer periods compared to other flooring materials.

It is also important to consider the heat transfer qualities of the sub flooring used the sub floor and wood floor should be within 2 3 degrees of each other. For more information about engineered flooring see our article all about engineered wood floors. Under wood floors nailed right to the subfloor and tubing below radiant heat temperatures are typically at the middle of our 85 135 f. While radiant heat is not in the realm of a novice wood flooring contractor wood floors are installed over radiant heat with success every day.

Installing radiant heat under hardwood floors. If a solid 3 4 thick wood floor is desired it is recommended to use quartersawn flooring not usually available factory prefinished. Hydronic radiant heating systems are usually designed to heat an entire house. It is also the responsibility of the general contractor plumber and hvac systems professional to put care into the installation of a radiant heat system so that all flooring substrates perform well and look great for years.

With radiant heat systems it s not just the responsibility of the hardwood floor professional to be on top of their game. Which is why the most efficent way to use radiant heat under your wood floors is to use a hardwood with a low r value. Quartersawn is a method of cutting the boards from the log so that the direction of the. Water is heated to between 100 and 120 degrees fahrenheit by a boiler and circulated through tubing under floors.

Can 3 4 solid wood flooring be used over radiant heat systems. When you are installing wood floors over top of concrete the double layer two layers of 1 2 ply floating plywood method will be the best method.