Can You Use Radiant Heat Wood Floors

Radiant heat is actually an excellent heating source for wood.

Can you use radiant heat wood floors.

Warm water systems run hot water through pipes to create heat whereas electric underfloor heating heats wiring beneath the floor to generate heat. But that said even a wood floor will warm up and heat you and the room quite well. Launstein r value testing results. Vinyl flooring is not a good choice either.

The most popular american hardwood floor materials such as cherry oak ash maple hickory and walnut will work just fine when you install radiant heating. Finally solid hardwood flooring will swell and shrink with the heating cooling process especially in homes that use a humidifier during winter. Wood floors are additionally ideal for radiant heating because of the possibility to reduce extra noise mainly due to muffling characteristic though radiant heating does not use a blower and usually produces very minimal sounds. Radiant heat is a system using electric coils or tubes of hot water underneath the flooring.

Wood on the other hand will act as a bit of an insulator blocking the heat from reaching you. Traditionally it has been used for tile floors but now it is also used with wood flooring. Add radiant heat and the potential for moisture problems is greatly increased because radiant heat dramatically exacerbates moisture fluctuations in a wood floor. To understand that it helps to know a little bit about how radiant heat systems work.

There are two types of radiant floor heating electric and water based systems. 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. However floors made of tropical wood or extremely old floors may have problems when radiant heating is installed. Wood flooring manufactured and expected to perform at mc levels higher than 9 percent or in conditions above 50 percent rh should not be used with radiant heating systems.

In fact the application of solid hardwood floors installed over a radiant heated floor is approved by many hardwood manufacturers and trade organizations with the above conditions of course. 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. Even without radiant heat moisture is probably the leading cause of wood flooring callbacks. Most wood flooring can be installed over radiant heat providing all of the necessary conditions are met.

The heat may discolor the vinyl or cause the off gassing of chemicals.