Timber floors with underfloor heating

Apostle12

Hi,

I'm planning on having engineered wooden floors fitted (8mm solid wood on 12mm ply). I have underfloor heating. The floors will be glued down.

My fitter is saying that anything wider than a 5inch floorboard will be an issue and susceptible to warping / bowing / lifting?

A few flooring salespeople i've asked don't seem to know and have given vague undefinitive answers.

Has anyone any experience of this or are we safe in fitting a wide board (6 inch board) on our underfloor heating?

Thank for your help.

Wally Runs

I can only say the we have 230 mm wide engineered board from a northern Irish manufacture and it is stuck down with skia bond? over UFH for 3 years now and no warping/lifting/bowing. It has just one or two surface cracks (small now) and they are were it is close to the stove. PM if you want the name of the local fitter (Wicklow/Dublin)

the keen edge

Don't mean to hijack the OP, but is putting a timber floor over UFH not effectively separating your habitable space and yourself with a layer of insulation from the heat source?

I get the aesthetic rational, but from a energy efficiency point of view is doing so not totally counter productive?

Apostle12

Thanks for the reply Wally Runs, that gives me comfort.

The Keen Edge, we've insulated below the underfloor pipes (160mm rigid board). I get that the engineered timber board won't an as effective a conductor of heat as say a tile but it will still conduct the heat albeit slower.

The timber finished floor is for aesthestic reasons, the house is very well insulated and airtight. We're trying to balance the energy efficiency and enjoying living there and we don't want tiles in certain spaces!

Thanks.
Apostle12

firlodge

Hi
I have both timber & tile over UFH - the majority being timber - it works very well - nice & toasty this morning!