I want to put a wide-board wood floor over a pre-existing concrete slab for my new home office. We live in northern Vermont and therefore are concerned with cold floors, etc. The space (14’x24′) will be heated with a Rinnai heater.
My contractor is urging me to choose a click-together laminate floor so that the floor can be better insulated.
There must be ways to allow for good insulation on top of a slab and still support a wood floor. My understanding is that sleepers would be applied, then insulation material between the sleepers. My contractor does not think this would be adequate and that it would be labor intensive.
Any thoughts? Thanks.
Replies
See the article by Andy Engel in a recent FHB about dealing with this very issue as well as moisture control.
1" foam on the floor (he recommends EPS but Building Science says 1" XPS is fine, so I would go with the XPS because there is less compression). Screw 1/2" plywood over the foam into the slab using Tapcons. Then screw a second layer of 1/2" plywood to the first layer using 1" or 1 1/4" screws. Make sure the second layer is perpendicular to the first layer and the joints are staggered. Then install your flooring over the plywood.
Billy