I am building a house with radiant floor heat (PEX set in lightweight concrete). Most of the house will have 2 1/2″ wide red oak flooring. I am considering placing pressure treated 2×2’s between the PEX tubing before I pour the concrete to use as nailers for the finish floor, then using solid oak flooring.
I have been told that solid wood flooring shouldn’t be used over a radiant heat system, though, and am also wondering if the PT 2×2’s might decrease the efficiency of the heating. Does anyone have experience with this sort of set up? Am I better off using laminated flooring?
Thanks
Replies
Use normal 2x2 sleepers. PT isn't needed. We did this with 6" (3/4" thick) heart pine over lightweight gypsum cement in half our kitchen. Minimal expansion issues. The sleepers are also used to isolate areas under cabinets (no heating there).
Only problem: This floor is on our low-temp boiler loop, which is great for the basement slab and the kitchen tiles, but a bit low through the wood. I should have put it on the high-temp (case iron radiator) loop, with a high-temp cutoff switch to protect the Pex from overheating.
...karl, who has pictures somewhere.
Is this new house already framed up and dried in or is it still in the planning stages?
If it's not framed yet, you might want to do a quick reality check and consider a low mass system which is often easier to control and certainly more inherently friendly to solid wood finished floor.
I suggest going to http://www.radiantpanelassociation.org and ordering the RPA flooring guide. It's about ten bucks and is very helpful for making decisions related to your finish flooring.
A dry system might be a better choice, or it might not, depends on the home and pricing of 'crete. Certainly there are issues with both that need to be addressed.
-=Northeast Radiant Technology=-
Radiant Design, Consultation, Parts Supply
http://www.NRTradiant.com
Thanks for the information-- I ordered the book today. It looks like the next three houses I'm building are going to have radiant floor heat.
A very wise decision indeed ;)-------------------------------------
-=Northeast Radiant Technology=-
Radiant Design, Consultation, Parts Supply
http://www.NRTradiant.com
Check with the flooring manufacturer. Some are radiant compatible, and some are not.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt