Radiant heat

[stumppuller]

I'm building a new home in Gilroy, CA at about 900' elevation. The home will be highly insulated due, in part, to the SIPs (Structural Insulated Panels) construction. The floor will be suspended with hot water, radiant heating. The confusion I have is whether to us thick wood planks (3/4" thick) or thinner 3/8" engineered, interlocking, floating boards.

Thick boards have a feel of quality and soundness to them, but are more resistive to low temperature heat flow. Thin boards transmit heat better, but I'm not sure about the "feel" quality of the flooring.

Anyone out there have experience one way or the other? Pros / cons?

Thanks, Bruce

[3RRL]

Oct 7, 2008 18:11:17 GMT -5 stumppuller said:

I'm building a new home in Gilroy, CA at about 900' elevation. The home will be highly insulated due, in part, to the SIPs (Structural Insulated Panels) construction. The floor will be suspended with hot water, radiant heating. The confusion I have is whether to us thick wood planks (3/4" thick) or thinner 3/8" engineered, interlocking, floating boards.

Thick boards have a feel of quality and soundness to them, but are more resistive to low temperature heat flow. Thin boards transmit heat better, but I'm not sure about the "feel" quality of the flooring.

Anyone out there have experience one way or the other? Pros / cons?

Thanks, Bruce

I don't have radiant heat but I have lots of wood flooring, both engineered and natural thick and thin flooring and decks.
I wouldn't be so concerned with the thicker boards having more resistance to low heat flow. I think if held at a fairly constant temperature such as you would with radiant heat, once the wood gets to temp it will pretty much remain there. It's not like a furnace where you turn it on or off...at least that's how we were going to use it before we changed our minds. I think you'll be much better off, and happier going with the thick stuff, especially if you value the feel of quality and soundness as you say.
Rob-

[GuglioLS]

Hi Bruce,

Radiant floor heating will sure be nice to have. Given a choice between solid 3/4" and engineered 3/8", personally I went with solid 3/4". I'm not sure of the chemical properties of pre engineered flooring such as out-gassing of what was used to glue the particle board together, like formaldehyde or some other toxic chemicals? Solid wood is just that, good old fashioned solid wood. A couple of years ago I ripped out the carpet in my living room and installed 6" wide by 3/4" thick exotic African Jatoba it looks great. When shopping and comparing materials looking at the engineered stuff, I came to the conclusion that solid was not only cheaper, if say after several years if not decades later the solid wood could be re-finished, meaning it could be sanded down with one of those floor sanders and re-finished, something that cannot be done with engineered flooring backed by particle board or laminated plywood.

I don't have radiant floor heating, but sure do wish I did.

Larry

These are the properties of the wood I used... BTW I paid 2.50 per sq ft. (basically Stole it)

Jatoba - Latin name: Hymenaea spp Trade name: Jatoba Origin: South-Africa
Air-dry Density: 0.84-0.93g/cm3
With straight vein and coarse texture, Jatoba has a naturally glossy finish, when the wood is cut, gouged or scratched, it looks as if it was already varnished. A heavy and strong wood. It has a high resistance to decay and termite attack. Jatoba is frequently used where good shock resistance is needed.