Wooden Floors

Thousands of homes with Underfloor Heating have wooden floors installed. Wood and Underfloor heating are a luxurious combination and easy to get right.

Get The Moisture Content Right

The wooden floorboards need to be laid out loosely, for a few weeks over the floor heating in order for it to acclimatise before final fixing. Even though your timber has been kiln dried, it can absorb moisture during storage and transportation so the best thing to do is let the timber acclimatise to its surroundings. Floor heating is a gentle heat and will not adversely affect wood once it has been dried to the correct moisture content.

• Warped or swollen floorboards are not caused by heating but because the floorboards are too dry or too damp when the flooring was installed.
• If the timber is too dry it will absorb moisture from the atmosphere, the board will swell and will turn up.
• If the wood is too damp it will shrink and leave gaps between the boards.
• The moisture content should be between 9% - 11% on floors with underfloor heating.

Dry Out The The Concrete

Timber should not be fixed over a new concrete floor without first running the Underfloor heating system to dry out the moisture still trapped in the concrete. To do this satisfactorily, we recommend that your heating is brought up slowly by 5° per day for 5 days, We start the heating at a water temperature of 30° C. and turn it up 5° per day until we reach 40° C . The temperature then remains at 40°c.

Wooden Floor Thickness

Finished floors should not exceed 1" inch or 22 mm thickness. Don't cover a floor with plywood and then add another layer of board. This will create a big insulation barrier and will consequently affect your heat up time.

Laminated Floors

These floors are usually dry and stable by nature and generally do not need to be acclimatised as per paragraph 1. However, if you are in doubt you can check with your Flooring Supplier.

You should always make sure you are using a reputable supplier. Most timber flooring goes through a kiln drying process and your supplier should be able to explain this to you. He should also be able to demonstrate the moisture content of the timber using a moisture content tester.

There is no "special" wood that suits Underfloor Heating or that posesses qualities that make your room warmer, your heating more efficient or your fuel bills lower.

File claims for such woods under "s" for snake oil. Such magic woods from the forest of enchanted salespeople will make your pockets lighter or bank balance lower without doing you any good.