Installing Electric Radiant Floor Heating Under Hardwood

The retroheat system can be installed to heat tile hardwood laminates.

Installing electric radiant floor heating under hardwood.

Installing underfloor electric radiant heat. Thermofloor radiant floor heating installation. Electric radiant underfloor heating systems can be installed under wood floors by working from the basement or from a basement crawlspace. How it works radiant heat systems use a three stage process to convey heated water to its destination.

Retroheat radiant floor heating system. Since wood flooring cannot be nailed to the cement floors the solution is to install so called wood sleepers. So if you have open access to your floor joists now you can add the comfort and efficiency of radiant floor heat to your home. There are some limitations on the type of wood flooring that can be used with radiant heat.

Its success with carpeted floors depends on the length of the weave thick carpets or those with thick pads won t work well as heat generated by the system will stay trapped in the floor. Thermofloor is a 4 in 1 heating insulating noise reducing moisture abating radiant floor heating underlayment specifically designed for laminate glue down and floating hardwood and engineered wood floors. The type of wood flooring that you install over the radiant heat mechanism will ultimately determine your temperature guidelines. But if you do wish to put radiant heating under solid hardwood use quarter sawn wood flooring instead of plain sawn wood flooring.

With radiant heat systems it s not just the responsibility of the hardwood floor professional to be on top of their game. The heating element should be embedded within a sleeper system subfloor under a traditional subfloor or embedded within concrete. These are strips of wood or plywood typically 3 8 to 1 2 thick and are 1 2 wide which are installed between in parallel to the heating cable runs to create a surface for nailing the hardwood flooring onto. Some manufactures would recommend that you maintain a consistent temperature ideally between 78 and 80 degrees.

Installing electric radiant heat under nailed hardwood can seem like a daunting task but if you know the right way to install it there s nothing to fear. It is also the responsibility of the general contractor plumber and hvac systems professional to put care into the installation of a radiant heat system so that all flooring substrates perform well and look great for years. Engineered wood flooring works better for radiant heating than under solid hardwood. Radiant heating works well with ceramic tile and vinyl but not with wood floors.

It isn t recommended to use radiant floor heating under plank flooring wider than 3. The retroheat floor heating system was designed specifically for providing electric radiant heat to existing floors by accessing the floor joists below.