floating wood floor over radiant concrete slab
Hi,
This is my first post and i have been looking everywhere for some guidance.
We are in Canada and are thinking of installing a concrete floor slab (well insulated from ground) in an extension project and using radiant water heating tubes. We were looking for a heating system that would help keep our south facing, floor to celing, windows free of condensation. We eliminated forced air since we will not have air conditioning. Everyone here installing these glass large surfaces is using radiant concrete floor.
The thing is we dont want to glue the wood to substrate that is directly on concrete. Some of our family members have leg injuries and others are dancers and dont like the idea of the hard surface. We want to put in a floating harwood (not enginnered wood) floor. We can’t seem to find any information on this type of installation such as how heat performs getting from concrete to the room. Is there a way to get hot air out of air space? or is there some type of softer mat to use to keep wood’s bounce?
All help and questions so appreciated,
Thanks
Ariella
Replies
The wood plus whatever mat you use under it will have a combined R value. That will act just like insulation. If that R value is reasonably low, and there is a reasonable amount of insulation under the slab, the heat will reach the room with little difficulty. (The heat transfer rate can be fairly easily calculated if you study the formulas.)
The equations are really no different whether you glue directly to the slab, have pad between, or have a bare slab -- it's just a different value for R.
Ariella
I have installed floating floors successfully over radiant concrete a few times. Be sure to get the layout of the hose spec'd for this type of installation as the pad and finish flooring do reduce the transfer of heat somewhat to the room . Also important is the running temp of the radiant system.
as to the condensation, no air movement produced by a forced air heating system means guaranteed probability of moisture. However, natural convection of air passing over the glass usually removes it except for the bottom inch or so of the sash. Ceiling fans help.