Radiant heat under Bamboo floor
We are renovating a house and are thinking to put in radiant heat and bamboo floors. I think this applies to any hardowwd floor, but is and “engineered” floor better to use then “solid”? I was told at iFloor that I am better off with a engineered bamboo…Anyone know better?
We are renovating a house and are thinking to put in radiant heat and bamboo floors. I think this applies to any hardowwd floor, but is and “engineered” floor better to use then “solid”? I was told at iFloor that I am better off with a engineered bamboo…Anyone know better?
Mr. Bamboo, Inc. is to introduce the high-traffic, the FIRST 100% solid strand woven bamboo floating click floor called BamLoc™, they are 100 percent harder than red oak and 18 percent harder than hard maple. BamLoc™ strand floating in natural and coffee. For longevity and exceptional wear, BamLoc™ includes six coats of ceramic sealer finish that is water-based, solvent-free and non-off gassing. The BamLoc™ boards are wider and come with three random lengths, which make it easy to install on any type of subfloor and reduced installation costs. BamLoc™ is 9/16†solid bamboo and is competitively priced at $6.50 per square foot.
As you can imagine in this day of everyone and everything going green, there is a proliferation of bamboo flooring products. Please do not be fooled, not all bamboo is the same. For homes with pets, children and lots of activity, Mr. Bamboo advises to stay away from the traditional bamboo flooring. Additionally, do not be misled with bamboo veneer products. They do not have the same properties as solid bamboo flooring. Mr. Bamboo offers only solid bamboo flooring – BamStrand™ for nail or glue down applications and the floating, clickable flooring for suspended floors – BamLoc™ .
Mr. Bamboo Team
55 Kelly St,
Elk Grove, IL 60007
Tel: 847-640-7316 or 888-672-2628
Fax: 847-952-8471
http://www.mrbambooflooring.com
As pointed out above, the problem with hardwood on radiant is one of efficiency as much as cupping and warping. Just to keep in mind, with these rising energy prices and all…
Steve, I am surprised by your experience. We put in an “attractively priced” maple-over-hardwood-and-ply engineered floor and it has aged well, even though we abuse it and have a dog. One medium sized dog, but with plenty of pep. And fingernails. Who runs laps.
Perhaps our standards for a good looking floor are different? But the first year has passed, and the finish is still intact and there are scratches but nothing too surprising. No dents.
We have used hardwood floors over radiant heat installed with warmboard and were recommended to use quarter sawn cut hardwood floors and have not had a problem with the flooring. The heating is great and the 3″ red oak quarter sawn hardwood floor looks great and has held up over the past couple of years. Premium flooring on 3rd avenue was where we did our research and we are fine with the recommendations.
Beatlife: my reply is sitting in the mods’ approval queue, probably because it’s got links in it.
Steve,
I looked on the Mannington website. Is your flooring the “Hardwood” product, or the “Laminate?” It sounds like you are describing the laminate, which has an ultrathin top layer and I don’t think is technically the same as the engineered woods I am describing. If you do have the Hardwood, then I am as puzzled as you are as to why it is so prone to denting and divets, unless you choose a particularly soft wood.
My negative experience with engineered floor has to do with a bamboo top layer. Hopefully, by going with a harder wood as the wear layer we can avoid the issues we had with the 100% bamboo.
Since you’ve already had the same negative experience I’ve had with engineered flooring I’m curious why you think engineered floors are more durable than you’ve already found they aren’t and why doing it again will result in a different outcome.
I hope you’ve personally tested a sample of this flooring. My Mannington flooring came with high recommendations from several dealers as well.
We are putting in radiant floor heating in a whole brownstone renovation – so 4 entire floors. One floor will be poured concrete, two floors will be engineered wood, and the last floor will be Medex, which I think is some cheap wood composite.
Engineered wood was recommended to us over solid wood because solid wood has a greater tendency to warp or cup over radiant floors. Engineered woods are more durable than has been suggested in some of the posts here. There are engineered woods that use a solid bamboo backing. We are using a product called Exobam by ASI that has a 3.5 mm hardwood wear layer. It’s not massive, but it does allow the floor to be refinished 2 or 3 times. Ecotimber also makes a great product. HOWEVER, if you use these engineered woods over radiant floor, you often void the manufacturers warranty. We are aware of this and decided to take the risk anyway. As for installation, I believe that depends on the floor you choose. Our new floor will be nailed, as was our old bamboo floor (by the way, all bamboo flooring is “engineered”).
Yes, we used bamboo flooring in our last renovation (I am a glutton for punishment) and we were very dissatisfied. Quality of bamboo varies dramatically, and our floor was easily dented and marred.
Good luck and may your home be toasty warm.
Mesquite… gotta be the best choice for radiant heat. It has the lowest radial AND tangential movement of any wood, hard as a rock, and you can use the scraps for BBQ’s. Brilliant !
We used Texas Mesquite over radiant heat. Cant recommend it enough. Very stable & dense so good over radiant heat. Also both beautiful and environmentally friendly. Bought wood from Faifer & Co