Radiant Heat Under 1'' Pine
I am planning to do a Retrofitting Radiant Heating, under this type of pine floor (original subfloor). Any experience? Comments? I’ve heard that it will warp and cup, but I am not sure if it’s just a guess or if anybody had problems that can share with us. Between the PEX tubes and the pine…
I am planning to do a Retrofitting Radiant Heating, under this type of pine floor (original subfloor). Any experience? Comments? I’ve heard that it will warp and cup, but I am not sure if it’s just a guess or if anybody had problems that can share with us.
Between the PEX tubes and the pine I won’t have anything. Just the 1 inch original pine and the tubes with the aluminum plates. [The picture is from the web, but the floor will be pretty much like this one].
Look into the product ARDEX st-1 before you put the pine back on the tubes…..if you have at least 1 of space that u can spare between the pine and the radiant heat u will be fine
Good Luck
You need to have some mass under the finish floor to make it really efficient and to control movement of the boards. This can be either a setting bed or thick plywood. There is a company called Warmboard that does the plywood way, and I am using it on a new house installation. You do need to insulate under the flooring, otherwise all the heat you will be paying for will not radiate through the floor, but will head straight down. Plus you have to look out for the metal panel fasteners not penetrating your pine planks.
No one will be able to give you a definite answer. We have pex tubing in a concrete subfloor, and were discouraged from hardwood floors by the contractor. We installed engineered maple, which turned out to be soft and a pain in the neck. If it were new pine boards, I would no way, but you have original subfloor pine planks, so it might work. The only way to know for sure is to test.
Is your flooring T&G, does it have gaps to allow for movement? Is it above a humid cellar? Humidity is more of a problem than moderate heat. A floor near a sunny window gets very hot without problems. Antique pine is much more stable than fresh cut, kiln dried woods. If you design the system for the lowest possible water temperature you will minimize wood movement and save energy.
If you need a definite answer for your specific conditions install a small test section, like one room, maybe a future bathroom.
“I’ve done a lot of radiant heat” and I am currently doing my own house very similar to yours with the original wide plank floors. I’ll have a better answer in about 10 months. Based on my experience and research I believe it will work.
http://www.wideplankflooring.com/installation/over/category/radiant-heat/
http://www.homesteadflooring.com/
It’s about as close to a fact as you can get in this context. I am giving you free, anonymous advice over the internet and obviously cannot guarantee that your floor will do anything specific at all.
That said, pine is one of the least dimensionally stable species of wood used for building. Add to that the fact that these planks are on the wide side and are plain instead of quarter-sawn, and the capacity for movement increases a great deal.
Is this a fact or a guess? Anybody has had any experience with this type of floor?
It will warp and cup. Pine is soft, these boards are wide.
I have no idea, but that floor looks just like ours.
Actually, though, heating a pine floor sounds a bit weird, while heating stone makes sense.