Salvaged wood
I am planning to put radiant heat on my parlour floor and understand that rift or quarter sawn wood will work best (in liue of tile or engineered stuff). Would anyone have any recommendations for good lumber salvage places that won’t bust the budget? I’m thinking I might be better off going somewhere well outside…
I am planning to put radiant heat on my parlour floor and understand that rift or quarter sawn wood will work best (in liue of tile or engineered stuff). Would anyone have any recommendations for good lumber salvage places that won’t bust the budget? I’m thinking I might be better off going somewhere well outside the NYC area, but not so far that I can’t go there and back in a day.
Thank you everyone for the many comments – especially the recomendations for Pioneer Millworks.
I had thought the point of using slavaged or reclaimed wood was to cut down on the expansion/contraction that is typical of new wood. Also, the radiant would actually be a secondary heat source – we will have zoned forced hot air, but with the 12′ ceiling heights parlor floors always seem to feel a bit cold, so we thought the radiant would help cut out the chill.
As for the risk of puncturing, if the tubing is installed perpendicular to the wood floor there’s little risk of accidentally putting a hole in the tubing, since you’ll see exactly where it is as you nail the floorboards down.
We also bought recycled wood flooring from Pioneer Millworks. It was probably the single best sourcing experience I had during our sometimes-painful renovation. They are extremely friendly and helpful and the wood is beautiful. We bought douglas fir and heart pine which have worked out wonderfully well. The heart pine is significantly harder and somewhat more distinctive looking — and more expensive. Many people buy oak flooring for brownstones but fir is also historically correct. We actually find that the red tones in fir are a better visual match with our walnut doors and trim than oak. Pioneer Millworks also sells engineered flooring. Not sure if you can get there and back in a day (they are way upstate) but at least check out their website.
I have new oak over hydronic radiant installed 6 years ago and it works well with no problems. You would have had to be really deliberately trying if you hit the pex while installing.
The OP did not talk about his/her install and there are methods that are pretty straight forward. I would recommend the Radiant Panel Association website – which is extensive with a lot of reference material – to get factual info about pros/cons of wood.
PHfamily you are right, if a puncture is covered it can be a huge problem, I have always manage to catch them in time. A pressure gauge and hyper vigilance is important.
And I guess I misinterpreted “Quarter sawn doesn’t work best to transfer the heat”.
I never said that there was a difference in r value between plain and quarter sawn.
I was comparing wood planks to laminate, engineered (which can be much thinner, tile and concrete. We have radiant throughout our entire house and did a good deal of research on the topic. The flooring guys may not realize that they have punctured the pex until they finish the floor, so yes, it CAN be a huge problem.
M. Fine Lumber on Metropolitan Ave or Build it Green in Queens.
Listen to Brucecf but not PHfamily. Quarter sawn oak will expand and contract much less than plain sawn but there is no significant difference in R-value. Oak is about.85 per inch regardless of how it is cut, engineered flooring is 1.0. Pine is about 1.2. None is a major factor in a well designed job. Thick carpet is.
Obviously a nail in the PEX tubing is to be avoided but it is not a “huge” problem, it can be repaired in less than an hour.Just don’t have the pumps running while installing.
Engineered flooring is highly recommended over radiant.
http://digital.bnpmedia.com/publication/?i=60452
Oh- One more comment- If you are doing radiant floor heating you will have to be terrible careful if you are nailing down a floor. One puncture of a nail and you’ll have a huge problem.
Your idea I question, as I have used recycled flooring and recycled boards on various projects.
The amount of material you will need will geatly exceed the measurements, as every piece of previously installed material will have damages here and there, often in the middle.
I will assume for flooring that you are seeking toungue and groove material, for the purpose of blind nailing? This eliminates 90% of the recycled material out there, unless you are prepared to dado new grooves , etc.
What you are considering will take about six times longer than wisely chosen, new materials, and they ain’t cheap.
You can travel to RecyclingthePast in Barnegat, NJ (near Long Beach Island). They have a web site, and they will talk on the phone, but the prices you will be quoted and be stuck with are high. You have to arrive unannounced, and look yourself, to bargain a reasonable price.
Unless you are going to complete this project entirely yourself, and time is no object, try to grasp that you can easily run out of material, and there won’t be anymore, no where. A contractor can’t be bothered with the constant re-evaluation of quantity of materials remaining versus area left to be covered.
When I embark on these projects, I will only consider an area that abuts another finish, where the border between can be moved, in case we run out of recycled materials.
For instance ceramic tile will begin where the recycled material ends, you’re just not sure where, and it will look OK either way.
If you are in-experienced, recall “fools rush in, where wise men never…”
bruce at jerseydata.net