Walnut-Prague

INSTALLING OVER UNDERFLOOR HEATING

Your wood floor must be laid close to the subfloor and without an air gap, as air gaps can cause the wood to dry out very quickly.

When laying a floor over underfloor heating loops, the working temperature should be at least 18°C. This is applicable to boards, subfloors and room temperature. The relative humidity (RH) of the air must be between 30 and 60% before, during and after laying the floor.

Cardboard is preferred for the intermediate layer, as polyethylene cellular plastic and cork particleboard have a higher thermal resistance.

TEMPERATURE OF THE SURFACE

The surface temperature of the floor must never exceed 27°C. This also applies to areas next to radiators and elements, under furniture and carpets, etc. With good furnishing and without too many carpets, or carpets that are too thick, it is reasonable to achieve a temperature of 23°C over the entire floor area, for a room temperature of around 21°C. Of course, this is assuming that the room requires a normal amount of heating. This means that your sealing, insulation, windows, etc., must be of regulation standard quality. Extra precautions should be taken to ensure the temperature at the feeding of the hot water never exceeds the maximum level, and that installation instructions provided by the supplier of the heating system are followed correctly.

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS WHEN INSTALLING UNDERFLOOR HEATING

The floor construction must have a heat-distributing layer that gives an even temperature over the entire surface of the floor area, in order to prevent high temperatures in certain spots.

It must be possible to control and limit the surface temperature with a high degree of accuracy.

The entire floor area must be heated. However, this does not apply to comfort heating systems, which complement normal heating. In this case, the temperature should be considerably lower than the permitted 27°C floor surface.

The laid floor - including the intermediate layer - must have a low thermal resistance.

A vapour barrier must be built into the floor construction, positioned as close as possible to the wood floor. It is particularly important to have the vapour barrier near to the wood floor if the joists are thick or heavy. Under no circumstances may the vapour barrier be placed on the opposite side of the joists.