Exactly which engineered product are you planning to use? Also need to know what your subflooring is... material and thickness.

My husband and I own a radiant heating business in California. In our first home, we put a floating laminate floor over the radiant and it worked out great. In the new home we are building, we will probably use a floating engineered wood. I found a website about installing wood floors over radiant heat. The link is at the bottom. What they say is that for radiant heat, engineered wood is more dimensionally stable than solid wood flooring. Also, they say that floating the floor is best because it tends to move as a unit to help accommodate moisture content changes.

What ever you decide to do, make sure you acclimate the flooring first. Also, make sure you run your radiant system for at least 72 hours before installation to make sure the slab is dry.

Here is a link that might be useful: installing wood over radiant heat

Hi - We are considering an engineered wood from Hallmark Hardwoods, which seems to be a less common brand.

We have a concrete slab. I am not sure of the thickness. The house was built 12 years ago and is very high quality custom construction (we purchased the house from the original owners). I could probably call the builder and find out more about the slab.

I should also mention that the room is very large, 35' long. Would floating floors work on such a big room?

We live in the southwest part of Colorado, a very dry climate.

Thanks.

if you glue down your hardwood, please read the isntallation instructions for the wood and the adhesive very carefully. You may have to turn off (or set low) the radiant heat so it does not prematurely cure/skim-over the adhesive, which could cause bonding problems.

as to which is better (glued or floated), either should work out fine so long as the products specified support that type of installation. Consult the manufacturers isntallation instructions for more information on the product.

Thanks FLoorman. The flooring stores all say glue is not recommended for in floor heat, but the installer I want to use has been in business forever and says it will work fine.

Thanks for your perspective. We really would like to use the glue down method.

I have forced water radiant tubing in cement. Can I double glue, first a barrier layer to my existing tile and then and engineered wood to the tile? I couldn’t find any info on the web, nothing relative to existing tile as a substrate as opposed to the cement. Instead of speaking with wood makers, I’m thinking to call some radiant system manufactures Instead of wood manufacturers. It just seems like the tile is a mere extension of the concrete and is the 1st and best conductor of radiant. The tile is virtually fused to the cement and bringing it up is going to be a nightmare. Certainly will if it’s a must. But is it ?

Do what the wood flooring manufacturer states is acceptable.