Floor Install

Brad White_9

Tear up the old floor and be done with it. I mean, by the time you get the old finished floor up you will likely have macerated the sub-floor anyway. You can pull that up in the same effort (bring bridge planks!). Lay down T&G plywood or warmboard (not sure how structural that is, I admit; others please advise). Insulate with the opportunity.

In the alternate, Climate Panels or other thin systems with Pergo or other thin flooring may be an option. Just hate to see an opportunity to get a major bit of work done for not much effort overall. Best day you could spend, IMHO.

JJ_4

Floor Install Question

I have a house that I'd like to put radiant in. Here's the complication: The old hardwood floor is worn out and I want to overlay with new 3/4" hardwood. If I try to put a product like "warmboard" down for radiant, then my floor will be too high for the transitions to rest of the house (a large addition and an area with a crawlspace where I can put radiant under the floor). I planned an extra 3/4" height on the addition for this, but not the added height for radiant...hindsight!!

Rather than tear out the old flooring to the sub floor and put warmboard down is it feasible/advisable to rout the old floor and put down the type of metal panels typically used for an under the floor application??? With this approach I could put in the new wood and have it line up with the addition.

What type of protection should PEX have if I were to do this? The subfloor is the old diagonal setup with 1" thick boards. I'm worried about abrasion during any expansion/contraction over the edges of the boards...particlarly at the turns.

I do not have access to the basement floor joists because it is finished...though I plan to have insulation blown in if I do radiant floor.

Another approach I've considered is radiant ceiling. Would 12 ft ceiling heights make this problematic. It's not peaked, it is 12 ft flat throughout. With a ceiling install I'm thinking of using a tin ceiling rather than sheetrock.

Any ideas will help. I will be working with a contractor, but would like to get my ducks in a row first.

Thanks, Jon

Jerry_15

I agree, rip it out, goes faster than you think, especially with a bunch of the right kind of help. They make a glorified tin foil in 4' wide rolls that might be better used under (and maybe over), the radiant panel than another type of vapor barrier, check with the manufacturer. Structurally the radiant panel has got to be better than the existing hardwood floors. You could always ask an engineer. Radiant ceilings suck.

Jerry_15

PS

The flooring I was talking about ripping out was just the finished floor, and then overlaying with rad panel and new flooring. Check out bamboo, thinner too, very stable etc. Removing the sub-floor is good, but definately ups the ante.

Jerry_15

PS

The flooring I was talking about ripping out was just the finished floor, and then overlaying with rad panel and new flooring. Check out bamboo, thinner too, very stable etc. Removing the sub-floor is good, but definately ups the ante.