quik trak under 3/4" hardwood floor. is this ok?

sweetwilly

i am ripping the carpet out of my office and entry way to my house and plan on putting quick trak down on top of 1/2" subfloor. I then plan to install 3/4" hardwood flooring on top of the quick track. Is this ok? do i need anything else? underlayment? nail or glue the hardwood?

CMadatMe

Quik Trak

Sure you can. Just make sure the Quik Trak goes down the opposite way the finished floor is running and do a heat loss.

WarmboardRep

3/4" hardwood answer

Hello, if the quality of the hardwood is good & it is a species of wood with good dimensional stability, then it will work fine on top of most radiant systems as long as the water temps aren't too high.  Warmboard-R might be a better choice as you can nail directly to the panel surface & since Warmboard is 12"oc (tube spacing) you get a lot of nailing space between the tubes.  You also want a product with some thickness to it so that your hardwood nails have something to grab into.  Most Quiktrak applications use a floating floor type product because it is hard to nail through the material & into the subfloor below.  You'll need to ensure enough holding strength for your hardwood, especially if the subfloor below is only 1/2".  I hope that helps. Good luck. Let me know if you have any other questions.

CMadatMe

Self Promotion

What do they say on Mondays at ESPN, Come On Man!!!! One, use screws not nails and water temp to drive through ..68 r-value requires maybe 110 degree water dependent on available floor square footage. What's so hard to nail through 5/8" plywood?

WarmboardRep

From the Wirsbo Design manual

@ a .68 R-Value, quicktrack in their own design manual to heat the home to 65 degrees @ 25 btu/sf heat loss is approx 125 degrees F not 110.  If you want the home warmer than 65 you just have to raise the water temps even higher.  Also hardwood installers rarely use screws to install nice hardwood floors, nails or staples seem to be more standard.  Warmboard will be running @ approx 100 degrees F or less.  I am not saying they cannot use quiktrack for their particular application, but it is good to know what other options might be & having correct info is always a helpful tool.

CMadatMe

Heat Loss

CDAM is giving you a temp at 25 a square. In 20 yrs of doing Quik Trak never seen a room that needed it. Heat loss my friend. Your bringing marketing material to the table. I was referring to the QuikTrak concerning the screws not the hardwood. You also cannot say 100 degree water without the heat loss and available floor square footage.



Yes I agree there are many above floor options for installing radiant but to say lower water temp in your product vs others is a false statement without the heat loss and avail sqft of floor.

sweetwilly

thanks for the responses

thanks everyone! i already have the quik trak so that will be the route i will be taking.

sweetwilly

thanks for the responses

thanks everyone! i already have the quik trak so that will be the route i will be taking.

NRT_Rob

actually not true

Warmboard-R definitely will be a lowER water temp than quik trak in any application, any heat loss and any floor R value, because it's a vastly more conductive panel.



exactly what the water temps you need for a particular job can't be told without a heat loss, but it will never show quik trak to be better than warmboard. hell, quik trak can't even beat heavy plate joist systems.

RobG

Insulation?

Nowhere in the original post do you mention insulating UNDER the subfloor. A must unless doing floor warming only!! I hope you have access to the underside of the area to be heated.  

Rob

sweetwilly

insulation?

i thought you didn't need to insulate under the subfloor with the quik trak? will that make a big difference?

NRT_Rob

downward insultation

required for ANY radiant floor installation.