Best type of floor for water Radiant heat

dimckeon

Hi, Hi,
I am looking to put a new floor in a Bedroom. It's water radiant heat, since it's a bedroom I'm not crazy about tile or stone. I would like to do laminate or vinyl. I'm just looking for an expert opinion about the best floor to go with?
What would be the best floor to go with? I was thinking of these two options?
Thanks
Diane

Laminate This is one that I love
Pergo TimberCraft Elite + WetProtect Misty Dawn Hickory 12-mm T x 8-1/4-in W x 54-in L Waterproof Wood Plank Laminate Flooring

Vinyl
Pergo Extreme Wood Originals 2021 Divine Rigid Luxury Vinyl Tile - Matte - 7" X 48", Per Pack: 23.77 Sqft

hot_rod

I don’t know of any floor covering that cannot be used over radiant? Assuming the surface temperatures are within the floor covering requirements. Surface temperature 80 degrees or lower should be adequate unless you have a very high load room.

Im not a huge fan of pad and carpet over radiant.

Personally I think radiators or panel  are a better fit for bedrooms. Easier to control and setback, not covered by furnishings, etc.

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes

You can't go wrong with engineered wood (Pergo) as it has very little resistance to heat transfer.

hot_rod

almost 30 years ago I glued an Anderson hardwood on a slab radiant at my mother in laws. It actually survived two floors, completely under water.
Anderson uses all hardwood plies, where many others have a soft wood core with a hard laminate or printed top covering.
It was very durable, survived may dropped incidences that can damage the soft core type laminates.

Plenty of choices for laminates and engineered flooring these days. Keep it thin.

dimckeon

I so appreciate all the responses. I'm more than comfortable going with one of my choices. Thanks

Voyager

I’m personally a fan of carpet in bedrooms as you can’t beat carpet for bare feet and for noise reduction. However, carpet will have an R-value 2-4 times higher than wood flooring depending on the pad and carpet thickness.

Keep in mind though, that comfort isn’t just temperature and R-value, but also the heat capacity of a material. Materials like carpet have higher R-values, but much lower heat capacity, Why does this matter? Because when you touch something colder than you, the feeling of coldness is a function of heat capacity as much as heat transfer. That is part of the reason that a wood floor at 60 degrees feels much colder to your feet than a carpet floor at the same temperature. Heat from your feet not only transfers faster to the wood (R-value), but it also takes more heat to raise wood 1 degree than it does to raise carpet 1 degree.

Carpet at 60 degrees will feel as comfortable to walk on as will wood at 70 degrees. I have carpet in my house in the bedrooms, hardwood in most of the living areas except bathrooms and kitchen which are ceramic tile. I can tell you firsthand that with the house set back to 64 at night, it is amazing the difference in feel on my feet walking from the bedroom to the kitchen at night. The carpet is quite comfortable, the hardwood feels chilly and the ceramic tile is downright cold on bar feet, but all are pretty much at the same temperature.

The Wire Nut

I just put in solid oak flooring into the 2nd floor of my addition (10 years in the making and counting!) with Warmboard subfloor. One room is a bedroom and is nice and warm. The other is an office/shop and relaxing area. It was carefully nailed in place and not one leak! I brought the temperature up slowly over a few weeks (starting at about 60 degrees and now at 70) and the floor is not warped or showing any signs of being affected by the heat.

Prevch

dimckeon said:

Hi, Hi, I am looking to put a new floor in a Bedroom. It's water radiant heat, since it's a bedroom I'm not crazy about tile or stone. I would like to do laminate or vinyl. I'm just looking for an expert opinion about the best floor to go with? What would be the best floor to go with? I was thinking of these two options? Thanks Diane Laminate This is one that I love Pergo TimberCraft Elite + WetProtect Misty Dawn Hickory 12-mm T x 8-1/4-in W x 54-in L Waterproof Wood Plank Laminate Flooring Vinyl Pergo Extreme Wood Originals 2021 Divine Rigid Luxury Vinyl Tile - Matte - 7" X 48", Per Pack: 23.77 Sqft

I installed Pergo over my radiant floor. Worked great.

Radiant23

We do a lot of warmboard in the North East. Hands down the best radiant heating delivery system you can get. It comes in panels only or a complete system. I’ve done all types of radiant, I won’t do any other type of radiant application unless there is no choice. Cost is not cheap, but no client ever regrets it and often it is a top 3 feature out of the whole new house build. Can’t go wrong there