Best overall type of finish wood floor over gyp floor radiant?

PG

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PG

Best hardwood over radiant?

What are the experts choices of hardwwod flooring over a gyp type pour over radiant floor heat? What are the options? What are the pluses and minuses of each?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

S Davis

Kahrs

Patrick,

Check out Kahrs wood floors it works very well with radiant.

www.kahrs.com

S Davis


Apex Radiant Heating

Nron_9

best wood

the 1/4 sawed wood is the best , with the ability to limit floor temp to 85 F max ,O and run the floor for 2-3 weeks before bringing in the hardwood for climatization then leave it onother 3 weeks before installing the floor

PG

What makes it better then standard 3/4\" hardwood?



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Kevin__Flynn

Hardwood

Patrick,

Wood of any type or cut will expand and contract with heat or lack there of. The difference between 1/4 sawn and standard cut is that, because of the direction of the grain in 1/4 sawn, it will expand up and down and not side to side. This eliminates the possibility of seeing gaps between the panels.

The look of the grain on the finished floor however, is different.


kf

PG

Thanks...........

> Patrick,

>

> Wood of any type or cut will expand

> and contract with heat or lack there of. The

> difference between 1/4 sawn and standard cut is

> that, because of the direction of the grain in

> 1/4 sawn, it will expand up and down and not side

> to side. This eliminates the possibility of

> seeing gaps between the panels.

>

> The look of

> the grain on the finished floor however, is

> different.

>

> kf



for the input. Is the difference in looks good or bad? The existing part of my house has 80 year old red oak. Any chance to match? Or shouldn't I bother trying? Thanks

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PG

Thanks...........

for the input. Is the difference in looks good or bad? The existing part of my house has 80 year old red oak. Any chance to match? Or shouldn't I bother trying? Thanks

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Kevin__Flynn

One persons good....

is another persons bad. I don't mind it but you'll have to see for yourself.


kf

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Quarter-sawn red oak has less prominent (and much more consistent) grain lines. Quarter-sawn red oak also shows the squarish, sort of shining "flakes" that most find exceptionally attractive. It's always been premium priced. Cut the "normal" way, not much of a log comes out quarter-sawn. Cut specially, there is a lot more waste.

hr

Without a doubt

engineered products are best. Not only do they control movement with the multi layer build up, but many are factory sealed on all four sides. This helps a lot with the moisture and humidity the inhale, I think.

hot rod

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jerry scharf_2

width matters

Patrick,

First of all, there is a misconception about heat and wood expansion. Wood is not like metal, it does not expand and contract with heat. Wood expands and contracts with the amount of moisture it contains. As you heat the floor, the air layer right above the floor warms, its relative humidity drops, that pulls moisture out of the wood and it contracts.

The amount of moisture in the house as a whole is probably more critical than the microclimate near the floor surface. If your house is tight and the relative humidity doesn't drop like a rock in the winter, the floor will have much less problem. If you have a leaky house in a cold climate, your floor will contract in the winter no matter what you do with your radiant heat.

Now comes the critical issue of what happens when the wood does shrink. The worst problem that can occur is checking (cracks in the wood) and cupping (a warp across the width of the wood strip.) The next class of problems is gaps in the floor. These get worse as the width of the flooring strip increases. So as you go 3" vs 5" vs 8" strips, the problems increase. Another problem that can occur is called panelization, where a group of boards contract as a group and produce larger gaps.

Now there is the types of wood floor and the installation technique. Flat sawn wood has the most difficulty with the problems above, especially cupping. Quarter sawn wood orients the grain such that the problems are less. Engineered wood (flooring quality plywood by a fancy name) is the most stable. At 3" there is generally not much problem is the wood and floor are correctly aclimated and installed. I would be more careful at 5" and at 8" I would probably prefer engineered flooring.

jerry