Engineered hardwood

10 years ago

Is it necessary to glue down engineered hardwood flooring when installing over basement concrete floor? Our concrete floor has radiant heat installed and is heated with a boiler giving the floor a nice toasty feel in the cold winter. Our basement is dry. We do live in the Midwest so we do experience humidity issues however we do run a dehumidifier in the summer months along with air conditioning. I do not like the idea of gluing down the entire floor! We considered the vinyl looking wood floor but I just don't care for the look.

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Comments (5)

PRO
Shannon Ggem Design
10 years ago
This is a great alternative for those in your situation. It's a faux-bois long plank tile. The better tiles have a texture like wood grain, not just a printed image, it feels good under foot and is very beautiful.

The Italian product shown here is no longer in production, but any tile showroom- not home imporvement store- will be able to source many versions of this. Comes in all different colors.

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PRO
APK Designs LLC
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
You don't have to glue it down. You can do a "floating floor" installation, where the installer will leave fractions of an inch at the edges of the room (for temperature shifts) which will be covered by the baseboard. However, I am not sure if radiant heat will be ok for the engineered wood planks. Shannon's recommendation above of porcelain tiles that look like wood planks might be a better choice. They make them so realistic today you cannot tell the difference.
hawaiijsh thanked APK Designs LLC
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PRO
Cancork Floor Inc.
10 years ago
A floating floor is one of your best options. Engineered hardwood (so long as you purchased the "floating" type) does well in basements so long as you take the necessary precautions of a vapour barrier (yes, this still has to be done) over the slab and then the engineered over top.

Please ensure that the manufacturer ALLOWS for installation over in-floor radiant heat (some producers do NOT allow) before doing any form of installation. Please be aware that there are some very specific concerns with wood and radiant heating. The heating system can only be adjusted by 5 degrees in 24 hours. Wild swings in temperature are not "allowed" when wood is installed over radiant heat (I know because our cork floating floors have all the same issues - they are a form of wood and wood needs to adjust slowly).

Humidity must be maintained between 45%-65% throughout the year for most woods. With a floating floor you should be looking at some form of underlay as well or else the planks are going to "slap" against the cement - and the echo is going to be rather annoying. The underlay must be approved for infloor radiant heat.

Floating over radiant heat is the way to go with engineered products.
hawaiijsh thanked Cancork Floor Inc.
PRO
Ayr Flooring Inc.
10 years ago
Agree with Cancork that an Engineered floor must be rated for radiant heat. This mostly has something to do with suitable wood species. Each manufacturer will have its own guidelines, but in our experience hickory wood is usually a tough one to put over radiant. There are others as well.

Also, we would recommend click or drop lock hardwood over tongue and groove gluing. See photo for example.
hawaiijsh thanked Ayr Flooring Inc.
PRO
Hardin Builders, Inc.
10 years ago
Nice response by Cancork Floor Inc. Their right, installing underlayment is important to avoid additional acoustic issues, also it just has a more solid feel beyond accommodating moisture control. We have used a product called Regupol successfully.
Hope that helps.

Engineered hardwood

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Shannon Ggem Design

APK Designs LLC

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