Infloor Infloorboard User Manual
Page 27
Infloorboard™ Application & Installation Manual
27
FLOORING COVERING INST
ALLA
TION
C
ONSIDERATIONS: TRADITIONAL STRIP WOOD FLOORING OVER
INFLOORBOARD™
The key to installing wood floors over radiant heat is to give extra care to wood species,
wood width and thickness, moisture levels, installation practices, the heat output require-
ments of your system, and radiant heating control.
BOARD WIDTH:
Install narrow board widths, preferably 3 inches or less. Avoid boards wider
than 4 inches. Narrow boards provide more gaps for expansion and contraction across a
floor; therefore, gaps resulting from natural movement are much less noticeable. The maxi-
mum recommended board depth is 3/4 inch. Thicker boards add too much resistance to
heat transfer.
DIMENSIONAL STABILITY:
Use quarter sawn wood. It’s significantly more dimensionally stable
than wood that is plain sawn. Pick a wood that’s known for its dimensional stability.
American cherry, ash, most softwoods and teak fill this bill, and oak is reasonably stable. By
contrast, hickory, maple, madronne and American beech are known to be less stable.
AGE & DRYING IN TROPICAL WOODS:
If you’re importing tropical or exotic woods, pay close
attention to the source, age and how the wood has been dried. Tropical wood needs to dry
slowly. Quick drying creates stresses that can affect the wood later as it expands and con-
tracts. If your supplier has stored the wood in your region with no problems for one to two
years, surprise stress-related problems are much less likely. Though it can be fun to be
unique, avoid pioneering the use of a wood where there is little information on its dimen-
sional stability.
MOISTURE:
Wood naturally expands and contracts in response to changes in moisture. With
this in mind, avoid installing wood flooring during stages like sheet rocking or painting,
when significant moisture may be introduced into a structure. Operate the heating system
until the humidity in the structure stabilizes to the average level expected for the area in
which the wood floor will be installed. Then, allow the wood to acclimatize to this humidi-
ty level by "sticking" (usually several weeks) before installation. This will minimize dimen-
sional changes due to moisture. Make sure the wood is dry, since radiant heat itself can be
drying. Experienced flooring installers recommend buying wood for radiant at around 6 to
8 percent moisture content. This figure may change some regionally. Use a moisture meter
during the construction process, and then use the average of many readings. Remember, the
average expected humidity level of a structure is an average of seasonal conditions. So if the
structure is expected to average 30 percent humidity in the winter and 50 percent in the
summer, the average would be 40 percent. This equates to about a 7.5 percent moisture
content in the wood. Most installers consider this average the ideal moisture level at which
to install wood flooring. These numbers can vary significantly by region.
SURFACE TEMPERATURE:
The maximum surface temperature of a wood floor should be limit-
ed to 85°F. Use a control strategy that assures this will not be exceeded and brings the floors
through temperature changes gradually.