Pex Under Hardwood
I have pex under wood floor and its been fine since late 2004.
Pex under hardwood. Hydronic systems circulate heated water through pex tubing that winds under the floor. Fred61 minister of fire. Jan 29 2016 4 i ve had under floor radiant since 2002 and see no detrimental effects. Insert a piece of the pex into the track to ensure that the panels are aligned.
Start at the longest wall. Installing radiant floor heating in existing homes begins with aluminum tracks being screwed between the joists which hold pex cross linked polyethylene tubing carrying hot water. The pex tubing is positioned under the floor on slide brackets 8 inches on center with in 16 inches on center joists. The natural humidity of the house doesn t fluctuate as much from season to season with radiant heat.
The brackets allow the pex to be placed just below the floor so it does not touch and then zip ties hold things firmly in place. Install pex tubing before pouring a concrete slab for the home or install it when using plywood as a subfloor. Adding an in floor heating system under hardwood flooring is simple with these instructions. This old house general contractor tom silva shows how to run radiant heat tubing under a new hardwood floor.
I ve also had in floor under laminate for about 4 years with no problems. Nov 26 2008 2 442 southeastern vt. This means they stay the way you installed them. The panels can be used with hardwood flooring and most other types of finished flooring materials.
By this old house. With less fluctuation of humidity wood floors don t expand or contract as much. It can go under most existing flooring including wood tile vinyl and even carpet. Cut several 12 inch pieces of the pex pipe and lay out the panels.
2 snap the flexible pex tubing into the grooves of the heat transfer plates. Plastic like pex is not a good transfer medium says richard. Another benefit of radiant heat under wood floors is it is better for the wood. The panels have grooves already cut that accept the pex piping in various spacing configurations.
When necessary bore inch holes through the joists to continue the run of. The advantage of using the panels is that they keep the change in height to the room s floor to a minimum usually under 3 4 inch.