Tongue and Grove Chipboard, Caberdek, other?

[revelation]

Hi all

 

I require some advice on the type of floor deck to use.  We are having underfloor heating between our joists on the 1st floor and the loft.  We are having our UFH on aluminium spreader plates so have been advised to put on 18mm deck then our 18mm engineered wood on top of that.  There seems to be a big difference in pricing on the tongue and grove chipboard type floorings.  I want to use whatever will work best with UFH.  Our property is almost water tight, we're waiting for windows.

 

Caberdek with a plastic protective layer seems to be the most expensive, is this worth the extra cost or should I go for the cheapest 18mm tongue and grove stuff without the protective layer?

 

Any other recommendations would also be great.

[Gus Potter]

Hi Revelation.

 

As an aside. It would be worth checking if the joists can take a sand/ cement concrete screed. Ask the Engineer if the floor can take a bit extra load, this is a simple option, but it works and it's easy to lay. The heat does not perhaps transmit as fast but at the end of the day heat rises and it will come out eventually. Look up Jeremy Harris on this site as there is some great info and lots of good contributions from the other site members.

 

Take a basic sand cement infill between the first floor joists. You just need to set the timer to come on a bit earlier. Unless you want to try and make UF perform in response time like radiators? You could save a lot by not having the spreader plates. Your first floor will almost "tick" over as you'll get heat transfer from the ground floor. In other words (crudely) the ceiling below will also be heated by the ground floor UF and the heat gets up the stair well too. I'm not being too scientific here.

 

The key here is that if you have not got some heat into the building and reduced the humidity then the last thing you need is chipboard with a plastic layer, it will just seal in the moisture. It's a pain but get the chipboard, stack it up with packers so that there is a gap between each board, let the wind into it and get it as dry as you can. Leave a gap at the edge of the floor for when you go on holiday and the heating is off .. it will swell.

 

Screw it (chipboard) down with plenty glue , you can then go over it later and adjust / add more screws to stop most of the creaks / squeeks! It's hard to stop them all but that is part of underfloor heating life! But when you can walk about in your bare feet in luxury, you just learn to avoid the odd squeeky bit! And, when you get older and a bit deafer you don't hear the noise anyway.

 

Before you lay the oak really be patient and condition it, it will pay dividends!

 

 

 

 

[revelation]

28 minutes ago, Gus Potter said:

Hi Revelation.

 

As an aside. It would be worth checking if the joists can take a sand/ cement concrete screed. Ask the Engineer if the floor can take a bit extra load, this is a simple option, but it works and it's easy to lay. The heat does not perhaps transmit as fast but at the end of the day heat rises and it will come out eventually. Look up Jeremy Harris on this site as there is some great info and lots of good contributions from the other site members.

 

Take a basic sand cement infill between the first floor joists. You just need to set the timer to come on a bit earlier. Unless you want to try and make UF perform in response time like radiators? You could save a lot by not having the spreader plates. Your first floor will almost "tick" over as you'll get heat transfer from the ground floor. In other words (crudely) the ceiling below will also be heated by the ground floor UF and the heat gets up the stair well too. I'm not being too scientific here.

 

The key here is that if you have not got some heat into the building and reduced the humidity then the last thing you need is chipboard with a plastic layer, it will just seal in the moisture. It's a pain but get the chipboard, stack it up with packers so that there is a gap between each board, let the wind into it and get it as dry as you can. Leave a gap at the edge of the floor for when you go on holiday and the heating is off .. it will swell.

 

Screw it (chipboard) down with plenty glue , you can then go over it later and adjust / add more screws to stop most of the creaks / squeeks! It's hard to stop them all but that is part of underfloor heating life! But when you can walk about in your bare feet in luxury, you just learn to avoid the odd squeeky bit! And, when you get older and a bit deafer you don't hear the noise anyway.

 

Before you lay the oak really be patient and condition it, it will pay dividends!

 

 

 

 

 

I can't really add to the weight, due to having to bring floor heights down we have had to use 150mm x 75mm timber.  So i don't really want to add much more weight, and I have bought most of the aluminium spreader plates already.  and we have decided to put insulation below too.  (already discussed that in another thread.

 

So you reckon its best to buy the non plastic film cabernek?  and will non caber branded stuff do exactly the same job or do caber branded boards offer better quality?

 

[Gus Potter]

Good question Revelation.

 

Just a thought.. make sure you buy flooring with a BBA and a CE certificate /mark, in other words make sure you buy structural chip board flooring.

 

Once you get this stuff it's very much up to you. If you don't look after the materials on site then no matter how much you spend you are wasting your money. Have a look at the manufacture's data (fine print), they spell it out in terms of material handling and storage etc.

 

If you are going for UFH then you want to get it as dry as you can. The plastic film is favoured by developers as they get a longer window before wind and water tight, also they need to spend less on the commerial clean after the tapers/ plasterers have been in.  But generally the developers are not doing UFH.

 

I would buy the unfilmed stuff, look after it and get it as dry as you can. Then once you are ready for the carpets, oak flooring, get down on you hands and knees and give it a good old fashioned scrub with a cloth and a brush!.. twice at least. Then enjoy the fruits, you can walk about in your bare feet..it's great!

 

 

 

[PeterW]

All depends on the joist spacing. 18mm is only usable up to 400mm joist spacing then you need to use 22mm anyway. 
 

in terms of the peel layer or sealed surface boards the only advantage they have is to provide a waterproof deck (ie for when a house has no roof) for up to 60 days and the peel system ones make it easy to clean up after plastering and painting. Other than that, P5 is P5..!

[JamesP]

I would recommend the P5 Film coated Caberdek + D4 Glue and screws. No squeaks. As @PeterW says 18mm or 22mm depending on your joist width. 

Remove the film after plastering.