UFH under existing pine floor boards

[thaldine]

Am I right in thinking that installing UFH below existing pine floorboards may be problematic in terms of what may happen to the boards once the heating is commissioned ?

 

Does the answer also depend on whether the pine boards will be the intended final floor finish ?

Edited July 10, 2021 by thaldine

[RHayes]

Yes, the floor finish is key.  Timber will shrink or contract as it is heated due to the water content reducing.  Unless you control the rate and level of change you are likely to get gaps apearing between the floor boards.  For any timber finish floor surface it is important to control the floor surface temperautre to prevent over heating and the gaps apearing.  The actual science of it is to make the tempertaure change of the timber floor as slow as possible and most floor manufacturers specify a floor limit of 27 or 28 degrees.  If it isn't the finish floor surface what would you be putting over the top?

 

Regards

R