Engineered Wood vs LVT for parquet floor over screed with wet UFH

[Paene Finitur]

We've got two rooms (25m2 and 10m2) containing a cement screed with UFH in which I'd like to lay parquet, if the budget allows. Initially I was told that so long as I went for engineered wood rather than solid, this would be fine. However, when trying to get quotes, I'm finding many fitters are not keen to do parquet over screed using engineered wood.

 

The reason they seem to give is that they don't get very good results, and they seem to be pushing me towards LVT, which I have no experience of. I'm really keen on the real wood look and feel and I'm a bit skeptical that LVT can look and feel as good, but happy to be converted if it compares well and I must admit, I'm tempted by the 20+ year warranty that some of the manufacturers offer.

 

Has anyone else been skeptical of LVT and subsequently won over by it? Any experiences of high quality LVT parquet?

[Olf]

They don't want to take the risk should you decide you need 80'C flow temperature and as a result wooden floor buckles.

Do you know what floor temperature do you need, whether wood is appropriate at all? How thick is the engineered wood you're eyeing at?

If you're after wood look then vinyl is vinyl and will never look like it. It's more like tiles, so if I had to go LVT route, I'd pick some colorful mosaic type.

[nod]

I wouldn’t rely on the warrantee to make your decision Like many product warrantees They are not worth the paper they are printed on 

UFH temperatures tend to be pretty low and tend not to effect floor covering 

Over the years I’ve seen many issues with a multitude of floor coverings But nothing relating to UFH

[Paene Finitur]

Nobody has actually cited the UFH as a reason for not using engineered wood. To be honest, from the start I was told that it was fine, but three potential contractors have now shied away from it. The only thing I can get out of them is that they say it has a tendency to lift. One guy told me that a customer had it fitted then had to rip it all out. One said they'd have to put a 5-10mm self levelling latex layer down and then glue it, but that seems fairly normal to me - not sure how an underlay would fit into all that though.

 

To be honest, I think with some of them they just don't feel they're up to laying the herringbone pattern, but then they'd have to do that with LVT anyway, I'd have thought as the stuff I want comes in small blocks, not sheets, as I understand it.

[joe90]

Not herringbone but I laid my lounge floor in engineered oak over UFH and it looks brilliant and no problems at all.

[Kelvin]

We are having oak engineered boards in two of the rooms downstairs. The supplier is doing the fitting and they’re fine with UFH. I asked about parquet and that was no problem for them either. 

[markc]

UFH temp is low so engineered wood is no problem at all (temperature used to cure the glue during manufacture will be way above floor temp)

[Conor]

We went for herringbone laminate laid on wood fibre underlay sheets. Love it. Was half the price of engineered wood and we don't have to worry about damaging or water stains.

 It's a very large (70m2) continuous area with only a couple breaks it in. We've not had the heating on but have had the cooling on (12c) and it's been exposed to a lot of direct sun and temperature changes. Not the slightest hint of movement or buckling. So glad we didn't go for engineered wood. Most people warned us away from wood, and seems they were right.

 

You're instincts about them not wanting to lay the herringbone is right... our joiners said no, and we had several people say no as it can be a pain and you need to know the knack and tricks. Our guy was brilliant and worth the money.

[Paene Finitur]

Had another guy round today who was much more savvy about things. He specialized in wood - said LVT was fine on high footfall or especially on wet areas (kitchens, utilities etc) but it would always be different to wood. His approach would be 5-10mm self levelling latex and then gluing the wood (15mm) i.e. no underlay. Not cheap though, even with rustic rather than prime. Would love to do this myself but time is of the essence unfortunately, and we need to be in ASAP.

 

Thanks for all the responses.

[Conor]

If this is a new build with screed floor, why is self leveller needed?

[Adsibob]

We went for engineered herringbone over a sand and cement screed with ufh in it. Works really well and looks great. You just need to prime the screed with a sealant I think, and obviously only do that once the screed is nice and dry. Check what the herringbone supplier’s recommendation is for max subfloorfloor temp. Ours was about 27, which appears to be fine for our purposes, although the minimum manifold temp is something like 35, by the time the water gets around and the heat percolates through the screed we were getting about 28 as a subfloor temp, but we took the 27C max with a pinch of salt.

[JohnMo]

On 16/08/2022 at 08:41, joe90 said:

Not herringbone but I laid my lounge floor in engineered oak over UFH and it looks brilliant and no problems at all.

We are the same, one heating season no issues.  We are on a 100mm concrete screed.  We had elevated humidity in the floor, so had to apply a liquid (epoxy) DPM prior to glueing the floor down.

[Paene Finitur]

On 17/08/2022 at 06:58, Conor said:

If this is a new build with screed floor, why is self leveller needed?

Fair point. I think it's simply because even though the sand/cement screed is about as flat as you'll get non-self-levelling, they need something smoother and more level for the best finish. It's something everyone who's quoted has said. In my case, I also need to raise the floor a bit as the floor in the next room is 25mm stone, so I need quite a thick latex layer.