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Reclaimed block flooring and UFH.


joe90

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We have fallen in love with reclaimed wooden block flooring , herringbone design and want it in our lounge, hallway and cloakroom, my question is with UFH ( wet) within a 60mm liquid screed what thickness should I machine the blocks too as I would imagine too thick and it will act as an insulator, too thin and it may distort?. Not sure how it will work with the tongue and grooves!. I guess we will glue it down and as it's over 100 years old it should not shrink anymore. Any advise welcome. J

Edited by joe90
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I looked at this option as we really loved the idea, in the end we did not follow through as it would be a lot more expensive than engineered oak to lay (I estimated at least double the price materials + labour vs good quality engineered oak). There are some stunning reclaims out there, including hardwoods you cannot get hold of new these days. Have you seen https://parquet-parquet.co.uk/

 

If your's is a low energy house then your UFH flow will run pretty cool - say 25-28C - and your slab will be even cooler - probably 23-25C, so I doubt you would get risk of distorting at these temperatures. As for the insulation impact, there should be no material difference between 15mm or 22mm thickness, I would just make sure it is well bonded to the screed to minimise air pockets. We have 22mm engineered oak stuck with adhesive and heat transfer works well.

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Thanks Ragg, yes managed to get recycled stuff at a good price and don't care about labour as woodwork is my thing ?. I would like to use bitumen like originally done but I think the UFH would melt it? And we don't want loose blocks do we?. I was thinking about 15mm so no big step from tiles, carpet whatever!.

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I noticed from the link from Ragg that they recommend sika5500s adhesive and it does not need the bitumen to be removed from the blocks!!!. It depends on whether I machine off the back of the block to use the original patina or machine the front for a "new" finish?. Thoughts anyone?

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I have never laid flooring, but just a thought, the reference level is the tongue and groove so machining first might lead to an uneven floor. Might it be best to stick it down and then sand it to get a flat finish?

 

Also, would maching the front remove the patina that is part of the appeal? Guess depends on the condition e.g. deep scratches.

 

Must admit machining 1000s of small pieces does not appeal so if I were doing it and if the fronts were reasonable I would leave bitumen and Sika it to the floor, then look to sand the minimum I could get away with to leave a flat finish. That website has some tips on laying, maybe call them for advice?

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We have engineered oak flooring in a herringbone pattern on a concrete slab with wet UFH. The boards are 16mm thick, as recommended by the chaps who laid the flooring. Tbh, a lot depends on the temperature you expect the slab to get to and also the quality of the boards

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  • 3 months later...

We've managed to get hold of a load of wide reclaimed pitch pine parquet from an old primary school, so I'm following this with interest. Ours is going in the bedroom upstairs, so probably won't have UFH underneath. We are looking to just machine it to an even thickness and see how it looks. A lot of it still has the gym markings on various pieces, so we'd like to try and keep that history, rather than it looking brand new. 

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I think old flooring looks great so well done , we have given up with the idea of reclaimed wood ( downstairs with UFH) as the amount of work to machine it down to the 15mm or so we need for decent heat transference is just too much work at present and will put back our completion time.

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Sorry to hear, but to check...

14 minutes ago, joe90 said:

machine it down to the 15mm or so we need for decent heat transference

Where does this requirement come from? We have 22mm engineered oak and I would say heat transferrance is not an issue. In one room we have a very large and thick persian rug over the 22mm flooring and that room also heats well. I doubt if there will be a massive difference in heat transfer between 15mm and 22mm, I would say more important is getting a good bond to the screed and minimising voids and air pockets.

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19 hours ago, ragg987 said:

Sorry to hear, but to check...

Where does this requirement come from? We have 22mm engineered oak and I would say heat transferrance is not an issue. In one room we have a very large and thick persian rug over the 22mm flooring and that room also heats well. I doubt if there will be a massive difference in heat transfer between 15mm and 22mm, I would say more important is getting a good bond to the screed and minimising voids and air pockets.

 

The reclaimed wood we were considering was 40mm thick.

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