Everything New Is Actually Well-Forgotten Old

The meaning of the sentence is that people don’t really invent new things, they only rediscover what someone already found in the past. It certainly holds true for underfloor heating (UFH) which is a technique known by the ancient Romans more than 2000 years ago. The fact that we still use a slightly modified alternative of what people had thousands of years ago only proves how good the method actually is.

The main advantage of underfloor heating lies in the fact that it heats the whole floor evenly and provides the consistency traditional radiators are lacking. It will also clear some space in your home while also helping you save significant amounts of energy (somewhere between 15-40%). In addition to the above benefits, underfloor heating can greatly reduce the chance that mildew or mites will appear anywhere near your wooden floor.

Underfloor Heating and Hardwood Flooring

It’s clear that underfloor heating offers great advantages. What about the floor then? What kind will work best? Solid wood or engineered? Solid wood boards are made from single pieces of timber which tend to be vulnerable to damage from frequent changes in temperature and moisture levels. Because of this weakness, solid wood is not very well suited for underfloor heating. Engineered floors, on the other hand, will work fine with it thanks to their unique multilayered design.

Nobody will be surprised to hear that parquets are actually made from wood. However, some people just assume that parquet blocks are essentially they are all solid. This isn’t true. Just like regular board floors, parquets too are divided into solid and engineered. Engineered parquets are made from layers of ply forming a core with hardwood veneer on top. According to the European Norm, such a product can only be called parquet if the veneer is no less than 2,5mm thick.  

Parquets and Underfloor Heating

When most people choose a wooden floor of any kind, they prefer to have it as thick as possible because this allows them to sand and refinish more often. While this is true, when install underfloor heating, you must not go as thick as possible in order to allow the heat to safely and efficiently transfer from the blocks to your room. We recommend using blocks with a thickness of around 18-20mm including the veneer. In our professional opinion, suck thickness this is the optimal choice.

Floating or Glued?

For engineered parquet flooring installation with underfloor heating, we have two options. We can glue the parquet down or leave it to “float” without fixing it to the subfloor. It is recommended to glue the wood in order to optimise the heat transfer. A floating installation will create air pockets which will make the heating less efficient.

Why Engineered Parquet and Not Something Else?

You have several options that work perfectly well with UFH – laminate, vinyl and even carpet flooring. Why go parquet? Why even hardwood at all when there are much cheaper alternatives? The answer lies in two word – quality and style. As nice as laminate and vinyl are, they are simply artificial products which simply imitate real wood. Nothing can compare to the beauty of natural timber and this is why wood remains more popular than either of those. Carpets, on the other hand, can provide good insulation but simply lacks the durability and style of hardwood. In addition to everything else, parquets are a style of flooring with several centuries of history of being used by royalty and nobility alike. Parquetry not only just as practical as all the other options, it is a thing of beauty with timeless appeal. If you want something that is both pretty and useful, then look no more!