Installation of parquet on floor heating: Is this possible?

Can you install parquet on floor heating? A question often asked, mostly answered differently. The is unambiguous positive, when specific requirements are met.

Below you can find a description of these requirements:

1. Since parquet on floor heating has an non-conductive effect a maximum thickness of 15 mm is advised. When your parquet is thicker than 15mm, you might have problems: you risk that the floor heating needs to be increased to generate sufficient heat.
2. When you glue down the parquet you avoid that a non-conductive layer is formed between the parquet and the floor heating. This is the case with floating installation when you only glue in the tongue and groove. 3. The choice of wood also plays a part, most suited are all types of oak. Avoid wood species such as beech, maple, robina.
4. Multilayer parquet is better suited than solid parquet. A multilayer parquet consists of different layers that balance each other and therefore is less sensible to expansion or shrinking. Solid planks shrink (or expand) as a unit, which results in gaps between the floor boards. Solid parquet can be installed on floor heating but this can only be max. 130 mm wide and 14 mm thick.
5. It’s very important to install floor heating of the classical system (non-electrical), this means a system based on pipes with water with a maximum surface temperature of 28°C. Sudden temperature changes have a negative effect on the parquet. Ensure that the heating is started up gradually, spread over 4 weeks. Never install parquet on a reversible floor heating, meaning a system that also cools.
6. Before installing the parquet, the floor heating must be active for 4 weeks. When installing the parquet increase the temperature gradually to the minimum and ensure that the relative humidity (RV) in the room is between 45-65%. Too low RV will cause the parquet to shrink, too high RV will cause expansion. The relative humidity can be measured with a hygrometer. A must have!
7. Check the moisture level of the concrete floor before installation. It usually takes a few months (depending on the specific situation, but minimum 4 months) before the concrete has released the moisture. The percentage of moisture can be measured with a concrete moisture meter, let a craftsman execute this test. The maximum moisture percentage is 2%.
Summarized: Lamett advises for installation of parquet on floor heating a maximum thickness of 15 mm, on a non-electrical floor heating. Do the tests of the moisture level in advance.
Good luck! If you have questions or remarks you can send us your message via our website.