- Q.What is the best type
of wood flooring to install over a radiant slab?
A.Wood parquet tiles can be
installed over a radiant slab with reasonable success. They are
relatively thin, and can be bedded in solid mastic adhesive.
This provides good heat conduction, and prefinished parquet
tiles are usually well dried, so shrinkage is
minimized.
Floating hardwood flooring, which is installed over a foam
pad, also might work. However, the more insulating material you
install on the radiant slab, the higher the temperature of the
slab needs to be. I have seen problems where the higher water
temperature needed to compensate for thicker wood flooring or
carpeting has made the floors uncomfortably warm. To avoid
this, slab areas with different floor coverings should be on
separate zones, with different water temperatures.