Acoustic floors & Underfloor heating

Noise Reducing Acoustic Flooring and Underfloor Heating

Reducing Noise – Acoustic Systems

Special underlay, boards and adhesives are available to reduce footfall and noise transmission with British Standard or similar rated decibel reduction. These are easier to install under engineered hardwood flooring which is simply floated over the top of acoustic underlay such as Timbermate Excel or Redupax boards.

Excel can be installed underneath secret nailed solid hardwood flooring to reduce footfall but there will some transmission through the nail to the subfloor below.

Elastic polyurethane adhesives such as Sika T52 or Rapid Bond allow solids to be bonded to the subfloor without nail fixing, produce decibel reduction and can be incorporated with a special underlay system to further reduce noise transmission.

Underfloor Heating

Most engineered boards are suitable over under floor heating except for beech which is less stable than other hardwoods. Many manufacturers advise fully bonding the boards to the subfloor rather than installing as a floating system. Special requirements apply.

There is little information from manufacturers of solid hardwood flooring , many of them avoiding the problem. However there is a published article from the Hardwood Manufacturers Association.

Main points:

1. Use narrower boards, strip rather than plank.
2. Install over ply.
3. Heating must be running before delivery of flooring.
4. Acclimatise the flooring fully beforehand , may require racking out the flooring .
5. Do not fully turn off the system for long periods.
6. British Standard 8201 suggests a timber moisture content of 6 -8%.

Our Recomendations for installing wood floors over underfloor heating here