ᐅ Cork flooring under pressure, hardwood parquet, linoleum, vinyl, multisensor surfaces, and more.
Created on: 21 Sep 2014 18:57
M
Manu1976
We are about to decide what type of flooring to install in the living room and children’s rooms, and with so many options available, we’ve become quite unsure. Right now, we have oiled cork flooring in a ship deck pattern in the children’s rooms, and we really like the comfort it provides. However, the kids no longer like the cork, and they want something different in the new house. But what?
What kind of flooring do you have in your living room and children’s rooms (bedrooms)? And why? Would you choose the same again? If yes – why? If not – why? We have a low-temperature underfloor heating system.
What kind of flooring do you have in your living room and children’s rooms (bedrooms)? And why? Would you choose the same again? If yes – why? If not – why? We have a low-temperature underfloor heating system.
B
Bauexperte22 Sep 2014 13:48Hello,
All forums tend to drift into very narrow discussions at some point; in this case, the debate over parquet or carpet. In my opinion, it is more important to consider other factors in this topic than debating whether physics applies yes/no or minimal additional effort is needed.
Here is an interesting text from an expert office in Koblenz:
**It is known that there are surface heating systems that differ between water-based underfloor heating and electric underfloor heating. Furthermore, a distinction is made between direct underfloor heating and storage underfloor heating. The actual users of heated floor constructions, whether tenants or owners, are primarily interested in the economic aspects, such as energy consumption. For the user, the main concern is that the surface heating is not too slow but heats the rooms relatively quickly to ensure comfort and a feeling of well-being. For the consumer/user, it plays a minor role whether the floor covering is porcelain stoneware tiles, marble elements, textile or elastic floor coverings, or a parquet layer / wide plank layer. However, these floor coverings, including parquet, have very different linear thermal expansion coefficients, which must be taken into account in heated constructions.
The floor damage caused mainly by cracks and crack markings, including separation joints, which were frequently observed in the past, have decreased in the flooring industry because planners and specialized companies have started to observe and consider the topic of “movement joints for underfloor heating, edge joints/room joints, and field delimitation joints.”
What types of damage and appearances are known within floor constructions/heated load distribution layers?
Regarding ceramic tiles/slabs including natural stone elements, marble slabs, and porcelain stoneware tiles, deformations, separation joints, and matching cracks still occur depending on the geometry of the rooms and fixings/constrictions.
Elastic and textile floor coverings either exhibit dimensional changes/shrinkage or develop “worm-like elevations” on the surface of the flooring due to separation joints and/or cracks within the screed construction. Solid parquet and wooden block elements also show separation joints and/or unusual joints in the wooden block/parquet surfaces under increased heat load. Multi-layer parquet surfaces also develop joints, but mostly these are surface layer detachment and/or “dry cracks.”
Underfloor/Surface heating generates radiant heat
Due to the radiant heat / radiation temperature, solid parquet as well as multi-layer parquet experience disproportionate drying, which causes not only “dry cracks” in the surface layer of multi-layer parquet but also deformation of parquet elements and unusual joints within solid parquet areas. Based on expert evaluations, it is known that many “dry cracks” and other parquet damages are caused because tenants/users lay very thick fitted carpets on parquet surfaces. The author of this specialist article has recorded floor temperatures of over 40°C (104°F) on parquet surfaces covered with carpets. This issue leads to parquet damage, especially during the winter months, due to the increased heat load/radiant heat on the parquet surfaces beneath the carpets.
How do courts rule in such damage cases?
The author of this specialist article knows of several court rulings where the court sided with the client/user because the contractor failed to properly inform about the heated floor construction, especially that the surface/floor temperature must not exceed 27°C – 29°C (81°F – 84°F), even under fitted carpets.
The courts refer accordingly to the professional companies and their duty to provide this information.
Are such warnings only applicable to parquet surfaces?
Design flooring manufacturers also state in their technical specifications:
“…suitable for underfloor heating, temperatures above 27°C – 29°C (81°F – 84°F) are not permitted.”
In this case, the contractor has no influence on onsite conditions or to what extent the client/user lays additional fitted carpets on design surfaces. Radiation temperatures/heat loads of 35°C to 40°C (95°F to 104°F) are common in these cases.
The term “suitable for underfloor heating” does not say anything about the appearance of discolorations and/or color deviations and/or dry cracks within a parquet layer. The term mainly refers to the thermal resistance of a parquet/floor covering layer, which should not exceed 0.17 m² K/W (m² K/W).
Heated floor constructions and relative humidity
Higher surface temperatures on heated screed change the air humidity in the layer of air adjacent to the floor. These relationships can be calculated. In a room climate with a certain temperature, which corresponds to a saturation vapor pressure, a specific relative humidity causes a vapor partial pressure. Since the vapor partial pressure in a closed air volume remains constant, the relative humidity decreases depending on the saturation vapor pressure at the floor surface.
It can be demonstrated that, with heated screed surface temperatures of only 25°C (77°F), the moisture content of the parquet wood is reduced by about 2%, for example from 9% to 7%. If surface temperatures of 29°C (84°F) or toward window fronts of 35°C (95°F) are assumed, very low wood moisture contents result. Even under modern living conditions with temperatures well above 20°C (68°F) and relative humidity well below 50%, a wood moisture content of 7% is often undercut, so that wood moisture below 5% in parquet on heated screeds is not uncommon, especially if the parquet surfaces/wood are covered with fitted carpets. This reduced wood moisture causes shrinkage, i.e., a shrinking process of the parquet wood.
In summary, it should be noted that wooden floors/parquet surfaces must not be covered with thick, dense carpets, i.e., fitted carpets, because besides an unacceptable increase in thermal resistance, the surface temperature of the wood floor/parquet increases disproportionately. Increased surface temperatures are always accompanied by a decrease in air humidity, which is why wooden floors/parquet on heated screeds covered with carpets develop significant gaps, dry cracks, the previously mentioned separation joints, and shear-off of the surface veneer layers in multi-layer parquet.
More than ever and due to current case law and the described conditions, contractors are obliged to inform the client/user about heat loads and their consequences when installing heated floor constructions.
The above applies also to elastic floor coverings, especially design floors, which tend to discolor at heat loads above 29°C (84°F).
Regards, Bauexperte
Kisska86 schrieb:Smile, it could be worse ... I do it too
Always this sarcasm here.
All forums tend to drift into very narrow discussions at some point; in this case, the debate over parquet or carpet. In my opinion, it is more important to consider other factors in this topic than debating whether physics applies yes/no or minimal additional effort is needed.
Here is an interesting text from an expert office in Koblenz:
**It is known that there are surface heating systems that differ between water-based underfloor heating and electric underfloor heating. Furthermore, a distinction is made between direct underfloor heating and storage underfloor heating. The actual users of heated floor constructions, whether tenants or owners, are primarily interested in the economic aspects, such as energy consumption. For the user, the main concern is that the surface heating is not too slow but heats the rooms relatively quickly to ensure comfort and a feeling of well-being. For the consumer/user, it plays a minor role whether the floor covering is porcelain stoneware tiles, marble elements, textile or elastic floor coverings, or a parquet layer / wide plank layer. However, these floor coverings, including parquet, have very different linear thermal expansion coefficients, which must be taken into account in heated constructions.
The floor damage caused mainly by cracks and crack markings, including separation joints, which were frequently observed in the past, have decreased in the flooring industry because planners and specialized companies have started to observe and consider the topic of “movement joints for underfloor heating, edge joints/room joints, and field delimitation joints.”
What types of damage and appearances are known within floor constructions/heated load distribution layers?
Regarding ceramic tiles/slabs including natural stone elements, marble slabs, and porcelain stoneware tiles, deformations, separation joints, and matching cracks still occur depending on the geometry of the rooms and fixings/constrictions.
Elastic and textile floor coverings either exhibit dimensional changes/shrinkage or develop “worm-like elevations” on the surface of the flooring due to separation joints and/or cracks within the screed construction. Solid parquet and wooden block elements also show separation joints and/or unusual joints in the wooden block/parquet surfaces under increased heat load. Multi-layer parquet surfaces also develop joints, but mostly these are surface layer detachment and/or “dry cracks.”
Underfloor/Surface heating generates radiant heat
Due to the radiant heat / radiation temperature, solid parquet as well as multi-layer parquet experience disproportionate drying, which causes not only “dry cracks” in the surface layer of multi-layer parquet but also deformation of parquet elements and unusual joints within solid parquet areas. Based on expert evaluations, it is known that many “dry cracks” and other parquet damages are caused because tenants/users lay very thick fitted carpets on parquet surfaces. The author of this specialist article has recorded floor temperatures of over 40°C (104°F) on parquet surfaces covered with carpets. This issue leads to parquet damage, especially during the winter months, due to the increased heat load/radiant heat on the parquet surfaces beneath the carpets.
How do courts rule in such damage cases?
The author of this specialist article knows of several court rulings where the court sided with the client/user because the contractor failed to properly inform about the heated floor construction, especially that the surface/floor temperature must not exceed 27°C – 29°C (81°F – 84°F), even under fitted carpets.
The courts refer accordingly to the professional companies and their duty to provide this information.
Are such warnings only applicable to parquet surfaces?
Design flooring manufacturers also state in their technical specifications:
“…suitable for underfloor heating, temperatures above 27°C – 29°C (81°F – 84°F) are not permitted.”
In this case, the contractor has no influence on onsite conditions or to what extent the client/user lays additional fitted carpets on design surfaces. Radiation temperatures/heat loads of 35°C to 40°C (95°F to 104°F) are common in these cases.
The term “suitable for underfloor heating” does not say anything about the appearance of discolorations and/or color deviations and/or dry cracks within a parquet layer. The term mainly refers to the thermal resistance of a parquet/floor covering layer, which should not exceed 0.17 m² K/W (m² K/W).
Heated floor constructions and relative humidity
Higher surface temperatures on heated screed change the air humidity in the layer of air adjacent to the floor. These relationships can be calculated. In a room climate with a certain temperature, which corresponds to a saturation vapor pressure, a specific relative humidity causes a vapor partial pressure. Since the vapor partial pressure in a closed air volume remains constant, the relative humidity decreases depending on the saturation vapor pressure at the floor surface.
It can be demonstrated that, with heated screed surface temperatures of only 25°C (77°F), the moisture content of the parquet wood is reduced by about 2%, for example from 9% to 7%. If surface temperatures of 29°C (84°F) or toward window fronts of 35°C (95°F) are assumed, very low wood moisture contents result. Even under modern living conditions with temperatures well above 20°C (68°F) and relative humidity well below 50%, a wood moisture content of 7% is often undercut, so that wood moisture below 5% in parquet on heated screeds is not uncommon, especially if the parquet surfaces/wood are covered with fitted carpets. This reduced wood moisture causes shrinkage, i.e., a shrinking process of the parquet wood.
In summary, it should be noted that wooden floors/parquet surfaces must not be covered with thick, dense carpets, i.e., fitted carpets, because besides an unacceptable increase in thermal resistance, the surface temperature of the wood floor/parquet increases disproportionately. Increased surface temperatures are always accompanied by a decrease in air humidity, which is why wooden floors/parquet on heated screeds covered with carpets develop significant gaps, dry cracks, the previously mentioned separation joints, and shear-off of the surface veneer layers in multi-layer parquet.
More than ever and due to current case law and the described conditions, contractors are obliged to inform the client/user about heat loads and their consequences when installing heated floor constructions.
The above applies also to elastic floor coverings, especially design floors, which tend to discolor at heat loads above 29°C (84°F).
Kisska86 schrieb:I also have two monsters; an old diva (European Shorthair) and a young one (Norwegian Forest Cat/Ragdoll mix). Since they are allowed everywhere, I know the problem well and can only recommend vacuuming the favorite resting places more often; otherwise, you won’t really get on top of the hair issue
My only concern now is pet hair. We have two Maine Coon cats. Still carpet?
Regards, Bauexperte
There are so many carpets designed for underfloor heating. Ours cost €35. The backing of the fabric is thinner than a tile, so it heats up quickly and transfers the warmth. However, because a carpet provides a warmer feeling underfoot, the thermostat doesn’t need to be turned up as high as it does with our tiled floor.
Personally, I’m not very fond of the cork texture...
Personally, I’m not very fond of the cork texture...
Personally, I don’t like cork either. We will have tiles on the ground floor (we both know that from our parents’ houses, including underfloor heating at my parents’ place, and we like it). There will be carpet in the children’s room and bedroom, and my wife has requested laminate flooring in the office. She spends time there from 8 a.m. to 2 or 3 p.m., so she can have that choice.
D
DerBjoern22 Sep 2014 14:20For pet hair, I can recommend the continuous use of a good robotic vacuum cleaner. We already had one in our old apartment, and it significantly reduced both hair and dust buildup. However, we do not have any carpets in the house.
D
DerBjoern22 Sep 2014 14:24In our house, we have designer vinyl flooring everywhere except in the hallway, bathroom, kitchen, and utility room. There, we have tiles. Vinyl is very suitable for underfloor heating but still not as cold underfoot as tiles. Keep in mind that modern underfloor heating systems do not get as warm as they used to. Also, the underfloor heating is not running all year round.
I don’t find cork flooring visually unpleasant at all. We had a very light, bleached version in our apartment and both liked it. But in the children’s room, we still used a rug on top. Our kids are still very young (20 and 3 months) and spend a lot of time playing on the floor. I think that will continue for a while. And sitting on the cork was still too cold for their bottoms, while the rug was much more comfortable... Man, oh man... Honestly, I’m just as confused as before and haven’t made a decision yet...
@ypg: 35 Euro for a rug is certainly something. We calculated with about 25€/m² for the flooring.
@ypg: 35 Euro for a rug is certainly something. We calculated with about 25€/m² for the flooring.
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