ᐅ Laminate Flooring and Underfloor Heating -> Height Adjustment

Hello everyone,

We are currently in the final phase of our building project. The screed is laid, and the tiler is ready to start. At the same time, we are looking for suitable laminate flooring. We have already identified a laminate option, so I’ll get straight to the point.

We have underfloor heating throughout the house, operated by an air-to-water heat pump (air-to-water heat pump). The issue we have currently is that on the upper floor, we planned tiles in the hallway with a tile thickness of 9.5mm (0.37 inches) plus the tile installation buildup. We estimate the total height above the screed will be around 15mm (0.6 inches). The laminate, which will border the tiles in three places, has a thickness of 8mm (0.3 inches), and underneath it is the underlay for impact sound insulation with 2.2mm (0.09 inches), so the total height above the screed would be 10.2mm (0.4 inches). This creates a height difference of about 5mm (0.2 inches).

Our question is how best to even out this height difference. We have read about using OSB (or chipboard) panels, but these are only available starting from 10mm (0.4 inches), which would then be too thick. Additionally, we are concerned that this might affect the thermal resistance of the floor heating.

We would really prefer to avoid using "transition strips" as we find them unattractive and impractical.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Best regards,
benkler1401

benkler1401 schrieb:
Hello everyone,

We are currently in the final phase of our construction project.
The screed is installed and the tiler is ready to start. At the same time, we are looking for suitable laminate flooring. We have already identified a laminate option, so now I’ll get straight to the point.

We have underfloor heating throughout the house, operated by an air-to-water heat pump.
The issue we’re facing is that on the upper floor, we planned tiles in the hallway area with a tile thickness of 9.5mm (0.37 inches) plus tile installation layers—altogether, we estimate this will total about 15mm (0.6 inches) above the screed.
The laminate flooring, which will border the tiles in three places, has a thickness of 8mm (0.3 inches), with an additional 2.2mm (0.09 inches) underlay for impact sound insulation, resulting in a total height of 10.2mm (0.4 inches) above the screed. This means there is a height difference of approximately 5mm (0.2 inches).

Our question is: what is the best way to level this height difference? I read about OSB (or chipboard) panels, but they seem to only be available from 10mm (0.4 inches) thickness, which would unfortunately be too thick.
Additionally, we are concerned that adding extra layers might affect the thermal transfer resistance and reduce the efficiency of the underfloor heating system.
We would prefer to avoid using transition strips or height adjustment profiles, as we find them unattractive and impractical.

Thank you very much in advance for your help.

Best regards,
benkler1401

Google "Wineo Dämmmatte Sound Protect Eco Profi SD" – it has a thickness of 3mm (0.12 inches). Have you already accounted for a 0.8mm (0.03 inches) gain? Otherwise, maybe consider thicker laminate flooring? For example, we chose Joka Eastside 9137, which is exactly 10mm (0.4 inches) thick.

Unfortunately, I currently can't find a way to edit the post.

Furthermore, the question is whether a vapor barrier is really necessary.

A vapor barrier and OSB boards for 121 m² (1300 sq ft) would already be quite costly...

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Thank you very much in advance for your advice.
The impact sound insulation is already included with the laminate we are interested in, but it does not have a vapor barrier...

5 mm (0.2 inches) laminate underlay made of XPS/Styrodur from the hardware store.

Not the best idea with underfloor heating..

Hmm... I can consider myself lucky. My construction company addressed these issues in advance. The screed was leveled in the transition area.