ᐅ Wood Flooring in New Construction and Increasing Questions

I have asked this question elsewhere but unfortunately didn’t get an answer: We want to install engineered hardwood flooring in the bedroom, office, and both guest rooms (we are deciding between Meister and Haro). Originally, I assumed it had to be fully glued down because of the underfloor heating. However, a tennis friend recently told me that this is no longer necessarily required. He knows something about construction. Floating installation is also possible, as long as you use the appropriate impact sound insulation. His daughter’s floor was installed that way, and it does not negatively affect the function of the underfloor heating. Several flooring retailers have also confirmed this to me. The only downside is that transition strips need to be used. Some people strongly advise that the flooring must be glued down. Impact sound insulation is a minor concern for us. Nobody walks around in street shoes anyway, at least not in the bedrooms and guest rooms. Potential future sanding is also not a factor. I also read that someone used 15mm (0.6 inch) thick solid wood planks, which of course were glued down. Does anyone have experience with this?

We have both floating parquet and self-glued parquet installed here. I would prefer gluing it down because it simply feels much better to walk on; for example, floating parquet sometimes creaks. The heat from underfloor heating also transfers better with glued parquet, although it is certainly possible to install it floating as well. Gluing down parquet is not rocket science and can be done DIY with the right information.

Best regards
Sabine

Hello,
Floating installation of parquet flooring is indeed not a big deal, even with underfloor heating. The important thing is to use the right impact sound insulation; using those white foam sheets won’t win you any friends.
Heat conduction is not an issue with floating floors either. We used Haro Silent Pro DS. This material is very dense, provides excellent impact sound insulation, and does not significantly reduce heat transfer.
However, you should be aware that floating parquet will always move more than glued flooring, which means it may creak when you walk on it. In our upper hallway, the creaking is quite noticeable, especially since there are no furniture pieces to add weight and stabilize the floor. Walking on it feels very pronounced—like in an old building.

Best regards,

Andreas

Thank you, andimann, that matches what I was told as well. The most important aspect for me was related to heat transfer, and I was also advised that special impact sound insulation is needed in this regard. Since these rooms are ones where there won't be much foot traffic anyway, it's not a big issue if there is occasional creaking.

To be honest, installing a floating click floor is one of the easiest tasks in the whole house and can easily be done by yourself. There are very few trades where you can make so few serious mistakes. While with plumbing you could flood the entire house, the worst that can happen with floating floor installation is that the groove might lift again, causing uneven edges. You just redo it and that’s it.

Of course, you can make plenty of mistakes. But once the screed has dried and you have the official approval, if you lay down a proper underlay (thermal conductive for underfloor heating, which also evens out minor bumps), you can install laminate, PVC, click parquet, etc. without any problems. The tools needed for cutting are also nothing complicated.

The nice thing about flooring is that imperfect execution isn’t a huge deal and, unlike electrical or plumbing work, you can just fix or replace it during renovation a few years down the line. Our laminate in the bedroom isn’t perfect in one or two spots. So what? It doesn’t bother us now, and in 5-6 years when we renovate the room, we’ll simply replace the floor with carpet. Cost? For one room about 4 meters (13 feet) wide and approximately 4 meters (13 feet) long, that’s roughly 4 × 4.5 m (13 × 15 feet) = 18 square meters (194 square feet) multiplied by the carpet price per square meter. Very manageable.

Exactly payday. And then there is the argument that floating parquet flooring cannot be sanded down. Sanding oiled parquet is not ideal anyway, and the sanding process often costs almost as much as installing new flooring. Not to mention the mess that sanding creates.