ᐅ Vinyl Flooring: Should It Only Be Glued When Used Over Underfloor Heating?

We also installed the vinyl flooring on a subfloor with wooden joists. It gets warm and was suitable for underfloor heating.

Elsewhere, the vinyl was laid with adhesive and filler (without wooden joists) about 1.5 years ago – now some planks and the filler are coming loose. This was installed by a professional company through the construction firm.

I can’t say which method is better. For us, the DIY installation with wooden joists was the easiest.

Deliverer schrieb:
We clicked it – since there is insulation and a reflective layer below the underfloor heating, the heat can only move upward. It might take a few minutes longer, but it does not affect the efficiency.

That is a misconception.

So now it’s a case of one statement against another. Does anyone have any evidence? I’m too lazy to look since my situation is already settled. But my supply temperature of 27-28 degrees Celsius (81-82 degrees Fahrenheit) suggests that the heating is working somehow after all...

With two floors, the discussion really only concerns about half of the floor area (less if you subtract stairs, kitchen, and utility rooms, since they are not heated), because in the ceiling it doesn’t matter where the heat goes.

And whether the extra cost for bonding is still worth it... that would require detailed calculations.

77.willo schrieb:
That is a misconception.

And that doesn't help anyone.
Please briefly explain why, if possible with a source reference.

The room you want to heat experiences heat loss. These losses depend on the difference between the indoor and outdoor temperatures. The purpose of the heating system is to compensate for these losses, or even to exceed them, so that the temperature can not only be maintained but also increased.
This means it must deliver more heat to the room per unit of time than the room loses to the outside.
The amount of heat required is determined by the difference between the surface temperature and the room temperature. If you insulate your underfloor heating relative to the surface (floor construction), you lose efficiency because you have to increase the supply temperature to deliver enough energy to the system. Additionally, this causes a proportional increase in losses elsewhere in your heating system.

This is not hugely significant when comparing floating vinyl plank flooring to glued flooring, but it can still make a difference. That is exactly why every component (floor covering and not to forget the additional impact sound insulation) has a thermal resistance rating, which provides a guideline for its suitability for underfloor heating.

The idea behind this is clear. However, as already mentioned, for floors above the slab it doesn’t really matter, since the heat stays inside the house. Towards the (insulated) slab, the (heated) screed is also additionally insulated. Visually estimated, this is about 100 times more than the theoretical air layer beneath the click vinyl.

In short: where else would the heat go if not into the house?

And even if we heat the slab a few percent more here compared to gluing the floor – you will never recover the additional costs per square meter over a floor’s lifespan of maybe 20 years!

Nevertheless, don’t get me wrong: gluing can be great. Marble flooring or reclaimed oak planks can be as well...