Underfloor heating cooling and reversible

The installation of wood flooring on a low-temperature underfloor heating is possible but requires some particular technical precautions. Make sure of the suitability of the wood flooring and the heating with your dealer. There are 2 main type of low-temperature underfloor heating (hydraulic and electric) and a system of heating – cooling underfloor called reversible.

Glued laying

Glued laying solid parquet

Glued laying Engineered parquet

Floating laying

(1) Glued installation recommended for a better thermal conductivity
(2) Mandatory glued installation with Navycol PS

Installation on a low-temperature underfloor heating

The cumulative thermal resistance of the system must be checked (vapour-barrier + potential underlay + flooring).
The Value R must not exceed 0.15m2.K/W.
2 systems of low-temperature underfloor heating:

Radiant hydraulic underfloor heating

Heating pipes in which a ahead heated fluid is flowing, are installed on an lagging, incorporated in a concrete screed.
A screed covers all the pipes and spread the heat in all the area. Thanks to the screed, the ground surface is flat and a flooring can be installed.

• The temperature of the finished flooring must not exceed 28°C
• The maximum temperature of the fluid must not exceed 40°C
• Hydraulic underfloor heating should have been developed under the EN 12641-1 Norm “Floor heating: Systems and components.

Radiant electric underfloor heating

It is mandatory to make sure with your supplier that this type of heating is suitable with wood flooring. In case of doubt, please consult us
The principle of the radiant electric underfloor is a heating wire spread in all the surface of the flooring. Just like the radiant hydraulic underfloor heating, a screed or a slab covers the heating wires. (NFC norm 32-330 and laid as per norm NF P52-302)

• The temperature of the finished flooring must not exceed 28°C
• The maximum thickness of the cover layer should be between 5 and 6 cm
• The thickness of the covering layer should be of 6 cm maximum

Installation on a reversible heating/cooling underfloor

This device performs two functions:

• heating during wintertime
• cooling during summertime

With a warm fluid, the reversible underfloor acts as a transmitter during wintertime. During summertime, the device will act as a heat absorber with cool water in the pipes.
It basically consist of a pipe-network incorporated in the slab and conveying a fluid which temperature differ depending on the needs and use.
The cooling underfloor is not an air conditioning system but rather a device that allows a certain level of comfort by cooling dowing the ambient temperature of 3 to 5°C.
The device must be equipped with a sensor system which will regulate the tempature of the fluids to avoid a dewpoint pheNameon (condensation) under the wood flooring.
Also a minimum temperature control of the fluid must be installed with the device. The minimum temperature is to be determined according to the geographic location.

Precautions of use of these devices

Before the installation

The surface temperature of the ground must not exceed 28°C. The heat emission should not be blocked by any carpet. Indeed it might heavily limit the performance of the heating
and in the case of an underfloor heating create important malfunctions of the device.

Start up

To complete the drying of the ground, it is imperative to set up the heating device 4 weeks before the installation, then stop it 48h before the beginning of the installation work (whenever the season). The heating will be progressively set up approximately 1 week after the installation, slowly and gradually about 5°C per day. A heating control must be added to avoid the sudden heat increase of the heating device.