Hi,
Looking to lay an engineered wood floor throughout our downstairs (lounge through to kitchen/diner), on a relatively newly built house (2013). It currently has wet underfloor heating with a concrete screen (no idea on depth) throughout, with Tiles in the kitchen area and carpets in the lounge.
A couple of people have told me that it might be difficult to lift the tiles, and doing so will a) mangle the top layer of floor, b) run the risk of damaging underfloor heating pipes.
So it seems my choices are to either run the risk of making a mess (and damaging pipes) and smash the tiles out, OR to lay the new floor over the tiles raise the floor level in the lounge by 10mm.
The second option sounds way easier and less risky.. I was thinking of using 9mm ply to raise the floor level, so some questions:
- Will the tiles really be that hard to lift?
- What are the chances of damaging UFH?
- Is the 9mm depth way too much for self levelling compound)?
- Will the UFH be ok with the 9mm ply or will it dry and out and break up, and make the UFH less effective (I'm guessing ply would be quite insulating)?,
- would the new floor rattle around on the ply (I was going to lay it as a floating floor).
- Should I attach the ply to the concrete in anyway or let that float also (with thin wood floor insulation above/below)?
- If not ply is there something I could use (I thought about those fibre boards, but I'd guess they are even more insulating)?
I'm replacing the skirtings throughout anyway if that makes any difference. And I'm planning on fitting it around an insitue fitted kitchen (so I going to have to remove and trim end panels/plinths).
So looking for some advice, and all open to any other ideas
Looking to lay an engineered wood floor throughout our downstairs (lounge through to kitchen/diner), on a relatively newly built house (2013). It currently has wet underfloor heating with a concrete screen (no idea on depth) throughout, with Tiles in the kitchen area and carpets in the lounge.
A couple of people have told me that it might be difficult to lift the tiles, and doing so will a) mangle the top layer of floor, b) run the risk of damaging underfloor heating pipes.
So it seems my choices are to either run the risk of making a mess (and damaging pipes) and smash the tiles out, OR to lay the new floor over the tiles raise the floor level in the lounge by 10mm.
The second option sounds way easier and less risky.. I was thinking of using 9mm ply to raise the floor level, so some questions:
- Will the tiles really be that hard to lift?
- What are the chances of damaging UFH?
- Is the 9mm depth way too much for self levelling compound)?
- Will the UFH be ok with the 9mm ply or will it dry and out and break up, and make the UFH less effective (I'm guessing ply would be quite insulating)?,
- would the new floor rattle around on the ply (I was going to lay it as a floating floor).
- Should I attach the ply to the concrete in anyway or let that float also (with thin wood floor insulation above/below)?
- If not ply is there something I could use (I thought about those fibre boards, but I'd guess they are even more insulating)?
I'm replacing the skirtings throughout anyway if that makes any difference. And I'm planning on fitting it around an insitue fitted kitchen (so I going to have to remove and trim end panels/plinths).
So looking for some advice, and all open to any other ideas
