These guidelines are recommended for consideration only in addition to K.D. Woods Company’s “Flooring Installation Guidelines”.
- Heating system should be on and operating for a period on 2-3 weeks, or until substrate/sub-floor is dry, prior to bring flooring to job site.
- Upon delivery, the flooring should be racked out on stickers to acclimated to job-site, with system operating, for an additional 1 to 3 weeks, or until equilibrium (sub-floor and flooring are at the same moisture content) is reached.
- Installation of plank flooring of 5” or wider should be over minimum ¾” thick solid sub-floor. The t&g flooring planks should be “blind” nailed trough the tongue every 4” – 8”. (Flooring cleats or staples may need to be shorter than “standard” 2” lengths depending upon depth of piping). Narrower widths of 2-1/2” to 4” may be installed over “furring” or nailer strips @ 12” on center. Gluing planks to furring/nailers is recommended. Flooring should be ordered with end matched plank ends when installing over furring/nailers. Order approximately 25% more material for cutting if plank butts are to break over furring/nailers. NOTE: Wider width flooring is sometimes installed on nailer strips. (Some folks simply must have wider width plank flooring) Planks 5” or wider should be cut to “break on the nailer strips, glued to the strips with quality urethane floor adhesive and securely nailed.
Generally, plank flooring installed over radiant heat systems will show marginally more seasonal movement (gaps between planks and minor cupping due to radial nature of grain within the plank) during the heating season than flooring installed in areas heated by more traditional methods. Wider planks by nature will gap more noticeably than narrow planks during the heating season as a result of moisture loss in the plank. The percentage of moisture change in the planks is the same whether flooring plank is 2-1/2” wide or 12” wide.
- In widths of 7” and wider, face (surface) nailing or gluing down of planks to subfloor is suggested in addition to “blind” nailing as noted above, to control seasonal movement to a degree and to help boards remain flat.
- Practices of the wood flooring professional that you have selected for the installation and finishing, with specific knowledge of local conditions, practices, finish types etc., may differ from these guidelines and should be given due consideration.
