3/4" White Oak Hardwood Over Radiant Heat

WiseGuySite.com

Flooring contractor here in the Midwest, I have just bid a job to install 2 1/4" White Oak Common over a radiant heated floor. The "tubes" are located in the center cavity between the joists. My "plan" was to glue down the tar paper with a multi purpose adhesive, full spread, then use construction adhesive and nails at the joists to install the hardwood.
Anybody have any tips or other suggestions on this procedure? Its approximately a 1500 square foot job....
Thanks in advance!

floor instal

Gluing tar paper that is saturated with petroleom products with latex adhesive is not a good idea. There is no reason to glue the felt paper to the floor anyway. Just install the paper with staples as usuall and nail the flooring with 1.5 inch nail or staples wichever method you prefer. That is how we install hardwood over 3/4 plywood that has been nailed or glued top concrete slabs and you dont get any penatration of the subfloor. You need to nail the floor on aleast 8" center because with the radiant heat you are really stressing the floor during the heating season Hope this helps.

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floorinstallation@cox.net

WiseGuySite.com

Thanks for the response!....After thinking more on the subject I was going to use cutback adhesive to adhere the tar paper, my reasoning for this was because I wanted a solid surface to glue the planks too as well as staple at the joists.....With all this being said, I also started thinking that a shorter staple 1 1/4" - 1 1/2" would probably do the trick. Do you think this "shorter" staple will be sufficient without gluing at all?
Thanks Again in advance!

floor instal

The shorter nails will definatly work. It meets NOFMA standards and since the holding ability of the fastener is greater when you don't have penatratiion of the sub floor. This is because the holding ability of the fastener is directly proportional to the coefficient of friction on the fastener. This coefficient is greater when you don't have penetration due to the fact that the compression of the substrate around the fastener is higher. By penetrating the substrate you relieve some of the pressure around the fastener. I would stay away from 1 1/4" nails because a reduction of 1/4" results in a lose of approximatly 20% of the length of the fastener with a coresponding reduction in the amount of friction area acted upon by the compression of the substrate. Also never try to nail to a particale board because it has no ability to compress around the fastener. I would not recommend glue the floor in adition to nailing. It is not necessary and will inhibate the ability of the floor to expand with the change in moisture content which will be greater than ususall with radiant heat. Any restriction of the floors ability to move could cause buckeling or panelizing of the floor. Just be sure that when you nail the floor in place that you use a minimum of nails 8" o/c or less.

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floorinstallation@cox.net

WiseGuySite.com

Thanks Bud for the time you have taken! We will go with the 1 1/2" staple and no glue....