My underfloor pipe has a 50 year guarantee. I'm not sure it's worth anything but it does indicate a certain bravado from the manufacturers. In the solid floor areas it would be possible though not pleasant to break through 65mm of concrete screed and fit something else as the insulation will provide a break to the oversite - the engineered boards would be killed in the process having been glued together. In the suspended wooden floors it would be pretty easy to lift the boards and remove/replace the thin screed and pipes should the need arise - but there are no joins under there and it shouldn't (in theory) be necessary for a very long time.Nigel Watts said:
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Nigel Watts
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My floor is not glued so it could be diassembled if the skirting boards and any subsequent fitted furniture were removed first.
biffvernon
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I bought a floor today for our roundhouse; sufficient joists and boards for a 7m diameter circle. The trees are still standing but will be felled and cut into boards next week. Fresh.
(There won't be any underfloor heating and the trees are not oak so this is rather off-topic.)
(There won't be any underfloor heating and the trees are not oak so this is rather off-topic.)
Toby Newell
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Hi
No time to read all replies so I will just give you my advice, apologies if I repeat other advice and apologise if anyone else if 'offended' if their totally off the top of their head or what they have heard advice is different.
I restore and lay period, reclaimed and very rarely, new floors for a living and my family has been restoring wood for four generations.
1.I would NOT personally advise laying a solid oak floor over UFH. That is why engineered boards were invented. The oak WILL move.
2. Kiln drying oak is either a lie or total rubbish anyway. Oak absorbs moisture very rapidly. Kiln drying is normally to 8%, by the time it has acclimatised to your house in the country wherever it will probably be on 10 perhaps 12 depending on the weather conditions and your heating system. The supplier I get my oak from air dry it for one or two years in rough sawn plank before machining into product. They laugh when you mention kiln drying. You can't really kiln dry oak and if you do, it's pointless. A lot of ppl will tell you a lot of rubbish about wood. Oak moves a lot, overdrying it is never going to stop that. Why are we so rich as a nation? Because of this very fact. Oak movement = swelling = watertightness = best material for boat building = best navy = best empire = riches = still living off today.
3. I have only read the first post but just incase there are any other questions, please don't glue it. Pin it with a portanailer or similar and let it move. It will move anyway but perhaps not in the way you like. If you must use solid oak then try and find some quarter cut oak or reclaimed oak before the 1950's, it will look much nicer and because it has been cut on the quarter grain will be less susceptible to lateral movement.
Toby
No time to read all replies so I will just give you my advice, apologies if I repeat other advice and apologise if anyone else if 'offended' if their totally off the top of their head or what they have heard advice is different.
I restore and lay period, reclaimed and very rarely, new floors for a living and my family has been restoring wood for four generations.
1.I would NOT personally advise laying a solid oak floor over UFH. That is why engineered boards were invented. The oak WILL move.
2. Kiln drying oak is either a lie or total rubbish anyway. Oak absorbs moisture very rapidly. Kiln drying is normally to 8%, by the time it has acclimatised to your house in the country wherever it will probably be on 10 perhaps 12 depending on the weather conditions and your heating system. The supplier I get my oak from air dry it for one or two years in rough sawn plank before machining into product. They laugh when you mention kiln drying. You can't really kiln dry oak and if you do, it's pointless. A lot of ppl will tell you a lot of rubbish about wood. Oak moves a lot, overdrying it is never going to stop that. Why are we so rich as a nation? Because of this very fact. Oak movement = swelling = watertightness = best material for boat building = best navy = best empire = riches = still living off today.
3. I have only read the first post but just incase there are any other questions, please don't glue it. Pin it with a portanailer or similar and let it move. It will move anyway but perhaps not in the way you like. If you must use solid oak then try and find some quarter cut oak or reclaimed oak before the 1950's, it will look much nicer and because it has been cut on the quarter grain will be less susceptible to lateral movement.
Toby
Penners
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Does anyone still quarter-saw, today? All I ever seem to see is through-and-through sawn.Toby Newell said:
biffvernon
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For every through and through log you get one quarter sawn board 
Flyfisher
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I'm not too proud to admit I didn't understand those different cuts. I knew there are different ways of slicing up a tree, but wasn't aware of the details and the pros and cons of each. But Google our friend and I found these interesting articles:
http://www.allwoodwork.com/article/woodwork/plainorquartersawn.htm
http://barnyardgazette.blogspot.com/2007/09/what-is-quarter-sawn-oak.html
However, having read these articles, I'm not entirely sure I understand Biff's comment about only getting one quarter-sawn board. Surely it depends on the size of the tree (and the board)? Anyway, the extra cost of quarter-sawn timber seems to be largely due to the extra time it takes, rather than yield.
http://www.allwoodwork.com/article/woodwork/plainorquartersawn.htm
http://barnyardgazette.blogspot.com/2007/09/what-is-quarter-sawn-oak.html
However, having read these articles, I'm not entirely sure I understand Biff's comment about only getting one quarter-sawn board. Surely it depends on the size of the tree (and the board)? Anyway, the extra cost of quarter-sawn timber seems to be largely due to the extra time it takes, rather than yield.
biffvernon
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Back to your link http://www.allwoodwork.com/article/woodwork/plainorquartersawn.htm
Boards taken between positions 5 and 10 in Fig 1 will have the same qualities as the quarter sawn boards in Fig 2. That is the growth rings will be seen to go across from face to face of the board when the board is viewed end on. With oak it is the faces of such boards that display the 'figure', so typical and almost unique to oak.
Boards taken between positions 5 and 10 in Fig 1 will have the same qualities as the quarter sawn boards in Fig 2. That is the growth rings will be seen to go across from face to face of the board when the board is viewed end on. With oak it is the faces of such boards that display the 'figure', so typical and almost unique to oak.