Dry construction or screed in the wooden house

Hello everyone,

During the renovation of a wooden house, we are now also faced with the question of the flooring system.
So far, a dry screed with parquet and carpet was installed, which has all been removed, now only the raw concrete ceiling remains.
The shell construction room height is 255cm.
The ceiling will be slightly lowered (3cm) so every saved cm at the floor is very valuable, especially since we have a rather large living-dining area as a single room (60sqm).
As flooring in a "real" wooden house, solid wood planks (oak) are actually the only option for us.
Underfloor heating will be installed throughout the house.

Now the question arises:
Dry system or screed (pouring mass)

Dry system:
Heating plates, between the planks, which are screwed onto battens and then rest fully on the heating plates.
Advantages:
- No moisture into the wooden house
- No glue for planks, screwed planks, has been done for a long time
- Quick heating response (in combination with wood stove in the living area)
- Low build-up height (4cm including covering)
- No drying time
Disadvantages:
- No storage mass
- Expensive

Screed system:
Heating as a Velcro pipe system with special screed (total then 4-5cm screed including heating), planks then glued
Advantages:
- Storage mass for heating
- Better step feeling of glued floor (?)
- Cheap
Disadvantages:
- A lot of moisture into the house
- Drying time
- Planks have to be glued (solvents, thin screed with glued planks can be problematic according to manufacturer)
- Build-up height including covering 6-7cm

I tend to the dry system depending on the surcharge. Did I overlook anything in the pros/cons?

Best regards,
Harv

Hello "Harv". Yes, you have overlooked quite a bit. Underfloor heating and solid wood floorboards do not go together. The parquet boards will dry out under the influence of the underfloor heating, cannot sufficiently moisten during the nighttime setback, and will deform and crack due to drying. In a nailed construction over supporting beams, this combination is hardly possible anyway, since the significant heat losses between heating elements and boards would still have to be taken into account. In principle, you are right that in a timber construction building, as little additional water as possible (e.g. through wet screeds) should be introduced. This statement has a very high priority! Therefore, I would actually use prefabricated screed panels. There are systems with grooves pre-milled on the surface into which the heating elements are laid. A mineral levelling compound specifically designed for the system with a coverage of about 6mm then creates the finished laying surface. Only: no manufacturer of systems I know on a dry construction basis (these are the prefabricated screed panels) approves them for the installation of large-format tiles or solid floorboards. Therefore, you should change your planning and move away from the solid boards. Regards: KlaRa

Hello KlaRa,

your statement puzzles me quite a bit, as I have received the construction proposal from both the plank manufacturer and the underfloor heating manufacturer. You can find such a structure, or a similar one, online, for example with Ripal and Havelland planks.

Planks have been laid on underfloor heating for quite some time now.