Are Pergo Floors Good for Radiant Heating?

Advantages

• Pergo laminated flooring looks like solid hardwood, but is only partly made of recycled wood and a layer of graphite. There is also a melamine resin layer to help protect the wood from heat and give it a shine. Laminated floors like Pergo can expand and contract with the amount of humidity in a room, making them less prone to warping, cracking or buckling than solid wood floors.

Expert Advice

• To avoid damage to Pergo flooring, the flooring should not be subjected to a sudden blast of heat, to high temperatures or uneven amounts of heating. Heat is not the culprit to damage Pergo, but sudden blasts of heat can change the moisture content in the tiles too fast for the tiles to adapt. Place boxes of Pergo flooring in the room where they are to be installed 48 to 96 hours before installation.

Installation Tips

• Pergo recommends that their tiles are placed over a concrete subfloor and not be the sole flooring material in a radiant heating system. The concrete floors need to be installed first. They need 60 days to dry before the heating system can be turned on. After two weeks with the heating system on, the concrete subfloor is now ready for Pergo flooring. The temperatures of the heating system should never go above 84 degrees Fahrenheit.

Alternatives

• Ceramic floor tiles are best for radiant heating systems, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Other alternatives include vinyl sheeting, linoleum sheeting, concrete slabs or other laminated wood. Thin or no carpeting should be used on these floors because carpeting absorbs heat but does not reflect it into a room.