Hello folks,

I am having a house built in the Adirondacks in New York State. I have a Great Room/Dining room which will be hardwood floors and am planning on having radiant heat underneat them (not enough wall area for baseboard and I don't like forced air).

I started looking into this and understand that an engineered floor would be better than solid wood. I also read in the literature from Mirage that you have to minimize temperature swings and keep the humidity controlled.

Here is my problem: This will be a vacation home. I plan on dropping the temperature when I'm not there to save costs. I also don't plan on running a humidifier to regulate humidity when I'm not there.

Is this a disaster waiting to happen or is the literature being overly conservative?

Are there any woods that are better or worse for this application (or does it not matter if they are engineered). I like beech but I saw some reference to that not being good over radiant.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Bill Smith

I recommended a longstrip style floating floor. Here's a couple by Kahr's in beech.
http://www.hardwoodinstaller.com/hardwo ... bridge.htm
http://www.hardwoodinstaller.com/hardwo ... -beech.htm