Concrete vs Wood Floor (1 Viewer)

[RayK]

I'm beginning to construct a custom home and will have a footprint of 20 X 24 in the basement in which to construct a HT. I thought about pouring a two level floor with radiant heat in the HT. (radiant floor heat in the rest of home, too) But, after reading the "things I wish I had done differently" thread, everyone prefers the wood floor. With radiant heat in the slab, a wood floor over the top will not be efficient. Could I get away with the front half of the floor being carpet over slab with a wood riser? I believe I could comfortably heat the entire space as long as some slab is not covered. (except for carpet)

 

[Torgny Nilsson]

I can't answer your heating question, but I can tell you my experience with both wood and concrete floors. I used to live in a 3rd story condo with wood floors. During the "From the Earth to the Moon" series on DVD my sub rocked the floor to the point that I felt like I was in the rockets along with the astronauts.

After I moved to a house with concrete slab floors, I no longer feel like I am in the rocket. I still have the bass sound, but not the feeling. So, if you want a true bass experience, I'd recommend that you put a wood supra-floor over your slab with some airspace between the wood floor and the slab.

If you are concerned about the bass leaking into the rest of your house, I'd stick with the slab floor. Radiant heating is nice and I have a stained concrete floor that looks very good, better than a wood floor in my opinion.

 

[RayK]

Thanks for the response. I have a recording studio sound engineer who is helping me with the planning and he suggested pouring the concrete floor as a separate pour to isolate it from the rest of the structure. If I stick with concrete, for that reason, maybe he can figure out another way to "liven up" the bass feel.

 

[Torgny Nilsson]

From what I have read, your friend s right about the separate pour. Having your HT on a separate pad will reduce the sound leakage to the rest of your house. Just make sure that you build the walls to match. There is a lot of info on the various forums about how to build the walls and the floor to reduce sound transfer.