Underfloor Heating and Harps

[marktheharp]

Hi all,

I’m adapting a room as a music playing / teaching / recording room in a house we moved into earlier this year. I’m planning to leave my harps and an upright piano in it, and the room has a concrete floor. It’s still very much a work in progress and the picture shows the old room still being stripped out before new electrics and plastering.

However, at this stage I’m planning the floor surface as it has to be ordered. I’ve already decided it should be wood rather than vinyl or tile.

But I’m torn between having radiators or underfloor heating. I’ve read a lot of conflicting advice. I get that you need to have engineered wood floors as otherwise the floor will expand and warp, but not a lot on the effects on instruments. Has anyone had any DIRECT experience of having underfloor heating in a room with instruments? Are there problems or not? Should I leave it on all the time?

Thanks!

• This topic was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by marktheharp.

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[billooms]

In our old house, we had radient heat built into the concrete slab. It was no problem for the harp (and was incredibly comfortable and efficient). I always used a small narrow piece of carpet under the harp and bench just to keep things from moving on the smooth surface of the floor.

Putting wood flooring over radient heat may be an issue. If it’s too thick it will act as an insulator and not let the heat radiate. Consider using some of the newer “wood grained” ceramic tiles that look really nice and would not have that problem.

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

Concrete will not have a pleasant sound. A sprung wood floor will. If your ceiling is high enough, I would suggest raising the wood floor up above the concrete.

[karen]

We put hardwood floors in our house a couple of years ago–including my harp room. Because we live in CA, houses do not have basements (earthquakes), and more are built on concrete slabs. The wood over the concrete is very stable, and the sounds is wonderful. I don’t love the sound of harps when there is carpet because they don’t seem to resonate as much. If I had my druthers, I would love to have radiant floor heating! Lucky you. Just get a hygrometer (amazon $15) and keep an eye on the humidity (I think 45-55% is ideal—at least in CA). Good luck!

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