Hebel PowerFloor

Hi all, for my double story townhouse development in melbourne. I am leaning towards hebel powerfloor for the 1st floor. Powerfloor has thickness of 75mm. can some share their experience with hebel powerfloor. I already have hebel panels for 1st floor cladding. ground floor is bricks.

1. can hebel power floor crack easily due to ground movements, earthquakes etc than timber floor (eg. particle boards)
2. my guesstimate is cost will be approx 3 times higher than timber flooring, but not sure if other than supply/install cost, will hebel floor impact other costs due to it's weight, thickness etc. Total first floor area is approx townhouse1 130sqm and townhouse2 90sqm. understand due to floor layout there will be cutting and wastage of the power panels.
   
3. is insulation under the hebel floor still required?
4. i think hebel floor is new, people using only from last 4-5 years so not sure of any issues in longer run
   
5. are there any reason not to use hebel flooring or must use hebel over particle boards

my reason is for hebel is not only for minimizing sound from 1st floor to downstairs as I learnt from my past post that there are other options to minimise sound, but i am thinking if i should use latest solid floor option than traditional timber but don't know any other benefit other than solid feeling and better noise reduction than timber.

thanks in advance

 

I used hebel on a few different projects - 200mm thick external walls for a youth theatre, fire escape tunnels in warehouses, fire stair walls in CBD offices, computer room disaster recovery centre walls & roof. Floor panels were 150mm then had reo & topping to make a monolithic structure.

None of these were in contact with the ground (all sitting on slabs or footing) - non-insulated.

Can't say that I've seen the Powerfloor product. Download the Powerfloor installation manual it should have full details for insulation requirements & construction details.

Confirm how much flex the system has over the spans in your building as well as any landing details around stairs.

 

thanks @Scott No Mates

 

Powerfloor is a quality product and obviously quite a bit more expensive than your standard chipboard floor with some acoustic insulation.

1. Why are you concerned about it cracking? It's the structural floor component that still requires finished floor coverings to be installed over the top. It definitely squeaks far less than the friction you can get in particle board flooring with movement.

2. I think that's a safe assumption. There will be a premium on it's install also and as you said, allow ~15% waste.

3. Your insulation is likely to be thermal, not for acoustic reasons.

4. Hebel is not a new technology, it's been around for 40+ years, it's a quality product that outperforms quite a few other materials.

5. If you can afford it, go for it. If I was building a PPOR tomorrow that I was intending to live in for a while, I would probably use it. It's akin to a suspended slab in sound dampening, i.e if you have young kids running around upstairs, you wont hear a thing downstairs. Powerfloor is used for it's acoustic performance, you shouldn't be upspeccing to this for any other reason imo. Your engineer is employed to guarantee, certify and insure the structural integrity of the floor, you don't need to be worrying about structural performance on a house.

You may want to consider your floor coverings also. Carpet etc wont be an issue. Obviously it's excellent for wet areas, however if you intend to have timber flooring, it may require a ply substrate to be installed if secret nailed.

 

Thanks very much @CTSB your reply is very helpful and has cleared my doubts. I will have timber flooring upstairs so looks like that may add extra cost for ply substrate.