7 Tips To Warm Up Cold Floors
We offer a few simple ways to heat your flooring, ranging from the simple to the more complex.
05/01/2022
Nobody appreciates waking up and stepping on a cold floor. Cold flooring is particularly prevalent throughout the winter and might be a household's worst nightmare. Even if you've experimented with several types of warm socks and slippers, the answer may not be as straightforward as choosing the appropriate footwear.
Fortunately, solutions are available in any home improvement and carpet shop that help warm your flooring. Additionally, some techniques may be used to enhance the comfort of current floor coverings.
Here are several simple ways to heat your flooring, ranging from the simple to the more complex.
1. Add A Carpet
Carpet is the most recognizable and widely used kind of warm flooring. It's often used in bedrooms and living rooms. During the winter, carpets with longer, denser threads provide the greatest advantage, shielding the area from the outside frost while also reducing heat loss.
To make a room seem cozier, it's best to use a high-quality carpet pad like those made of thick foam. Additionally, it will increase the R-value, or the material's resistance to heat loss, in a quantifiable manner.
2. Use Area Rugs
Adding area rugs is another easy way to warm up a chilly floor. They are lightweight and give enough heat, depending on the substance used. Moreover, they may be put in almost any place.
Area rugs provide warmth and offer a decorative touch to your room. Additionally, carefully placed area rugs may make reading corners inside larger rooms. Having a gentler and warmer area to walk on, especially in the winter, is always a good thing.
3. Seal Air Leaks
Cold floors in the winter may also be caused by air leaking from cracks and gaps in the flooring. While sealants are used on doors and windows to keep the temperature warm and the cold air out during the winter, they may wear out or become inefficient with time.
Hence, it's a good idea to fill any gaps and crevices in your floor with any sealant. As an extra step, install weatherstripping all over your entryways and windows, too. Draft snakes installed around windowsills may also help eliminate leaks.
4. Choose The Right Underlayment
There are several options for flooring that will adapt to the temperature of the ground it is laid on. If they're installed straight on concrete flooring, they will acquire the material's inherently cold properties. Moreover, a poorly insulated impression might persist throughout the winter cold, even with wooden subfloors.
One method to avoid this is to install an underlayment. This is placed on top of the subfloor, although it's not visible from the surface. A variety of natural insulators, including cork, foam, rubber, and others, are often used as an underlayment.
In addition, an underlayment may help increase the room's temperature and save energy expenses by increasing the floor's R-value. Noise may also be reduced by installing underlayment between the upper and lower floors.
5. Install Floor Heating
This may be a guaranteed technique to keep your floors warm. This technique uses an underlayment to transfer heat from the subfloor to the top layer of flooring. Also called a radiant heating system, it is designed to radiate heat upwards towards a floor. This will make the floor feel warm and cozy under your feet.
This system may be divided into two main categories: surface and below-surface. The most popular kind uses electrically-heated wire coils. Other kinds employ long, thin tubes full of heated water called hydroponic systems.
Electric systems are far simpler to install and more affordable. On the other hand, hydroponic systems are installed during a home construction process. They are relatively costly to install but have lower long-term operational expenses.
6. Update Insulation
Inadequate or insufficient insulation may be the cause of your cold floors. Determine whether your house's insulation level is adequate by having an inspection done by a professional. Moreover, it's a good idea to keep an eye out for signs of wear and tear on the insulation under your floor.
Rodent damage and the natural movement of the house can also affect your floor insulation, making it less effective. On that end, replacing worn-out insulation with a new thicker one will assist in warming the floor.
You might easily overlook the ceiling when considering insulation. Make sure to also inspect the attic to see whether it has enough insulation to prevent the cold from coming in.
7. Inspect Your Heating System
Finally, you may arrange an appointment with a professional to inspect your heater. A more efficient system may go a far toward avoiding chilly flooring and ending premature discomfort and unwelcome mishaps.
Additionally, maintain a regular schedule for cleaning your heater filter and ducts. Likewise, examine the heat registers to verify that they are not detached from the ductwork or obstructed by draperies or furniture.
Conclusion
It's always best to take steps to keep your home warm and cozy. Besides sealing and correcting leaks and gaps, you should consider your flooring and find methods to keep it warmer. When you know how to keep your flooring from becoming too cold, winter won't be as dreary as it seems.