If you wake up to an ice-cold floor in the morning, this can be a constant source of discomfort for everyone. Luckily, there are several methods that you can use to keep your floors comfortable.
You can’t beat waking up on a winter morning and placing your bare feet on an icy-cold floor. Talk about taking your breath away! Many types of harder flooring materials will not hold onto heat very well, and your toes might pay for this. The floor is so cold because some materials retain heat better, while others lose it quickly.
In addition to making your floors feel warm and cozy, there are products that can insulate them. You can also improve the comfort of existing surface coverings with a few tricks. Here’s what you can do to warm up your floors, from the simplest to the most elaborate.
Winter Floor Warming Tips:
You can keep your floor warm in winter regardless of the type of flooring material you have by using the right insulation techniques:
Fix air leaks
During the winter, cold floors are caused by air infiltration through cracks and holes. Install a draft snake along windowsills and baseboards to stop drafts. If your weatherstripping is damaged or worn, replace it. Use caulk to seal cracks in your walls and between your floor and your baseboards.
Maintain Your Heating System
Your heating system will not operate at its peak if you do not maintain it properly. Inspect the registers to ensure they are not disconnected from the ducts or blocked by drapes or furniture, as well as keeping the furnace filter, heat registers, and ducts clean on a regular basis.
Using radiant heat
Radiant heating is the best way to keep your floor warm. However, it is not compatible with all types of flooring, so speak with a flooring professional first. With the system installed between the subfloor and the surface floor, heat is emitted directly upward, keeping the floor warm during cold weather. Furthermore, it maintains the temperature of the entire house while heating the floor.
A hydroponic system can be either electric or hydrostatic. However, if you have hardwood floors, it may not be a good idea to use the hydroponic system since it generates heat from hot water.
Waterproofing the floor
If you have hardwood floors, you can make them more comfortable by applying a drought-proofing sealant. These sealants lock in heat and keep out cold. Installing them is time-consuming, but well worth the effort.
Heat up
If you spend a lot of time in your home office, electric toe-kick heaters can be a great solution for cold feet. A radiant floor heating system is a surefire way to increase flooring warmth. It emits heat directly into the floor, which then heats the rest of the room. It’s expensive, but the warm, toasty comforts will make your toes happy.
Lay new floors with insulation.
If you’re replacing existing flooring, ask about new materials that hold heat better. To retain heat when new flooring is laid, it is possible to install a thin layer of insulating material – called an insulated underlayment – between the subfloor and the new flooring.
Add carpeting
Linoleum, tile, and hardwood floors can give you cold feet as compared to carpeted ones. This is due to insulation, which you can use.
You should add a carpet or area rug to high-traffic areas to keep the cold at bay. For maximum warmth, choose a carpet that has thicker materials since they are more insulating.
The underlayment
When flooring options such as laminate, linoleum, and vinyl are installed at the subfloor surface, the floor is usually chilly in winter.
An underlayment, which is installed on the subfloor to prevent it from inheriting the temperature, is one way of preventing this from happening. Rubber, foam, cork, or any natural insulator can be used as floor underlayments to keep your flooring from inheriting the room’s temperature during both the winter and summer months.
Your bare feet will be warmer during colder months, and you’ll also reduce cooling and heating costs by increasing your home’s R-value.
