Flooring To Keep You Warm This Winter

As the nights draw in and the air grows frostier, it only means one thing- winter is here!

Heating costs are always a concern in any household, with many households making attempts to keep costs down by hanging thick curtains, keeping doors closed and purchasing draft excluders in various shapes and sizes.

However, you can also help make your home more energy-efficient and warm by ensuring that you have the correct floor laid in the correct room.

So, with this in mind, let’s go through the best options to keeping the warmth in this winter and hopefully reduce your heating bills too!

Wood Flooring.

Wood flooring presents a warm and welcoming statement for your home. Affluent, beautiful and hard-wearing, many homeowners opt for wood to give their homes a timeless look.

A darker walnut wood would look cosy in a traditional living room, whereas a honey tone offers natural character to your space.

You can add to the warmth of the room by introducing a rug- with so many sizes, shapes and patterns, it allows you to go one step further with customisation.

The best thing about rugs is that they’re not permanent, so you can even have a fluffy, thick rug for the winter then a thinner, lighter rug for the warmer months.

Underfloor Heating.

Pairing your wood flooring with underfloor heating will provide additional warmth, although you can only do this with engineered wood flooring, so keep this in mind when looking to purchase.

Under-floor heating is not only a more energy-efficient way of heating your home but also saves you having unsightly radiators.

Heating coming out of your flooring feels luxurious underfoot, as well as being perfect if you have little ones playing on the floor!

Vinyl and Laminate.

If you’ve fallen for wood’s charm but want to get the cosy, winter look at a cheaper price and with easier maintenance, then vinyl and laminate are also suitable choices.

Both come in convincing replicas of wood, tile and stone so that you can get that authentic appearance but with benefits such as its ease of installation, low cost and low ongoing maintenance, as well as compatibility with underfloor heating.

The cushioned feel of Luxury Vinyl Tiles feel is great for keeping your home warmer as they are made up of five different layers, making it an excellent insulator.

They come in many colours and textures so that you can get that plush, warm look for your home during the bitter winter months.

Again like wood, rugs are a great way of not only adding homely fabrics but also protect your flooring from wear and tear.

Carpet.

Carpet, of course, is the natural choice for a homely warmth. It’s often thick, soft and comfortable underfoot depending on what thickness you go for, it proves to be a good insulator.

It is also compatible with underfloor heating and you can install an extra underlay, thus boosting the insulation.

Wool carpet is the best material for carpet in terms of keeping the heat in, but although providing that luxurious look and feel, it is more expensive.

However, if you do go for wool then you’d most likely see a reduction in your heating bills, so it may save you money long term. As well as this, it will never go out of fashion and offers an affluent, plush texture to your room.

Still, don’t worry if you haven’t quite got the budget for the luxury of wool carpet, wool-mix and polypropylene are also reasonable insulators and offer help with heating bills.

They are perfect for bed and living rooms where we want extra warmth on those dark nights.

Underlay.

If you’re looking at any of the above types of flooring, you’ll want to ensure that you’ve got a thick underlay to accompany it, as this creates an additional layer between the floor and subfloor, providing additional insulation for the room.

It goes without saying that the thicker the underlay, the more warmth it will retain, so you should consider plus 5mm Sonic Gold underlay as opposed to a thinner 2mm Acoustic Foam, which is more commonly used during cheaper installation processes.

Tile and Stone.

Now we come onto tile and stone, not the first choice when you’re looking for a soft, warm feel to your winter home!

These products are more common in practical rooms such as the kitchen or utility, due to them being stain and waterproof.

Although it conducts heat well and is a good insulator, they usually feel cold underfoot, therefore we wouldn’t recommend laying it in rooms that you want to keep cosy.

However, having said this, they are compatible with underfloor heating, but if this isn’t something you already have then we wouldn’t recommend it as the first choice.

Now we do understand that you can’t change your flooring every time the season’s change, so sometimes you have to choose whether you enjoy a wintery décor or a summer one!

If you are considering new flooring, however, then heating is certainly something to take into consideration.

Fancy checking out another post? Just click here!

Pin it!