How to Warm up Floors in Winter

Winters can be fascinating, but the appeal comes with a frosty atmosphere that usually finds its way indoors. As you try to keep warm, one thing you should address to maintain a comfortable home is your floors.

Since cold air enters your home through every opening, even seeping in beneath the floors, ensuring your floor stays warm is crucial to maintaining a comfortable space while lowering heating costs, which tend to spike when the cold sets in. In this guide, you'll learn how to keep the floor warm in winter using simple and practical tips.

Ways to Warm up Floors This Winter

You may have invested in a floor that provides good insulation. Regardless, harsh winter months can still overwhelm your flooring, resulting in freezing floors. Armed with strategies for warming up cold floors in winter, you can ensure your living space remains safe, warm and livable even as temperatures drop outside. Here are ways to warm up your floors in winter:

1. Floor Underlayment

An underlayment is a thin layer of material that sits right below the floor, between the floor covering and the subfloor. Underlayment differs depending on the floor type. While these materials enhance floor appearance, performance and durability, they are also excellent for insulation. Here's an overview of underlayment for different floor types:

• Laminate flooring: Quality laminate flooring may come with a built-in underlayment. If it doesn't, you can use foam or acoustical underlayment. Both options generally have a moisture barrier, but you may want to confirm. Additionally, acoustical laminate underlayment offers felt and cork varieties.
• Hardwood flooring: Felt, cork and rubber are common underlayment materials for all types of hardwood floors. With cork and felt, you may want to request a moisture barrier to ensure warmth in winter.
• Vinyl flooring: A thin foam underlayment made of polypropylene or polyethylene is the preferred choice for vinyl flooring. It provides excellent noise reduction, moisture resistance and thermal insulation.
• Carpet flooring: Foam and rubber carpet padding are the preferred underlayment materials for carpets and offer good insulation.

2. Electric Rug Heaters

Under-rug heating mats are an affordable alternative to in-floor or underfloor heating systems. They are designed to fit underneath your area rug. Electric rug heaters are made from alloy foil and polypropylene, which ensures even heat distribution around the room. The heater has a power cord you can plug directly into an outlet to heat your rug. As a localized solution to cold floors, a rug heater is a highly efficient innovation.

3. Weatherstripping

Weatherstripping is a cost-effective and energy-saving method of keeping warm air within the home. You can use weatherstripping to seal air leaks around doors and windows to prevent warm air from escaping and cold air from taking its place.

With good weatherstripping, your living space can retain enough heat to warm your cold floors in winter. When choosing weatherstripping, consider the different types, as they have varying degrees of effectiveness.

4. Area Rugs

Rugs are an easy-to-install, cost-effective solution to keeping floors warm when temperatures drop. Acting as insulators, area rugs prevent the heat in your home from seeping through the floor while blocking the cold from passing through. While a good, fluffy area rug doesn't heat the floor, it keeps your feet warm and maintains the temperature in the room by preventing the cold from rising into the room through the floor.

The effectiveness of a rug depends on the material. You want to select heavy rugs made of wool and other natural fibers. Still, so long as the rug is dense with a heavyweight pile, it should provide good insulation.

5. Hydronic In-Floor Heating

Hydronic in-floor heating is one of the two heating systems that go under the floor. The system uses hot water to heat your floor, with pipes and valves installed to create a network that makes up the heating layer. This traditional heating system generally uses propane and natural gas to heat the water. However, you can also use other options, like an electric or firewood boiler, to supply hot water through the system. 

While hydronic heating is among the most expensive options upfront, it's energy-efficient in the long run and highly effective as it distributes warmth evenly across the floor.

6. Electric In-Floor Heating

Like hydronic heating, electric heating uses cables built into the flooring. Other options include installing electrical matting below the floor covering, but the matting system is usually not as effective or durable as electric cables. Since the system relies on electricity to heat cold floors in winter, it can consume more energy than other heating alternatives. 

The advantage is that electric heating is more economical to install, especially if you're targeting specific areas. The system is also ideal for floors with a large thermal mass, allowing them to retain heat longer since you can run on one charge per day.

Best Flooring Options to Keep Your Room Warm

Your floor is a major consideration when it comes to maintaining a warm room. As you determine how to keep floors warm in winter, note the flooring materials because they play a vital role in your home's heat-retaining abilities. The best flooring materials for a warm and cozy living space should withstand extreme cold. Here are the warmest flooring options for your home:

• Carpeting: Carpet is the most effective solution for keeping the winter chill out of your house. It's soft, warm and cozy, bearing an obvious advantage over other materials in terms of insulation. With a combination of carpet and padding, you may not need heating solutions to keep your floors warm.
• Hardwood flooring: The next best flooring option for a warm room after carpeting is hardwood. Both solid and engineered hardwood floors provide warmth and are effective when combined with good underlayment.
• Laminate flooring: As a more affordable alternative, laminate can withstand extreme temperature changes, making it ideal for combating cold weather. It's more effective with a built-in or an installed underlayment.

Explore Winterproof Flooring With Carpet & Tile Mart

Managing cold floors in winter can be challenging. However, it's a challenge you can overcome with proper flooring and strategies to keep the cold at bay. Regardless of your flooring preference, take advantage of proven measures to maintain a warm and comfortable floor, such as installing underlays, in-floor heating, weatherstripping, electric heaters and area rugs.

Since quality is a huge factor when looking to keep your floors and home warm, work with a reputable dealer for a lasting solution. At Carpet & Tile Mart, we specialize in quality and high-end flooring products available at a fraction of the market price. Our excellent customer service ensures value, convenience and professionalism as you browse our large selection for the right product. 

Shop flooring at Carpet & Tile Mart or inquire about our services at any of our locations!