How To Make Your Wood Floors Warm This Winter

Avoid The Chill, Warming Guide For Wood Flooring...

It’s no secret that a solid wood floor can add so much character, elegance, and a sense of value to your home. However, during the winter when the cold starts to creep in, a lot of people may find that it can get a bit cold underfoot. Wood floors are beautiful, yes, but they aren’t the warmest of floors. However, with our guide on how to keep your wood floors warm this winter, you’ll be able to enjoy your floor in the winter months and keep your feet warm and cosy too!

Rugs

Whilst a rug can add a beautiful decorative touch to your floor, it can also help with making your home feel warmer and cosier. When choosing a rug for your specific room it’s important to consider how big your room is so you can find the perfect rug for your wood floor.

We recommend choosing rugs that complement the style of your room and that work well with the colour of your chosen wood flooring. This will make it seem like the rugs are part of your interior décor instead of an afterthought that you have purchased to make the floor warmer.

Underfloor Heating

Another way to keep your floors warm during the winter is installing your wood floors over underfloor heating. However, it’s important to consider what type of floor you have as some wood floors are not compatible with underfloor heating. If you’re installing one of our floors from Flooring365, we recommend only using water-based underfloor heating.

Solid Wood

We would never recommend installing any type of underfloor heating with a solid wood floor as the temperature changes could cause serious damage to your floor. Solid wood flooring is a lot more susceptible to changes in temperature and humidity can cause the floor to expand and warp.

Engineered Wood

Engineered wood flooring is one of the best floorings to use with underfloor heating. The planks of engineered wood have been made in a certain way so that it has dimensional stability from the core layers. This stability will allow your floor to expand and contract with the different changes in temperature from underfloor heating.

Laminate

Our laminate floors can be fitted with any water-based underfloor heating, and you will not have to worry about temperature changes.

Parquet

Our engineered and laminate parquet floors can be used with underfloor heating however, our solid parquet wood floors cannot. This again is due to the solid wood that may expand with heat, humidity, or moisture.

Underlay

Before you lay your wood floor down, it’s important to check that you have the right underlay. First of all, check whether your wood floor will need an underlay or not because some already have underlay attached to them. For example, at Flooring365 almost all our LVT flooring includes underlay, saving you further costs.

You must check this before ordering your new flooring because doubling up on underlay will cause more damage than good. Although it may be tempting to have two layers of underlay, it can actually create too much give underfoot and break the stability of the flooring, so we advise that you avoid this at all costs.

Engineered Wood Flooring

When fitting an engineered wood floor, we recommend using an underlay. Underlay is a thin layer of cushioning material that is placed between the subfloor and the flooring boards. There are also a couple of advantages to installing underlay. For example, it provides extra heat insulation to help reduce the warm air escaping through the floor and acts as a barrier preventing cold air from getting in.

Solid Wood Flooring

If you have a solid wood floor, then you won’t need to apply underlay as one the most common ways to install solid wood flooring is to bond it directly to the subfloor using a flexible adhesive. Unfortunately, this means that you won’t be able to get the added benefit of extra heat insulation but don’t worry! There are other alternatives to keeping your solid wood floor warm during winter.

Parquet

If you have an uneven subfloor, we recommend using an underlay when installing your parquet flooring. By having underlay installed, you can even out the subfloor while also providing extra heat insulation, keeping your parquet wood floor warm throughout the winter months.

Laminate Flooring

Just like with engineered wood flooring, we recommend using an underlay when installing laminate flooring. An underlay will provide extra heat insulation and help reduce the warm air escaping through the floor whilst also acting as a barrier preventing cold air from getting in.

Weatherstripping

During the colder months, cold air from outside will creep in through gaps in your windows and door frames and will settle on your floor. Thankfully, there are ways to avoid this, such as weatherstripping - an affordable and cost-effective way to prevent wood floors from feeling cold all the time whilst lowering your heating bills. The process involves sealing any openings such as doors, windows, and trunks from the waters above. It really is quite a simple process that can save you a lot of money in the long run.

Close The Doors

It may seem obvious, but your flooring absorbs the cold, so it is important to close the doors every time you walk through them, to keep the heat in and minimize exposure to the cold. It is this cold that will make your flooring seem particularly cold and unwelcoming underfoot, and it can also lower the temperature of the whole room. Another way you can improve this and keep the warmth ‘trapped’ is by investing in a draft excluder.

Say No To Bare Feet!

Bare feet are a big no-no during winter especially if you have wooden floors! If you’re wanting to stay warm this winter, then put some socks on! They’ll stop your bare feet from coming into contact with the cold wood floor directly which will help you stay warmer.

Conclusion

We hope our tips and tricks have helped to ensure that your wood floors stay warm during the winter months! If you'd like to stay up to date with our latest advice, don't forget to sign up for our newsletter below!

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