Stay Warm This Winter - 3 Flooring TipsPublished 12/09/2016After a lovely sunny summer, the evenings are starting to feel decidedly cool!
Temperature makes a big difference to how comfortable we feel – especially in our own home.
Good news! There are lost of ways to make drafts or cold floors feel a lot warmer:
1. Find the source
One of the simplest things to do is to check where any drafts are coming from and block them up.
Use a heavy paper lining to cover gaps between floorboards. This is great for old houses or those with floorboards block and mastic gaps under skirting. It will also stop dust marks (dark lines that appear around the edge or in lines across you carpet where dust gets through and trapped).
2. Choose a good insulating underlay
Use a thicker or contract (denser) underlay to give more insulation
Use a wool/felt underlay – these materials are known to have excellent insulating properties
3. Change your style of flooring
How about swapping your ceramic flooring for luxury vinyl tiles or sheet vinyl?
- Vinyl has developed in leaps and bounds in recent years. It’s no longer the poor relations when it comes to flooring choices. Vinyl tiles and sheet vinyl come in tile or wood effect which is very realistic. Pop in and take a look - they surprise a lot of customers!
- Being a plastic based product means they take on the ambient temperature of a room very well They are also very easy to clean, scratch & water resistant.
Or - think about changing a thin piled carpet for a deeper one – gives a feeling of real warmth and comfort as well as a touch more luxury.
Do you have underfloor heating?
If so, with all of these items you need to check that:
- The product you have chosen is suitable and suitable for your type of system (solid wood, parquet and some engineered woods or even deep piled carpets are not)
- The Tog Rating – make sure your system can cope with the level of insulation your flooring can give, (here’s a useful article). Basically the lower the Tog the better – just ask us when choosing.
The flooring in our new home was anything but cosy during our first winter. We were sat on the sofa one windy night watching our carpet do a magical levitation trick as the freezing breeze swooped up from the floorboards!
If you want to keep nice and snug this winter – and keep those fuel bills down - come and chat to us and our good friends at Gilroy interiors for great ideas on warming up your home this winter. Yes – your interior fittings can make a big difference too! We work closely with the team at Gilroy Interiors and thoroughly recommend them.
3. Change your style of flooring