Icy Wood? 3 Ways To Warm Up Your Hardwood Flooring
As winter beats down across the globe, people tend to congregate in their houses and huddle up for warmth. But if you have hardwood flooring in your home, you may find that the floor gets a bit too chilly in the colder months to be comfortable, even if you turn the heat up. So if you're looking for a few ways to stave off that winter chill on your hardwood flooring, then here's what you need to know.
Rugs Galore
Rugs are the best option if you're looking to spend as little money as possible or if you're not looking to tear up your home's flooring system anytime soon. Rugs are a great way to make your hardwood floor a bit less frigid when the frosts start to blow in from outside. The key here is not size or shape (or more aesthetic considerations, like color or pattern), but rather the material the rug is made out of. Fabrics like wool, sheepskin, and chenille are perfect for the job, due to their inherent warmth as well as their insulation from the cold underneath.
Well-Placed Vents
This one might be a little more useful when you're building your house or if you've got some home renovation on your calendar for sometime soon. When placing heating vents in your home, the temptation is nearly always to put them in the floor facing upwards, so they can blow hot air up to head level when your heating kicks in. Resist that temptation, however, and put your vents in at the bottom of the wall, facing outwards rather than upwards. This ensures that the heat will begin at foot level when your heating kicks in – rising up to warm the rest of you soon, as hot air rises – which can make a huge difference for the temperature of your hardwood flooring.
Internal Heating
The most expensive of your options, putting internal heating in your wood floors, is also the best option for avoiding frozen toes in the winter. Internal heating generally runs through pipes underneath your wood floor, warming the surface itself to a comfortable but not too hot temperature and ensuring that the ground is never cold underfoot. Radiant heating will run you somewhere between $5 and $16 dollars per square foot (depending on whether you choose hydraulic or electric heating, and whether you install it yourself or pay for the professionals to do the job), but you can say goodbye to cold wood floors forever once it's in.