How To Make Concrete Floors Warmer

Cold concrete floors are a rather common problem and there are several approaches to warming them up.

How to make concrete floors warmer.

In cases of a concrete slab in a basement for example this can be easily done without too much of an issue as demonstrated in the diagram below. Get that amount of rigid board insulation. Luckily there are ways to combat this chilly predicament. Take up as much flooring as you can without breaking it too much hence the extra flooring for oops.

For example a bathroom on a slab would feature a layer of cork or synthetic cork underlayment on top of the concrete subfloor followed by the electric heating element and topped with the flooring substrate. Make sure to measure out the room you are doing to get the square footage. A few are expensive or not practical. Determining the cause of cold floors however is usually fairly simple and can be addressed without massive expenditure.

Hardwood isn t quite as warm as carpet or cork but it s still one of the warmer flooring surfaces on the market. On a cold winter s morning the air temperature up close to the edge of the concrete floor can be colder than the ground underneath the house. And the ground underneath your house will be warmer still because there s a relatively warmer house sitting on top of it. You can expect the stone floor of your screen porch or the basement linoleum laid on cement to be cold and carpet is the logical warmer.

Carpet your buddy to savage through those winter months carpets and rugs are ways to keep your home from losing heat at a convenient cost. Below the surface will be a bit warmer than this. Transform your old floors for a cushiony delight by merely placing an area rug on the cold floor. If your home is drafty the cool air will make your hardwood floor cold as well.

A few are expensive or not practical for some homes. Shown on the right are our unfinished subfloor tiles. Get 2 boxes and a roll or two of vapor barrier. Floors of ceramic stone or concrete are the worst culprits with hardwood a runner up.

Our thermaldry floor tiles rest in raised plastic pegs on the floors of your basement creating a thermal break on your floor that makes its surface 8 10 degrees warmer than the cold concrete below. Keep cold air out warm air in. This allows the new floor to not come in direct contact with the old subfloor which can give you a warmer floor. The most common application however is an in floor heating system installed between the finished concrete slab and the flooring above.

Some issues are structural and logical. Start with the simplest solution which will help provide a comfortable temperature for the whole house not just the floor. Lay the barrier down first and tape the seams really well.