Avoiding Cold Concrete Floors
If you are considering getting concrete floors for your home, you may be worried that you’ll have to permanently wear socks or slippers due to the floor always being cold, especially with winter coming. However, in terms of temperature, concrete floors are no different than tile or stone flooring. As long as the temperature inside the house is comfortable, the temperature of the floor should be comfortable as well.
Concrete floors are also able to store heat, so here are some methods for making sure your concrete floors stay warm even in the coldest months:
Install insulation
Concrete floors can lose up to 80% of their heat through their sides, so to make sure the heat stays in, you can have insulation installed around the perimeter of the floor. The insulation will keep the heat in the floor where it can be slowly released through the surface.
Use Heat Generators
If your concrete floors are going to be in a room without heating, you can still avoid having cold feet by heating the floors from underneath. This is accomplished by installing heat generators before the concrete floor is poured. Common methods for heating concrete floors use pipes to flow hot water underneath or use electric wires to generate heat. Electric heating works quickly, but is more costly than using hot water, so it’s typically only used in small areas such as a bathroom. These methods can even be used if the concrete floor has an epoxy coating.
Give it access to sunlight
Concrete, unlike wood or carpet flooring, absorbs the heat provided by the sun and then slowly releases it throughout the day. If possible, give your concrete floor direct access to sunlight so that it can absorb as much natural heat as possible.
If you would like to learn more about getting concrete floors installed in your house, contact us and we will be glad to help.