With increasingly well-insulated houses, double glazing, more efficient boilers and more, the push to have a warmer home that costs less to heat has been going on for decades.
But how often do we look beneath our feet for a simple answer to how we can make a difference to the efficiency and warmth of our property?
More often than not, we look to the walls, windows, door seals and roof, but the choice of flooring can make a huge difference in how we add comfort to our homes.
The options available to us when it comes to what lies beneath our feet has never been broader. Now, there is a multitude of carpet types, qualities and thicknesses, alongside a plethora of woods and vinyls, and even artificial grass to choose from.
All of this is on offer before you even think of adding rugs.
Thicker Saxony carpets are a great option for warmth. The more depth there is in a carpet, the greater the insulation, even if the floor beneath is cold concrete. When one considers the added natural comfort that comes with a thick carpet beneath bare feet, for a home owner who likes a nice soft touch when they step out of their shoes, it makes sense to go down this route.
However, many people probably shun a vinyl or wood floor, because they have a preconception that these harder surfaces are invariably cold in the winter. Once, this would normally have been the case, but added with other technologies, increasingly popular floor types, such as engineered wood, can make a big difference.
Engineered wood, such as acacia, birch, oak or walnut, can be teamed with underfloor heating (UFH) to create a comfortingly warm surface. And while once UFH was solely confined to larger rooms, due to the way the water pipes were laid out beneath the ground, the growing popularity of the mains-powered variety, which works much the same as an electric blanket, means smaller rooms can benefit from the same heat.
If a home has a wooden floor that the owner doesn’t want to lift up to put UFH beneath, then the rug option is always there, too. It’s a cost effective way of adding a bit of warmth to a room, not least because the sight of a rug makes us feel warmer, regardless of the actual temperature in the room.
And if the feeling of grass beneath the feet makes one automatically think of a warm summer, that’s now an option as well…
For more information, please visit: http://www.flooringsuperstore.com.