Do Hardwood Floors Make Your House Colder?
It’s no secret that hardwood floors can add value to a house. They’re durable, long-lasting, and enhance the look of your home. But do hardwood floor make your house colder?
The truth is, hardwood floors will not make your house colder. They are better at circulating heat (compared to carpet) and will actually make rooms warmer.
Carpet vs Hardwood Floors
Carpet and hardwood floors are the most popular types of flooring found in homes. But is one really better than the other? Let’s take a look.
Price – Carpet wins hands down when looking at the cost. On average, the price per square footage is much less than hardwood. That makes it a great material if you’re looking to add an inexpensive upgrade.
Durability – If hardwood floors stay dry, they will last much longer than carpet. With proper care, wood can last over 100 years. Carpets will start to wear down over time with regular foot traffic and become discolored.
Maintenance – Both carpet and hardwood are fairly easy to take care off. You can sweep wood and vacuum carpets. However, carpets do fall short when it comes to spills, as stains can be tricky to remove.
Value Added – As I mentioned in the introduction, hardwood floors can be a great investment. If you’re about to sell your house, or you just want to add value, replacing carpet with hardwood will do just that.
Comfort – There’s nothing like the feeling of plush carpet against your feet in the winter. But even though carpets feel warm to the touch, they are not the most efficient way to keep your house warm.
Do Hardwood Floors Make Your House Colder?
People commonly think that carpets will make your home warmer. After all, would you rather snuggle up on a soft carpet, or a hard floor? However, what makes carpets “feel” warm is actually a bad thing.
The truth is that carpets prevent heat from moving around the house. Wood on the other hand helps heat circulate throughout each floor. This is more efficient and better on your energy bill.
Carpets Stop Heat
If you think a deep pile carpet will make your living room warmer – think again. This is one of the thickest carpets you can buy. But a thick carpet will only prevent heat from traveling up to the second floor.
Don’t get me wrong, it feels nice when you’re walking on carpets in the winter with bare feet. But it doesn’t help with heat circulation, which will lead you to turn up your thermostat.
As a result, you’re heating system will be working even harder. It doesn’t matter if you have electrical baseboards, or use oil. It will be more expensive to heat your house if every floor has carpet.
Hardwood Circulates Heat
On the flip side, hardwood floors actually circulate heat around your home. Even though wood might feel cool to the touch, it has a higher thermal mass compared to carpets.
In other words, the hardwood can absorb heat and store it during colder months. Compare this to high pile carpets, where the fibers work as a barrier to stop heat at the source and prevent circulation.
Hardwood floors can also provide homeowners with benefits throughout the year. During the warm summer months, they can circulate cool air conditioning air and make your home more comfortable.
How to Keep Hardwood Floors Warm in Winter
Even though hardwood floors are better at circulating heat, they still might feel cool to the touch. The good news is that you can try some of the methods below to feel more comfortable in the winter.
1. Fix Drafts
Even the slightest draft can cause a cold floor and increase your heating bill. There are many different ways to fix drafts that range from inexpensive, to very expensive.
Buying a door draft stopper is a cost effective way to block cold air from the outside. This device gets placed underneath doors and eliminates gaps where drafts enter.
But if you have the money to spend, investing in new windows can also help. You will notice the biggest difference on older houses that have single pane windows.
2. Use a Rug
We know that wall to wall carpets can prevent heat from circulating around the house. But having a small rug in some areas can make your feet warmer and still circulate heat.
Small rugs will not disrupt the flow of warm air throughout your house. They simply do not take up enough space (compared to wall to wall carpet) to have a negative impact.
Place a rug underneath your kitchen table, or living room couch. These are the most common areas where people sit, so you can keep your feet warm over hardwood floors.
3. Enter Through the Garage
As you might expect, this tip only applies if your home has a garage. It might sound strange, but the door you enter to your house could be making the interior colder.
This happens most if you have a lot of people coming and going on a regular basis. Each time the front door opens, the cold air comes pouring into the house, which forces your heating system to work more.
You can block this cold air by entering through the garage first. Once the garage door is closed, you can then come inside. This is the best way to prevent cool air from entering your home.
4. Wear Warmer Clothing
This last tip may sound obvious, but changing up what you wear can have a dramatic effect on how your home feels. Wearing socks on hardwood floors is a quick way to make your feet warmer.
As we have learned by now, hardwood floors are much better at circulating heat, they just feel cool to the touch. So, why not fix this minor issue by throwing on a pair of warm socks, or slippers?
You need to be smart about how you feel inside the house. If you’re wearing a t-shirt and shorts, the first choice shouldn’t be to turn up the heat. Instead, put on warmer clothing and see how you feel – before making a decision.
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