How Wood Floors Can Save You Money

A lot of recent campaigns put an emphasis on the role the interior design and its aspects play in environmental issues and improved energy efficiency in every home and working/commercial space. As you can conclude, improved energy efficiency is important not just for financial and comfort reasons for the household, but also in the context of taking ecologically-friendly steps and having a conscious attitude towards the world surrounding us.

However, when it comes to the comfort of your own home, being able to save energy while still enjoying convenience is very important. Surprisingly or not, the interior of your house plays a major role in the context of energy efficiency. The size, the layout, the materials used, the additional insulation, double glazing, the floor of choice, and a number of factors and aspects of the interior more will strongly determine how energy efficient your home is and today we are going to reveal some of the flooring aspects that increase this efficiency, so make sure to stay tuned.

Cosiness

It is part of our nature as humans to strive to achieve a home that is comfortable, warm, beautiful, and functional. A home that is cosy, in a nutshell, because no one will enjoy living in a place that doesn’t feel good. It is all about the atmosphere and the way our family and we feel at the place, even if we are renting, even if it is just for a while. The aim towards achieving pleasurable cosiness at home is probably the main reason why the home improvement industry is nowadays a multi-billion one with the potential and forecast to grow even more in the upcoming years. According to The Independent, people are currently five times more likely to be planning a home refurbishment and improvement project compared to just four years ago. It is safe to say that people are more and more investing money in the concept of “turning a house into a home”, which means they are investing in their comfort and the idea of feeling good.

We can also discuss that the emphasis of all these finished and started home improvement projects in the last couple of years has noticeably shifted from just decorative and aesthetic reasons to more functionality and better control over the energy efficiency of the house and the household bills. It is like making a smart investment that will pay off pretty soon and making your homework for your comfort itself.

Thanks to the variety of options and alternatives available on the modern-day market worldwide, we can now choose from many ways to make our home more energy efficient and enjoyable and to even show your environmental awareness if this aspect is also important to you. Better insulation, lighting, double-glazed windows and doors, and all of the rest marketed as “energy-efficient choice for your home” is definitely important and one step further a cosier and warmer home. However, we often tend to forget or simply don’t know that the floor of our choice plays a vital and very essential role in how good insulated and energy-efficient our place is.

The Right Floor for Cutting the Bills

Your flooring can be functional in many ways and while its main purpose is being the surface you walk on, it has its fair share in energy efficiency too. Functionality, design, and insulation are its three key elements that you simply cannot ignore, this is why it is very important to take your time and think before you purchase a new floor. Some people tend to go with the most budget-friendly option, putting the rest of their budget in interior (decorative) elements they assume more important. However, we believe that the floor should be your and your budget’s priority. Of course, your floor can have a major role in keeping your heating bills significantly lower, if you make the proper choice.

There are completely natural flooring materials available that are not simply an eco-friendly and conscious choice but also ensure great natural insulation. Among them, the most functional, beautiful, and good at energy efficiency materials is wood. Math your wooden floor with a good insulation underlay and you will be able to see a big difference to how well your floor is heated during the winter months while the heating bills will remain lower than what you expect. No matter if you invest your money in a classic solid wood floor or you decide to go for the more budget-friendly and modern option of engineered wood flooring, there is no doubt that wood, being the natural insulator it is, will trap the warm air of the heated room.

In addition, the right insulation underlay installed under the floorboards will prevent the warm air from leaving the room and cold drafts of air from outside entering the house. There is a wide variety of different underlays you can choose from, you can even opt for sound- and damp-proofing options and the one with the right thickness and construction can be of significant help for keeping your heating bills in the wintertime at a reasonable number. In a nutshell, matching a wooden floor, be it solid, engineered wood, or parquet, with the right underlay will not just be good to your wallet but also will bring in a lot of comfort and cosiness in the house, keeping your feet warm.

Wood Floor Maintenance is Important

It may seem like not having much of connection with the energy efficiency properties of your wooden floor, but good maintenance is highly important. Wood floors that are not in good condition and struggle with cracks, gaps between the boards, dents, and worn finish are generally not that good at insulation and this is why you should make sure to repair, refinish, and renovate yours whenever it is needed to not just improve its look and condition but also its insulation properties. Little details can really make a big difference!

Underfloor Heating

In order to add even more warmth and cosiness to your home, you can opt for underfloor heating which is a great match with a wooden floor and really makes a lot of difference in the context of improved energy efficiency. To make even better use of the underfloor heating system you are considering investing in, make sure to do good research and pick the right wood species that will offer the most effective insulation in this case. However, remember that wood species of choice is not the only important aspect here as proper and highly professional installation, good finish and sealant, and other quality materials will have a major impact on the wood floor’s inherent energy efficiency and will insulate your home even better.