Underlay to help make laminate floor warm

Help1234

We currently have laminate floor in our living room which is really cold on your feet (north facing room). We have just had an extension built so are replacing the floor. We will lay new laminate floor on the extension (over concrete) which joins to our living room and so extend the new laminate in there too (over floorboards). We are wondering if there is better underlay to get this time to help make the floor warm instead of so cold? We unfortunately don't have underfloor heating.

grumbler

Help1234 said:

We are wondering if there is better underlay to get this time to help make the floor warm instead of so cold?

Well, better than what? What underlay is it ATM?

dj1471

Why not just put carpet down if you want it to be warm...?

Jeepers_Creepers

https://www.wickes.co.uk/Arbiton-Comfort-Laminate+Wood-Flooring-Underlay-10-8m2/p/122717

Or can you go thicker?

Emmia

The problem with laminate is that it is fundamentally cold to touch, so I'm not sure that underlay etc. will make much of a difference - if you want a 'warmer feeling' floor, then you'll need to switch to carpet, real wood, cork or a LVT like Karndean or Amtico. 

We have Amtico in our kitchen and it feels noticeably warmer than the laminate in the hallway directly outside - to the point we're thinking of replacing the (slightly worn out) laminate with LVT in a wood pattern (probably Amtico Royal Oak)

Silvertabby

We have Karndean in the kitchen but engineered oak in the hall/lounge/dining room.  The natural wood  certainly feels warmer than the LVT.  Would that be an option?

Help1234

We can’t have carpet the extension will be a kitchen. Unfortunately our budget doesn’t stretch to LVT or real/engineered wood. I’ve found a laminate I really like, but just wondered if there was some underlay that could help with this issue.

Jeepers_Creepers

Laminate is already a pretty decent insulator, and with the underlay I linked to (tho' there may well be better ones, especially if thicker) should be perfectly fine.

The idea is that the surface of the laminate flooring is warmed by the ambient temp, and is not conducted away. Even 5mm fibreboard will make a huge difference to this.

Is there a limit to the thickness of flooring you can go to? How thick is your chosen laminate?

You should be fine.

Eldi_Dos

With it being a concrete floor it would be advisable to lay a membrane then whatever underlay and flooring you choose,as it's a new extension and concrete base you might want to think about adding a dehumidifier once flooring finished,after a few weeks should make differance to temperture.

Emmia

If it's in a kitchen, have you thought about installing a kickspace heater, which will blow warmed air over the floor when you switch it on.

https://www.directheatingsupplies.co.uk/myson-kickspace#:~:text=Designed to fit neatly in,functional areas of the home.

Mickey666

dj1471 said:

Why not just put carpet down if you want it to be warm...?

Carpet will only feel warmer, it won't actually be warmer.

The perception of temperature to the touch depends mainly on how the heat in your hand, foot, whatever is conducted away when you touch it.

Imagine a tea towel on a granite worktop in a kitchen.  The granite will feel much colder than the tea towel, even though both will be exactly the same temperature.  This is because the granite will draw heat away from a warm hand faster than the tea towel, leading to the sensation of being colder.

This might sound like a technicality when the most important thing is how something 'feels', but it's useful to understand the principles involved, especially if it can save money. 

For example, wearing a thick pair of socks will be just as effective in making the laminate floor 'feel' warm as replacing it with carpet and walking barefoot.

It's a similar thing with wind chill.  A cold day 'feels' colder when it is windy rather than still, but the air temperature itself is the same.  Being windy does not make the air colder, it only makes it 'feel' colder because it causes the body to lose heat faster.