Wood, tiled or carpet - what would you go for?

jonnydeppiwish!

As the title, we currently have engineered oak in our living room (5 x 4m) but the room has a large (3 x 1.6m) window, it’s east facing and does not retain heat very well at all. The radiator is the largest I could find to fit under the window but it’s not the best.

Would you stick with the wood, change to carpet, or tile with electric underfloor heating? 

We have Solar, batteries and an EV so the underfloor heating would cost that much, plus we have a wood burner.

Grateful for your input as ever!

grumpy_codger

Tiles in a living room? Not for me. It's not Spain.
Underfloor heating, if needed, can be done with wooden or carpeted floor, but if it's suspended uninsulated timber floor I'd consider insulating it in the first place.

jonnydeppiwish!

Thanks, it’s a solid concrete base

greyteam1959

Carpet for me every time. 
And it's coming back into fashion !!!

twopenny

I lived the first 30yrs of my life with wooden or vinyl floors because it was fashionable then.
In came fitted carpet and it was a game changer. Much easier to get a warm room and easrto clean.

Friends had underfloor heating with tiles. Was nice on the feet just but only felt warm when the heating was on.

WIAWSNB

jonnydeppiwish! said:

Thanks, it’s a solid concrete base

How old is the house? Ie, what level of insulation will be in that floor?

Electric UFH? I'd have thought not due to running costs, at least not unless your calculations show that it can be affordably handled by your PV and battery. But with an EV needing charging, I suspect not. On the other hand, you could - most likely would - just have it on tickover during winter, not to 'heat' the room, but just to make the floor 'nice'! Ie, the main source of heating would still be a rad. You might consider this if you go for a tile or laminate floor covering, but pointless with carpet.

Sil has a suspended concrete floor, circa 2007-ish. On this she had vinyl planks glued down. It looks good, is highly durable (Forbo), and whilst 'cool', is not unpleasant to sit on. Of course, there are rugs on top which provide the cosy factor. 

So, if your floor is relatively well insulated - not a flagstone-on-earth jobbie - then this is an option if you want it. 

Carpet will always feel better underfoot, but is unlikely to make a tangible difference to the overall heating of the room - it'll just feel warmer to the touch, that's all. 

We have a solid concrete floor in our recent extension, so it has 4" or so of Celotex in it. 8mm laminate flooring on top. It's obviously 'cool' to walk on, especially compared to the carpet in the adjacent room, but not 'cold'. And it makes no difference to how that room heats up. 

So, if you have an 'insulated' concrete floor, stick on it what you want, knowing the only difference it'll make is how it feels to your toes. 

Mil has wet UFH in her retirement bungie. She had it covered in glue-down vinyl planks. What's that like? Bludy AWESOME! Shoes off, and socked feet feel greaaat. It's still 'cool' in summer, tho', so carpet is nicer to sit on...

So, UFH if you want, but make sure - being leccy - it's ok to run. 

kimwp

Tiles feel a bit utilitarian for a living room that isn't somewhere with a hot climate. 

Chickereeeee

I would go for carpet, BUT get a good, high tog underlay!  We have 12mm recovered wool underlay under wool carpet, over a suspended wooden floor. It made big difference compared to the old thin carpet/underlay that was there before.

Later, as we were doing the room up anyway, I went to the trouble and expense of lifting the carpet, floor boards etc and installing 100mm Celotex between the joists, then re-laying everything again. To be honest, I cannot detect much difference than just having the carpet+underlay! 

jonnydeppiwish!

Chickereeeee said:

I would go for carpet, BUT get a good, high tog underlay!  We have 12mm recovered wool underlay under wool carpet, over a suspended wooden floor. It made big difference compared to the old thin carpet/underlay that was there before.

Later, as we were doing the room up anyway, I went to the trouble and expense of lifting the carpet, floor boards etc and installing 100mm Celotex between the joists, then re-laying everything again. To be honest, I cannot detect much difference than just having the carpet+underlay! 

Thanks, carpet is the cheaper of the options tbf

Niv

WIAWSNB said:

jonnydeppiwish! said:

Thanks, it’s a solid concrete base

How old is the house? Ie, what level of insulation will be in that floor?

Electric UFH? I'd have thought not due to running costs, at least not unless your calculations show that it can be affordably handled by your PV and battery. But with an EV needing charging, I suspect not. On the other hand, you could - most likely would - just have it on tickover during winter, not to 'heat' the room, but just to make the floor 'nice'! Ie, the main source of heating would still be a rad. You might consider this if you go for a tile or laminate floor covering, but pointless with carpet.

Sil has a suspended concrete floor, circa 2007-ish. On this she had vinyl planks glued down. It looks good, is highly durable (Forbo), and whilst 'cool', is not unpleasant to sit on. Of course, there are rugs on top which provide the cosy factor. 

So, if your floor is relatively well insulated - not a flagstone-on-earth jobbie - then this is an option if you want it. 

Carpet will always feel better underfoot, but is unlikely to make a tangible difference to the overall heating of the room - it'll just feel warmer to the touch, that's all. 

We have a solid concrete floor in our recent extension, so it has 4" or so of Celotex in it. 8mm laminate flooring on top. It's obviously 'cool' to walk on, especially compared to the carpet in the adjacent room, but not 'cold'. And it makes no difference to how that room heats up. 

So, if you have an 'insulated' concrete floor, stick on it what you want, knowing the only difference it'll make is how it feels to your toes. 

Mil has wet UFH in her retirement bungie. She had it covered in glue-down vinyl planks. What's that like? Bludy AWESOME! Shoes off, and socked feet feel greaaat. It's still 'cool' in summer, tho', so carpet is nicer to sit on...

So, UFH if you want, but make sure - being leccy - it's ok to run. 

It would be naïve to charge your EV using your self generation.

WIAWSNB

Niv said:

WIAWSNB said:

jonnydeppiwish! said:

Thanks, it’s a solid concrete base

How old is the house? Ie, what level of insulation will be in that floor?

Electric UFH? I'd have thought not due to running costs, at least not unless your calculations show that it can be affordably handled by your PV and battery. But with an EV needing charging, I suspect not. On the other hand, you could - most likely would - just have it on tickover during winter, not to 'heat' the room, but just to make the floor 'nice'! Ie, the main source of heating would still be a rad. You might consider this if you go for a tile or laminate floor covering, but pointless with carpet.

Sil has a suspended concrete floor, circa 2007-ish. On this she had vinyl planks glued down. It looks good, is highly durable (Forbo), and whilst 'cool', is not unpleasant to sit on. Of course, there are rugs on top which provide the cosy factor. 

So, if your floor is relatively well insulated - not a flagstone-on-earth jobbie - then this is an option if you want it. 

Carpet will always feel better underfoot, but is unlikely to make a tangible difference to the overall heating of the room - it'll just feel warmer to the touch, that's all. 

We have a solid concrete floor in our recent extension, so it has 4" or so of Celotex in it. 8mm laminate flooring on top. It's obviously 'cool' to walk on, especially compared to the carpet in the adjacent room, but not 'cold'. And it makes no difference to how that room heats up. 

So, if you have an 'insulated' concrete floor, stick on it what you want, knowing the only difference it'll make is how it feels to your toes. 

Mil has wet UFH in her retirement bungie. She had it covered in glue-down vinyl planks. What's that like? Bludy AWESOME! Shoes off, and socked feet feel greaaat. It's still 'cool' in summer, tho', so carpet is nicer to sit on...

So, UFH if you want, but make sure - being leccy - it's ok to run. 

It would be naïve to charge your EV using your self generation.

I do. I do.