Best materials to temporarily insulate a tile floor?
MargaretThomas
| Posted in General Questions on
Hello – I have a sunporch with tile on the concrete pad. The porch was originally a screened in room but we like to use it year round now. I am adding foam insulation to the crawl space in the room and also in the walls. The windows are fairly energy efficient. The biggest challenges are 1) getting more heat into the room without using a space heater if possible and 2) making the floor warmer. The cool tile is lovely in the warm months but does anyone know an insulating product I could lay down over the tile during the winter – and cover with an area rug – then take up and store easily when the weather is warm?
Thanks very much
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Replies
Margaret,
There are many ways to heat your room. You could install a wall-mounted space heater that burns natural gas or propane; these heaters are available with through-the-wall venting. You could install electric-resistance baseboard heat. You can install a ductless minisplit unit (a type of air-source heat pump). If your house already has a furnace, you can extend new ductwork to this room. If your house already has a boiler, you can install hydronic baseboard units.
If all of these options are unfamiliar to you, you should talk to a heating contractor.
I'm not sure if this room is built over a crawl space or a concrete slab. If it is built over a crawl space, then the floor can be insulated from underneath.
If it is a slab, then you can install horizontal rigid foam insulation at the perimeter of the slab.
For a temporary floor covering to take the chill off the cold tile, it's hard to beat a plain old-fashioned area rug.