Floor temperatures when replacing carpet with hardwood

7 years ago

I currently have carpet in 2 adjacent bedrooms, den, and hallway that needs to be replaced, and my preference would be to use hardwood. These rooms are over an unheated underground garage. I am concerned that if I remove the carpet and pad and replace them with hardwood that I'll end up with unacceptably cold floors.

The garage temps are 40-55 or so year round, and there is fiberglass insulation in the garage ceiling (I think it's 6"). The rest of the house is heated with baseboard hot water (except for radiant electric in a bathroom floor). Note that I live in northern NH and it's quite cold here in the winter.

While I would love hardwood, I don't see any point to going that $$ route if I end up covering it all with rugs because the floors are too cold, and spending even more on heating costs. Has anyone else been in this situation? Thoughts?

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Comments (5)

User
7 years ago
It will feel a bit cooler, because it is harder, but if the floor is insulated it won't be chilly.

also, I wear fuzzy slippers in the winter.
gregmills_gw
7 years ago
You can add more insulation, which may help, or you can add radiant electric heat underneath the wood floor. Make sure the product allows for it, but you have options
warmfridge thanked gregmills_gw
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You need to do a little more archeological digging still. You need to know the whole construction of the floor before you can decide how best to install something new. I'd take up that plywood piece in the kitchen and see what's under it. It's higher than the surrounding floor, so needs to go. You should also be able to see from there what subfloor is under the original kitchen hardwood. It's too bad the space under your entryway is finished, but I'd still do some exploring from below to see what's under there, and to figure out the fix to stop it from squeaking. Is it drywall below or a drop ceiling? I know it probably seems like a pain to tear out drywall, but if you cut out a clean patch, like 2' x the width of the joists, it'll be relatively simple to repair. Just make sure to cut it down the center of the joists so that there's room to screw the patch piece to it later. Cut the hole under the area that squeaks the most, if you can. Have someone walk on and watch the floor from below to see what's moving. It might be as simple as pounding in a couple shims from below, or face-nailing a loose board from above. You want to find out what's underneath the hardwood. It might be laid directly on the floor joists, or there might be 10" wide boards that the hardwood is nailed to. Another thought is to take out a board in the hallway, since that's not original and you want to replace it. See what the subfloor is there. I am a bit puzzled at why, when you've stripped the kitchen down to the original hardwood, it's still higher than the hallway floor. Is your current surface perhaps not the original kitchen hardwood? Peeling back the plywood area will help determine that. BTW, I haven't heard of that stop squeaking product you linked to, so can't offer any personal opinion. And don't pour self-leveling compound over top of hardwood. It needs to go over plywood.
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My mother is 85 years old and has Parkinson's, so she has trouble getting around. I am keeping her in mind with your question. I would go with a low pile carpet, if you were my parent. It is softer for when she falls down. Mom has hardwood in her foyer, dining, and halls, and although they are beautiful, they are mostly covered with throw rugs, which are a tripping hazard, but less slippery for her. She has trouble with getting a "grip" on the floor when standing up, and carpet helps with that. Wheelchairs will run grooves in a hardwood floor.
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warmfridge
Original Author
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
I've thought about both those things, but both are going to be expensive, either in immediate construction costs or long-term electric bills. I was hoping to find someone who'd actually tried this or had some scientific information about the insulation properties of wood vs carpet+pad.

Edit: More googling found these 2 sites...

http://www.houseneeds.com/learning-center/pex-tubing-radiant-floor-heating/flooring-r-value-different-materials

http://www.radiantprofessionalsalliance.org/Pages/FloorCoveringR-ValueChart.aspx

So while hardwood and carpet+pad have dissimilar R-values, that difference seems pretty negligible compared to the total R value of the underlying plywood, insulation (either R-19 or R-30), and sheetrock of the garage ceiling. I think that while a hardwood floor will feel colder, the room itself shouldn't be any colder. Thoughts?
gregmills_gw
7 years ago
have you measured the bare concrete for temps throughout the day? if not, start doing it, take measurements for a week, to gauge a baseline.

i have a feeling you will find that wood if you choose to lay it, wont be as cold as tile in a bathroom in the morning in the middle of winter.

You can actually find pretty cheap mesh electric radiant sheets to lay down

http://www.homedepot.com/b/Search/N-5yc1vZb97j/Ntk-Extended/Ntt-radiant%2Bfloor%2Bheating?Ntx=mode+matchpartialmax&NCNI-5
warmfridge thanked gregmills_gw
warmfridge
Original Author
7 years ago
Do you mean the garage's concrete floor below? I think what might be relevant are the winter temps of the garage ceiling. Or the floor under the bedroom carpet. But I don't think measuring temps now is going to help much since my concern is what will happen in January. I think I need to find a way to ascertain how much insulation is in that space. If it's actually R-30, this is all much less of a problem. And I need to see if the current garage doors are optimally insulated.

I put some of those mats until the tile in my bathroom when I reno'd 8 years ago and I think the heat is starting to become patchy. It would be about $1500 for enough mats to do my current project, and I just realized I'd have to go with a floating floor which wasn't on my radar until now. Yet another consideration.

Thanks for your brainstorming.

Floor temperatures when replacing carpet with hardwood

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Floor temperatures when replacing carpet with hardwood

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