Do Hardwood Floors Make Your House Cooler?

Do Hardwood Floors Make Your House Cooler? If you have wall-to-wall carpet, it can be extremely hot sometimes. This year is predicted to be hotter than ever, and it is not too late to tear up the carpet and lay down some beautiful cool hardwood floors in your home.

By the time the humidity hits, you will realize that you have made the right choice, as you and your family will be so much cooler. Wood and other solid materials reduce the heat of your home and prevent the temperature from fluctuating.

The hardwood absorbs and stores the heat, while carpet acts as a barrier allowing the heat to build-up

Types of Hardwood Floors

Timber floors are both strong and durable, and you have a range of different woods to choose from.

1.Blackbutt 

Blackbutt is a popular choice for hardwood floors, a bit more expensive than some of the others, but worth it. It will make your room look more spacious, and will be very easy to keep clean.

2.Bamboo 

Bamboo is ecologically sound, and renewable growing fast. This makes it cheaper, but get it from a verified source. Because wood is totally natural it allows better airflow and cools your house several degrees cooler than carpet that is insulating.

I mention bamboo because it has low thermal properties, making it cooler in hot climates.

3.White Oak 

White Oak is a lovely cool-looking wood is very popular in hot climates and features mid-range hardwood.

4.Ebony 

If you want black hardwood ebony is a stylish choice and is the hardest wood of all. and despite the color is still cooler than many fabrics.

5.Maple 

Maple is a honey-colored wood with a lovely grain, it is also extremely affordable and a great choice for a hot climate.

6.Hickory

Sometimes you can get Hickory wood in a lovely cream color, this is ideal in the tropics and has a beautiful grain running through it.

7.Ash Wood

 Another light wood that sometimes looks whitish, however, it does require a lot of maintenance

8.Alder 

This is softer hardwood and a type of Birch. It is a fast-growing tree making it more sustainable, and it has a fairly straight grain making it a bit more predictable for flooring. It can look a bit like pine without the knots.

9.Birch

Are cream and white in color hardwood? It is affordable and looks great in all homes. Every two years it will require oiling to keep it looking new. Birch will last for years in your home.

Humidity in Hardwood Flooring

When you live in a tropical climate the right choice of hardwood floor is important as a natural floor covering, it is affected by extreme damp or dryness keeping the indoor humidity between 35 and 60 percent is ideal.

Never install hardwood in a bathroom, as it is a wet area, but it is fine in all other rooms. If your room gets a lot of direct sunlight, close the curtains or apply UV-absorbing film to the window.

In extremes of temperature, timber tends to shrink and expand. Hardwood flooring will also add value to your home, so if you are in the process of preparing your house for sale, hardwood flooring is a good choice.

Hardwood Floors in Cold Climates

in cold climates, people often complain about hardwood floors making their house cold. This problem can be easily overcome by putting rugs down in winter and turning up the Air conditioning.

If you have a radiant heat system, your hardwood floor is a good choice as it will hold the heat. They say that once your hardwood floors are installed that your energy bills will be lower, a good thing in a hot or cold climate as wood is a very stable material that does not react much to temperature and humidity changes.

Do Hardwood Floors Make Your House Cooler? – Conclusion

So, hardwood floors definitely make your house cooler. There are so many lovely woods to choose from that it is often hard to make up your mind.

If you go along to the showroom and see them on the floor it helps with the right decision, as you can walk on them, and get down on the floor and check out the grain in a different light, this will help you decide.