Cold extension floor

[rkinsella]

Hi folks,

We have a sun room extension a cold sun room extension.

I sorted out the roof Insulation and we installed new windows, and the room is still cold. Appears to be coming up from the floor, missing a membrane?

Is there anything, ideally minimally invasive I can do to sort this out?

Ray K

 

[Doggit]

What is the floor currently made off, when was it done, and what finish are you after. It won't be a missing membrane, but it might be lack of/missing insulation.

 

[rkinsella]

Er Tiles, with concrete underneath.
Given the state of insulation in attic missing insulation in the floor wouldn't surprise me. Not sure yet what I want to do with this space in the longer term. Any temporary fix?

 

[Doggit]

You could use fibre boards and laminate; it'll still be cold, but not as cold as the tiles. Long term (depending how much you can/can't raise the floor level you'd take up the old tiles put down XPS insulation boards, and then retile, possibly with electric UFH to take the chill off the tiles in the winter.

Whilst tiles are cold in the winter, they can help absorb heat in the summer.

Depending on your budget, a wooden floor would warm things up, and is fairly straightforward to fit.

 

[rkinsella]

Good advice, thanks. Need to do something.

 

[tomfe]

Put some carpet down tiles will be cold no matter what you do unless you have underfloor heating or get enough solar gain to heat them up.

 

[garyo]

I transformed our old kitchen, which was similar, but putting 5mm vinyl over the tiles. It's like night and day walking around bare foot. It even makes your mugs bounce instead of smashing!

 

[rkinsella]

Right but will Vinyl or Carpet help warm the room up.

 

[stuart45]

Right but will Vinyl or Carpet help warm the room up.

They stop your feet feeling cold rather than help heat up the room. Feeling cold in a room isn't always solely about air temperature.
Your body loses heat through radiation to the walls etc, and conduction to the floor.

 

[garyo]

What kind of heating is in the room?

 

[rkinsella]

Just a standard single radiator, probably eight feet long. Radiator is the last one on the circuit and Sunroom was an extension so it gets hot but not scalding. Sun room is 154 square feet in size.

Ray K

 

[Doggit]

You could shut down the other rads a fraction to force more hot water in to that rad. You could also try insulating the pipes on that run to make sure the maximum amount of heat gets there. You could also change the rad for a fan assisted radiator, and if you're put down a very thick underlay and carpet, then that will make a difference.

And much as it might be tricky getting the CH pipes around the room, rather than one large single rad, you might be better off with 2 smaller rads placed at either side of the room.

 

[noseall]

Any floor is going to be cold unless you heat it. Get a good pair of slippers or a nice fluffy carpet.

 

[Doggit]

But there's cool (vinyl, cold (wood), and effing cold - tiles. The upside is that uninsulated tiles in the summer act as a heatsink, and cool the room down, so yes, good heating and slippers can sometimes be the best bet.