Have you ever been in a really nice house where you wished you wore slippers in the basement? It seems a little outrageous doesn’t it? Why in the world would you want to invest money into creating a new living space and potentially doubling your square footage, but have it uncomfortable?
Yet, it happens so often. I once had a discussion with a gentleman in relation to basement floor insulation. His comment was something like: “Why would I need to insulate my floor? It won’t save that much money on my energy bill”. He is slightly correct. Floor insulation will not have dramatic effect on your energy bill. This is why it is so important to insulate your walls and rim joist effectively in basements. However, the gentleman I’m referring to missed a really important point. My response was: “Why wouldn’t you want to insulate your floors? You are in constant contact with the floors through one of the most sensitive parts of your body…your feet”. This gentleman missed a fundamental aspect of how insulation works. Comfort.
Comfort is one of the biggest factors in a basement renovation. You’re not going to want to sit downstairs and watch a movie while needing a mound of blankets to stay warm. What if you’re finishing the basement for your kids? Children are always playing on the floor. You wouldn’t want your children to be uncomfortable. These ideas are precisely why Quik-Therm Insulation developed Quik-Therm Warm Floor. Warm Floor is a 7/16” Type 3 high density rigid foam insulation floor underlayment.
Quik-Therm has kept Warm Floor as thin as possible to avoid encroaching on headroom. Even though the product is thin it still provides an effective R-value of 3.5, and that is enough to take the chill out of your floor. The temperature difference between an uninsulated floor and a Warm Floor is up to 7 degrees Celsius. That is dramatic. Especially on an area as sensitive as your feet! Quik-Therm Warm Floor is an approved vapour barrier and will not support mould or mildew, or absorb moisture.
The installation of Quik-Therm Warm Floor is probably the easiest thing you will ever do. The 4×4 Warm Floor panels are butted up against one another like an incredibly simple, life sized puzzle. It is then sealed with a reflective tape, which allows Warm Floor to act as a vapour barrier. Quik-Therm Warm Floor works very well with rigid flooring product such as laminate flooring, or engineered hardwood flooring. Due to the rigid nature of these flooring products you can install them directly over Warm Floor. No fasteners or adhesive required.
Ultimately, Quik-Therm Warm Floor is an easy to install floor underlayment that will provide you with superior comfort in the areas where you need it the most. https://quiktherm.com