It can be all too easy to ignore the flooring in your closets. Right up to the point where you grow tired of them. Cold floors in winter, outdated tile, bare wood, and worn-out carpet all inspire a lot of homeowners to include closet floors on their list as they start planning their next remodel.
If you are thinking about updating the floors in one or more of your closets, you are likely facing a bunch of big questions. Fortunately, this article can help guide you through the murky waters to help find the best flooring type for your new or remodeled closet.
Ideal Flooring Options For A Walk-In Closet & More
When most people think about updating the flooring in a closet they are talking about a walk-in closet. Though large walk-in pantries and storage rooms do also deserve their own flooring considerations. So, it’s best to cast a broad net. Just because we look at this from the context of a “Theoretical” walk-in closet, you can still repurpose a lot of the following information for a large kitchen pantry or a storeroom with outdated flooring.
Laminate & Vinyl Flooring
Vinyl and laminate flooring both make excellent alternatives to hardwood floors, which is handy if your closet was built with plywood floors and you are dealing with a little bit of a tight budget. Both laminate and vinyl flooring have made some significant strides when it comes to their inherent durability and ease of installation, all while maintaining or reducing the cost per square foot.
Hardwood Floors
A lot of older homes and newer homes have some type of hardwood flooring already in them. This is a great durable type of flooring that has an ageless look. If your closet already has hardwood floors installed, you can easily bring them back to life over the course of a single weekend or so with some careful sanding and refinishing.
Even if you don’t already have existing hardwood floors, they can be installed at a relatively low price. This tends to be a great long-term investment in a quality floor that you can trust to stand the test of time. Best of all, when you have a contractor install them new, you can custom choose the shade of stain and the finish to perfectly match your vision.
Are Hard Wood Closet Floors Cold?
Hardwood closet floors can be a little cold in the wintertime. If you are installing new, your contractor might be able to install an in-floor heating system to help warm the floors on cold winter mornings. Though most people with traditional hardwood floors will simply put down a warm, plush area rug to help keep their toes cozy when the mercury starts to drop.
Carpeted Closet Floors
Carpet is one of the most popular ways to cover a closet floor. It is inherently warm and available in a stunning array of colors and patterns to match the ambiance of your closet as well as your unique tastes. It is also available in different depths of the pile. This lets you choose just how much your feet sink into the carpet.
Carpet can also be seamlessly connected to the carpet in the main part of your living room or bedroom without having to use any sort of threshold or transition strip. It is also very versatile and relatively easy to replace should your tastes change in the future. Many types of carpeting can also be buffered with a foam underlayment to add depth, and comfort, without affecting the pile of the overlying carpet.
Tile Floors
Tile flooring has also come a long way in recent years, as an innovative flooring that lends itself to a lot of fun and even organic patterns. Recent advancements in artificial tile flooring even allow them to mimic the visual look of all-natural hardwood, though cast in a special heavy-duty durable tile. They can also be treated with special surface texture for things like mudroom closets and foyer closets.
Ceramic Stone Flooring
Ceramic stone flooring is very similar to tile, and can even add an elegant flair, while also helping to maintain a natural aesthetic, ceramic tile flooring. It too can also conduct radiant heating systems just like tile can. Though a lot of ceramic stone doesn’t allow you to alter the surface texture beyond the manufacturer’s specs, and it usually requires professional installation to prevent dangerous chips and cracks.
Radiant Heating For Tile Floors
One of the great things about tile floors is that it is very easy to install a radiant floor heating system under them. This is great for times when you are planning a major renovation, remodel, or new construction.
It is a simple way to up the opulence and grandeur of your walk-in closet. The flooring is comprised of ceramic tiles that sit atop channels of special electric heating wires. They act like resisters that build up heat as the current passing through them is impeded. This head then conducts gradually through the tile to warm the floors to the touch.
Not only does it let you walk in your walk-in closet barefoot, but it can also help to heat the air in the closet, which is handy if you don’t have any sort of register, radiator, or heat vent in your closet. The type of ambient heat it produces is also less likely to affect vulnerable textiles the way that forced air and hot radiator heating produces.
The Benefits Of Adding An Area Rug
Sometimes the best answer for how to change your closet floors is to do as little as possible. If you don’t have the budget to do a wholesale remodel, something like a large area rug might be all you need to bring some much-needed warmth and color to the offending closet. You might even be able to secure it in place to an outdated hardwood floor with some double-sided tape.
