Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Apr 30, 2009 10:02 pm Concrete is freezing to walk on in winter and boiling hot to walk on in summer. So why is it that my townhouse I live in now (which is floorboards) the tiles at this time of the year are freezing cold. Now I'm someone that can tolerate the cold. Today's 3 degrees in the morning was not cold to me.. But when I walk on the tiles I can feel the cold running up my legs.. But my parents home and in laws home are both on slabs and the tiles do not bother me all at winter. Is it to do with the cold air running under the house and up to the bottom of the tiles? I was just wondering if there is a scientific reason as to why this is.. Re: Why are tiles colder on floorboards than slabs? 2May 01, 2009 7:59 am That is interesting ; in my old house which was a floorboard base we had tiles in the kitchen on floorboards and tiles on enclosed backporch, a sort of sunroom, which was cement, and didn't notice a cold difference. Admittedly our winters are fairly mild here. What we did notice is that the tiles did not last on the floorboards - even though they were professionally laid with whatever it takes to install tiles onto floorboards we found tiny hairline cracks appearing which then spread into larger cracks - the wooden floorboards move and contract with temp changes but the tiles do not move with them, hence cracking. Had to replace them after few years with floating floor. Would not reccomend anyone lay tiles onto floorboards again. One difference we certainly noticed was in our extension, new lounge area was cement slab, old dining was floorboards, 2 rooms flowed into each other and did same carpet on each - slab section was much harder underfoot than old floor board section, very noticable, even with good underlay and carpet on top. Re: Why are tiles colder on floorboards than slabs? 3May 01, 2009 8:34 am maybe the warmth or thermal mass or whatever they call it from the warmth of the earth during the day lasts longer in the slab than on the floorbaords with air between the joists and battens and all that? sorry not a very technical explanation. maybe dymonite69 will have something better to offer. "Your emotions are the slaves to your thoughts, and you are the slave to your emotions." — Elizabeth Gilbert Living in our new house. Currently scaping the land. Re: Why are tiles colder on floorboards than slabs? 5May 02, 2009 12:33 pm Its because the concrete slab retains heat. Heat generated by heating, the building being warmed up during the day and indeed the heat given off by those living in the house. The space under the floorboards is ventilated which allows for the air underneath the house to be constantly changed and as such cooled which in turn keeps the floor and tiles cool. Re: Why are tiles colder on floorboards than slabs? 6May 02, 2009 3:39 pm Could it be differences in conduction of heat? You can walk across hot coals because they don't transfer heat very quickly to your body. But if you touch hot metal you are instantly burnt. Maybe tiles transfer heat more quickly to your feet than concrete. Metricon Riva 33 - http://herlihy-riva.blogspot.com Site start 15/03/2010 - Handover 23/12/2010 9 months and 8 days (284 calendar days) from site start to handover Re: Why are tiles colder on floorboards than slabs? 7May 02, 2009 4:08 pm vvs mand Its because the concrete slab retains heat. Heat generated by heating, the building being warmed up during the day and indeed the heat given off by those living in the house. The space under the floorboards is ventilated which allows for the air underneath the house to be constantly changed and as such cooled which in turn keeps the floor and tiles cool. that makes sense... all of the tiles I were referring to are ceramic. my suspicion - some builders, they do usually make 'odd' settings in their site plan / pricing as their standards - being hopeful that first - the initial price is… 9 2514 Hi All New to the forum and looking for some advice, has anyone else renovated an old miners cottage in or around Ballarat and been able to identify the flooring? We… 0 8777 Hi there, looking to have a gym in a new build. Planning to install some sort of rubber mat flooring (on concrete) i.e. Asking the builder to not do floorboards in the gym… 0 1441 |