Warm your house naturally with thermal mass flooring

When it comes to flooring for the home, more and more consumers are looking at thermally efficient options; that is, flooring that, with the aid of the sun's rays (or the home's heating system), helps to regulate heating and cooling inside the house. Putting down flooring with a great thermal mass can save a great deal on heating and cooling bills, provided that principles of passive solar design are also adhered to.

The types of flooring you'll need to look at are those that have a high thermal mass; that is, high-density materials with low thermal conductivity.

"You need some mass to absorb the heat that comes into the building," says Griff Morris from Solar Dwellings. "Without a mass material, for example brick or stone, you've got nothing to hold the heat."

These high thermal mass materials absorb the heat from the sun during the day, build the heat up and store it. "At night when the outside temperature drops, you start losing temperature outside the building," explains Griff. "As the building starts getting cooler, the internal air temperature starts dropping. When the internal air temperature starts dropping lower than the floor, it starts giving heat back into the air. 

Materials to place on the floor slab that absorb heat well include the aforementioned brick or stone, terracotta, and any kind of tile. "The darker or rougher the surface, the more heat it will absorb," says Griff.

In order to maximise the thermal mass efficiency of the floor, it's important not to clutter rooms with too much furniture, as access to the mass absorbers will be lost. "The ideal room in which to store heat is the dining area, as it usually has the least amount of furnishings," says Griff.

The effectiveness of high thermal mass flooring in regulating temperature will be somewhat dependent on the design and orientation of the house, and the climate. Passive solar design, of which thermally efficient flooring is an element, tends to work best when there is a range of temperatures throughout the day and night.

For more information, contact an architect who specialises in this area.