Heater floors and Area Rugs-Not a match made in Heaven

It is wonderful to have heated floors. No more cold toes first thing in the morning, but what are they doing to your area rugs?

After a Google search I found no evidence of anyone writing about damage to rugs by heated floors, except one sentence by a home improvement company "Because the floor-heating system radiates heat, it is strongly recommended that you avoid laying a rug or installing any piece of furniture that might prevent proper air circulation. Trapped heat may cause damage to the rug, piece of furniture or even the floor covering. This does not apply to temporary bathroom rugs as long as they are removed after a bath or shower."

Here is a wool braided rug that came in for cleaning, the rug is folded in half to show the two sides. At first glance you would just think that the sun had faded the rug, but the owner of the rug thinks it was the heated floor that caused the fading.

Many floor companies may not know of the damage rugs can cause to heated floors and vice versa because heated floors are a relatively new thing.

Having your rug fade from a heated floor is not a big deal, but the damage to your flooring can be very costly.

The purpose of heating your floors is so you don't have to have carpet or rugs. This seems to be a case of one or the other, rugs or heated floors. You cannot have both and not have damage happen.

It is hard to not want an area rug to add colour and texture to your rooms, but with heated floors that is not an option. When you have heated floors installed it is best to use different colours of tile, stone, or wood to make a design that way.

With a little planning and designing you can add the look of an area rug within your floor. An old technique that is making a comeback, Inlay flooring.

Here are some grand examples of the design possibilities for inlay flooring.

Usually the only floors most people get heated are the kitchen and bathroom, leaving the living, dining and bed rooms free to be adorned with area rugs.

Here's to damage free area rugs, RugloverMary- area rug protector.