best flooring options for a tiny home

The Best Flooring Options For a Tiny Home

Sharing the best flooring options for a tiny home plus innovative materials to consider.

Sustainable, eco-friendly renovation projects are becoming increasingly popular in the world of home design as homeowners look for ways to reduce their home’s impact on the environment. With that said, one of the best ways to minimize the size of your home’s carbon footprint is to minimize the size of the home itself.

In addition to reduced energy consumption, tiny homes come with a plethora of other benefits. Tiny homes take less time to clean, are less expensive to insure, and are easier to move, making tiny homes ideal for those looking to live a minimalist lifestyle.

Nonetheless, despite the many advantages of choosing a tiny home, there are a few challenges that arise from living in cozy quarters. Most notably, day-to-day traffic will expedite wear and tear in such a concentrated space. Nowhere is this use felt more heavily than the floors. So it is essential that you carefully consider the available options when installing the floors in your tiny home. 

Keep scrolling for an examination of the best flooring options for a tiny home.

Tori's tiny house storage stairs - click to watch the tour!

Choose Hard Materials Over Carpet

Carpet has its place as a flooring option--just not in the world of tiny homes. No type of flooring shows signs of wear or requires as much maintenance as does carpet. This is especially problematic in a tiny house that will not feature a mudroom for dirty shoes or closets to store a vacuum or carpet shampooer.

best flooring options for a tiny homeA hard floor, such as engineered hardwood or luxury vinyl tile, will be the better choice when living in small quarters.

Not only will these be more durable options to withstand the wear and tear of concentrated use, but they can be cleaned with a broom or Swiffer wet mop. This allows you to keep your floors looking good with a fraction of the resources.

Select Synthetic Materials to Prevent Water Damage

Make no mistake, water damage to a floor is undesirable, regardless of the home’s size. However, it is especially disastrous in a tiny home, as there is really nowhere within the house that you can move while the damaged floor is being worked on.

While some tiny homes on wheels may not even be connected to sewer lines, eliminating the threat of water damage from leaking pipes, porous flooring materials. For instance, some ceramic tiles and other options held in place by grout can easily accumulate moisture buildup from everyday spills that will eventually lead to mold and staining.

Therefore, consider modern, synthetic vinyl flooring for your small space. These floors come in several aesthetically-pleasing designs that will vibe well with any ambiance, with waterproof features that will make your floors immune to moisture damage.

best flooring options for a tiny homeGive Priority to Options that Are Easy to Install

While some options, such as solid hardwood and ceramic tile, look elegant and can add value to a home, they often require professional assistance to install. As such, these types of materials go against the grain of a low-cost, DIY minimalist lifestyle.

When further considering this point, the rationale for living in a tiny home likely lies in places other than increasing home value. Therefore, engineered and synthetic options that can easily click into place mesh better with the minimalist sensibility than their more labor-intensive, “authentic” counterparts.

Use Innovative Floor Heating Materials

A major advantage of a tiny home is that it can be effectively zone heated without the need for an energy-draining HVAC system. Nonetheless, there will likely be times when the preferred hard flooring option will get a little icy on brisk winter mornings.

To help mitigate this issue, consider the advantages of a radiant floor heating system. This innovative product directly warms people and objects in the home through infrared radiation. It creates a stove-like atmosphere that keeps your tiny home cozy even in the coldest conditions.

Conclusion

Tiny homes are a great idea for people looking to live a sustainable, minimalist, and/or DIY lifestyle. To help ensure that the floors in your tiny home look great, withstand the wear of a snug lifestyle, and provide you with optimal livability, consider the materials listed in this article when making important floor decisions.

 

Guest Post by Matt Lee
Matt Lee is the owner of the Innovative Building Materials blog and a content writer for the building materials industry. He is focused on helping fellow homeowners, contractors, and architects discover materials and methods of construction that save money, improve energy efficiency, and increase property value.

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