# Flooring for Unheated Seasonal Cottage



## ptarmigan61

Hello,
Does anyone have any experience or recommendations for flooring for kitchen and bath spaces in a cottage that will be unheated for most of the winter? We are building on a remote site, and while we will use it for short periods during the winter during which it will be heated, for most of the winter it will be unheated. The floor is open below, but will be spray foamed. Temperatures will range from -40F in cold snaps to +95 in the summer.
We have thought about vinyl and linoleum but wonder how it will do over time.
Thanks.


----------



## rusty baker

Painted plywood. I know of no flooring product that will stand those temperature extremes.


----------



## just tile

nothing will hold in those conditions..you are going to have tons of problems not controling the temp. in that kind of climate.not just with your floors.


----------



## Dean 1

You will need to regulate the temperature to some degree if you want to put any type of laminate or hard surface in. Laminate floors have less movement with expansion and contraction problems. It could be worth contacting Quickstep who are the market leaders to ask their opinion


----------



## tpolk

roll out carpets


----------



## rusty baker

Loose-lay rugs might work, Stretch-in carpet won't.


----------



## drtbk4ever

I'll share my experience. We have a 25 year old cottage. Used only occasionally in the winter. So our cabin may not have the same heat / freeze cycles yours may have. We had vinyl flooring in the cabin from day one. The only issue we had was a poorly completed seam started to lift. A few years ago we installed a laminate floor and some tile. No issues whatsoever.

In my opinion, I would say vinyl will hold up just fine. It's a cabin after all.

How do you plan to heat the cabin? Personally, I would be more concerned about water in the plumbing.


----------



## Scuba_Dave

I have a friend whose family owns a beach cottage
Its empty from maybe early Dec until March, sometimes longer period
It's been in their family for decades
They have just linoleum down, no insulation under the floor
Its been that way as long as I have known him - over 15 years

Temps do not get down to -40, maybe -10 or so at the Max every few years


----------



## DangerMouse

float a cork floor on it for beauty and warmth.

DM


----------



## ptarmigan61

Thanks for all the tips. My grandparents place had battleship linoleum in it, and it seemed to fare OK. That was a long time ago, though, and I was pretty young - don't remember much.


----------



## just tile

Seagate flooring wood probably be best for the conditions. But still need to regulate temp. Above 32 degrees. Good luck.


----------



## rusty baker

Whatever you do, it will probably have to be a DIY project. No flooring installer will want the liability.


----------



## free2run88

*How is the flooring working out in your unheated cottage?*

Hi,
We are building a cottage in Alberta that will undergo similar extremes -- just wondering what kind of flooring you ended up using and how it is working out.
Thx.


----------



## ptarmigan61

Hi,
Used a Terraco laminate tile in the Master bedroom, painted floors so far in the others, Pine plank in the living room, and have posted a new question about Snapstone and related products recently because we were hoping to do that in the bathroom and kitchen area.


----------



## free2run88

*Flooring in unheated cabin*

Hi,
We ended up using a floating laminate made by Dupont with the underpad attached the laminate. The snapstone tiles sound interesting. If we ever upgrade the current floor we will keep that option in mind. This will be the floors first winter so we will see how it fares. Since then our basement flooded so maybe we'll check out the snapstone for that area. Always another job 
Laurel


----------



## dorkygrin

Same situation here, unheated seasonal cottage in NW Pennsylvania. How did your laminate fare during the unusually mild winter?


----------



## free2run88

*Flooring in unheated cabin*

Hi 

We were out in mid-Feb. and it looks 100%. Yeah!

We ended up using a 'floating' laminate by Dupont. It was called 'Multi-slate' and is carried by Home Depot. *The foam backing is attached to the laminate* so you don't need to install a sheet of foam separate from your laminate -- plus we were able to lay it directly on top of a plywood floor without adding a sub-floor. (we did use a bit of leveling compound in rough areas). Installing the flooring was a joy -- it was a great click system -- much better than the click system we had with our cork flooring in our basement here at home. The Dupont was incredibly easy to install.

You asked how it help up over a our 'mild' winter. The inside temperature at cabin was still below freezing all winter -- with periods down to -20 degrees and lower. Yes -- it was mild compared to last year where we saw a number of -30 and colder periods. 

So - yes, we were pleased with the choice and wish you the best with your project.

Laurel


----------



## ptarmigan61

The Terraco has held up great with no issues. The Snapstone is going in this summer, so we shall see.


----------



## lulad72

*practical advice from Northern Ontario*

I have a 1920's lakeside cabin in Northern Ontario. We do not have heat in the winter nor A/C in the summer so the place experiences all sorts of weather and temp extremes.

The majority of the cabin has a stained wood floor and it's fine. We have had to replace some spongy boards near a front door that had suffered water damage at some point (it is close to 100 after all) but aside from that there is nothing special that needs doing. We have area rugs (wool persians, kilims and a pony hide) that we leave down all year, moving occasionally to sweep and mop. No problems yet.

The bathroom has a one piece vinyl floor that we are replacing this year with cork for esthetic purposes only. No problems with the vinyl flooring whatsoever.

The place used to have linoleum in the bedrooms which was removed to show the original wood floors. There was no problems with the linoleum in the heat and cold either, it was just ugly.

We have no insulation under the floor (perhaps we will spray some in this fall) the cottage is up on piers with the underside open to the out of doors. It's been like this since 1920. Cold in the winter and crazy hot in the humid heat of an Ontario Summer. 

Hope that helps you out some with deciding on what to use in your own cabins. It's not such a big concern as everyone makes it out to be.


----------



## Neverenoughtool

We removed parquet flooring and installed laminate..the substrate was plywood, the cottage was only heated while we were there, so It was at the mercy of the winter cold

We are located in Haliburton Ontario, just south of Algonquin park. The laminate withstood the extreme temp. changes with no problems whatsoever !

In 2012 we had our 1950's cottage torn down, & had a new cottage built, we now use it every weekend, since it has a propane forced air furnace, drilled well vs lake water (seasonal) etc. 

My question is this: This summer we will be installing hardwood flooring , species as of yet has not been decided upon, the furnace is set at 40 f while we are not there & 70 f when we are up. I'm wondering if any problems will arise with the 30 degree temperature fluctuation ? We also run a HRV. 24/7 so humidity will will be relatively stable, it is set at 40%. 

Comments?


----------

