New sunroom - need flooring advice, please!

[GoneOffShore]

We had a "sunroom" constructed so that we can actually use our backyard space in the spring, summer and autumn and parts of the winter. Too many mosquitos, no shade.

Two of the walls are masonry - we're in an end of row house - and the newly constructed walls are glass and aluminum. The roof is insulated and there is a plywood subfloor over tar paper.

We were thinking about cork flooring, but when I went to order it today at our local flooring store, they said that they would sell it to me, but wouldn't recommend installing it in a room that wasn't temperature controlled in someway. We're not springing for underfloor heating.

So the dilemma - we wanted something ecologically friendly, something warm-ish like cork or bamboo and something that would stand up to the rigors of a Philadelphia winter. The guy at the flooring store is telling me tile, but that's going to entail more plywood to keep the tiles from cracking.

And the other issue is that we have a very heavy - takes 3 or 4 guys to move it - table that is going to live in the sunroom. It did live outside.

What sort of floors has anyone here installed in sunrooms?

[cbayer]

1. What about teak?

It's used for decking on boats for a good reason - very weather resistant, pliable, easy to walk on and insect resistant.

And, if stained and varnished, can be beautiful.

The floors both inside and outside of my boat are teak. The inside floors are gorgeous. Extra added bonus, they are really easy to clean.

[NMDemDist2]

2. warmish? you actually want it warm, or in color

i think if it were me, i'd look into putting heating mesh into a stamped, colored concrete floor

the things they can do with concrete these days is amazing! i'm not sure the heating mesh you can buy for tile can be used in concrete, but i'd sure look into it.

otherwise, go with tile is my suggestion

edit to add links http://www.servicemagic.com/article.show.Concrete-Floors-Solid-as-a-Rock.14332.html

http://www.essortment.com/ideas-concrete-floor-treatments-14347.html

http://www.concretenetwork.com/concrete/interiorfloors/common-questions/cold-damp.html

[Warpy]

3. I'd go for the old standards, tile or slate

because they don't tend to suffer much from temperature changes.

Eventually, though, any floor you put down will fail if the only thing you have on top of soil is tar paper and plywood. What you need to do, really, is have a concrete floor poured over the tarpaper. Then you can put the tile on top of the concrete once it cures and it will be stable. The tar paper will keep it relatively waterproof.

If I were doing a temporary floor over the kludge plywood/tarpaper floor, I'd do cheap laminate since that floor is going to fail sooner rather than later.

[GoneOffShore]

6. I should have been clearer -

The subfloor is not right down on the soil. It's up on joists set on concrete footers.

[applegrove]

4. My sister got hemlock flooring in wide planks. It is gorgeous. And they leave the knots

out of the boards as they lay them then they walk around with a woden mallet and hammer the knots back into the holes once they are done. Really nice and dark. Warms up a room.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. Vinyl Plank Flooring

Google that phrase and you'll see a lot of options. I think it will meet all your needs.

It looks and even feels like wood (on its surface), so it is nice and warm.

It is easy to install.

It is widely used, in the heavier gauges, in commercial applications, like department stores.

It is waterproof.

It will no doubt do fine in your three season room.

[NMDemDist2]

8. i put that all through the Phoenix house

wore like iron (we only had to replace 3 planks in front of the dog door to sell after 7 years)

I noticed the big box stores had it in stock these days, we got ours as a special purchase from Costco over 15 years ago.

what's funny is that our PHX house got repo'd after we left and listed for sale last year (5 years after i left) it still had the same floors in the realtor pic

[Stinky The Clown]

9. We put a premium laminate (allock) in our kitchen. It is holding up well, but I wish I had gone with

. . . . . . the vinyl planks. We may still do it.

[LaydeeBug]

10. what color did you use?

I am curious, and in need of a new floor.

[NMDemDist2]

11. i have no idea what it was called, but it looked like this

[MadrasT]

12. I know this is an old thread...

...but I have to agree on the vinyl plank flooring.

Inexpensive.

Easy to install.

Waterproof.

Looks and feels great.

As far as I am concerned, for practical, relatively inexpensive flooring, it just doesn't get any better than this.

I did my whole first floor last year, and I'm doing the upstairs bedrooms now.

[GoneOffShore]

7. And thanks for all the responses!

You've given us things to consider.