Typecasting to int or float

easy solution is

$val = $val + 0;

And PHP will take care of the rest.
If you want to ensure that the variable is integer is_numeric is the way to go. is_int and is_float will be of little help here.
Also note that will always evaluate to true

if ((int)$value == $value)

that is because of the internal typecasting of the equality operator