Options For Heating Your Basement
Posted on: 19 January 2021
Heating a basement can be a challenge. First, hot air rises, so keeping the warmth in the basement is difficult. The second issue is that basements tend to have no inherent ductwork, and they often have concrete walls and low ceilings, which makes it hard to install overhead or wall ducts. Fortunately, there are options for heating a basement, which will allow you to finish it out and add to your home's living areas.
Baseboard Solutions
The least expensive solution is to extend your home's existing ductwork, but when it comes to heat, you want that ductwork near the baseboards. This is because heat rises and you want it to rise up and warm the entire basement area before dissipating upstairs. You can route ducts down the walls so that heating vents can be placed on the lower section of the wall near the baseboard. For hollow interior walls, the ducts can be hidden in the walls. For concrete perimeter walls, you can cover ducts with paneling or drywall bump-outs.
Alternative Systems
Alternative systems that will not hook into the main home's forced-air furnace are also available. Baseboard radiators or heated floors are an option. Getting heated floors does mean that you must raise the floor level slightly, which may not be an option if your ceiling is low. If you are building a new home, you can have floor heating cables installed directly into the concrete subfloor of your basement.
Ceiling Insulation
To help minimize heat loss, plan to have the ceiling in the basement insulated and finished at the same time as the new heat system is installed. Drop ceilings are popular in basements because they leave plumbing and HVAC systems accessible for repairs. To maintain accessibility, avoid using spray-in or loose foam insulation in basement ceilings. Instead, opt for bat insulation or insulated panels. These can be removed to access plumbing and HVAC and then replaced afterward with no damage to ceiling systems or the insulation itself. Reflective insulation panels are especially well-suited to basement ceilings since they help reflect heat back down and into the basement space.
Recirculation of Warmed Air
Warm air doesn't just escape through the ceiling; it also escapes up the stairwell. A stairwell door can help, but another option is to install a recirculation fan at the top of the stairs. This fan points back down toward the basement so that it can push the warmed air back into the basement space, thus limiting heat loss.
Contact a heating installation service to learn more about your options for heating a basement.
To learn more, contact a resource that offers heating installation services.
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