Basement is FREEZING! Best use of money to fix?

[Anonymous]

I live in an end-unit townhouse with a walk-out basement. The front and side are brick, but the back (with the walk-out) is siding. The quality of construction is unequivocally crappy. We have come to terms with that. We also have a 20 year old furnace that we were told at inspection, upon closing, and by the guy we hired to look at it, is inefficient and will likely die soon. On the other hand, it does create heat and the main and upper level are a decent temperature.

That being said, the basement is utterly freezing, a solid 15-20 degress colder than the rest of the house. We have a "floating" staircase to all three levels, which essentially means that we can't "close of" the basement to trap heat. We are debating whether to: get a new furnace now, buy a space heater, pay for one of those energy audits, pay to insulate the back siding, deal with it.

Does anybody have any insights or advice?

TIA

[Anonymous]

I'm no expert, but it seems that the most cost effective way to address this is to use a space heater while you're there. (Especially since the other levels are an OK temp.) Also, what kind of flooring do you have? We have tile, and I think a rug would make our basement warmer on the feet. Part of the problem may be that the basement floor is against the ground, which a constant source of heat depletion. I think that factor would be hard to overcome.

[Anonymous]

We have a similar problem with an enclosed porch off the back of our rowhouse. The people who enclosed it didn't do anything about insulating it. I'm eager to see what people suggest for you (and what ideas I can steal!)

[Anonymous]

Given your furnace is inefficient, I'd ask several companies to come give estimates of a new furnace AND fixing your problem. We had heating and cooling issues in our house (in the addition), and we had several companies come and tell us what we could do to help. It turns out that while it can't be completely fixed, the duct work in the basement was inefficient and could be fixed easily. We've noticed a big improvement (not perfect of course). Not sure if you have something similar that could be done.

For the meantime, I'd use a space heater while in the basement. Just get a safe one (if it tips over, it turns off). I also remember reading about these panal things you can put on the wall (it had to be here of course). That were safe for babies rooms. Maybe that would be a good solution also.

[Anonymous]

PP here. I was leaning in favor of the space heater as well. But when I started researching them, I noticed that they all talk about the square footage of the room and closing a door. The "room" is my entire lower level and I can not trap the heat. I just don't know how effective it would be, and I don't want to waste money. Even if it is only $150 or so.

[Anonymous]

In a townhouse like yours the basement will always be colder. We used to live a brand new townhouse that also didn't have a door for trapping the heat in the basement, and there was still a difference in temperatures, but around 5 degrees. It sounds like your heating system is not sufficient. It may be not just the capacity of the heater but the size of the ductwork that's insufficient. I would get several HVAC companies out for an estimate on how to address this. From my recent experience, there are pretty specific formulas HVAC people can use to determine the necessary heating system capacity, but figuring out the appropriate ductwork is more of an art.

[Anonymous]

Could you install dampers to increase the flow during winter and decrease the flow during summer? You might need a more efficient furnace with capacity for the whole house. This would only work if the heat isn't completely escaping the basement to the outside.

There are also electric baseboard heaters you manually turn on and off.

This would take a bit of time and effort, but you could try to add spray insulation where you can and patch the holes. Other than that it ould be a big job to rip the basement down to the studs and add insulation and all new drywall. I hope it all works out.

[Anonymous]

Maybe look into radiant heating? Our basement tiles are underlaid by an electric mat that is controlled by a thermostat, so we can crank up the underfoot heat when we're down there, and also have it on a timer. It would require you to rip up the flooring in the basement to put in the electric mat, but that might be cheaper than some other options.

[Anonymous]

First, I would make sure any sliding glass door or windows are as air tight as possible. Cover them with heavy duty curtains. Do you have a fireplace down there? If you never use it, make sure the flue is closed or use the fire place occasionally to warm the place up. Can you adjust the air flow into the room, centrally and the actual registers in the room? If so, you can adjust it so in the winter, you open up the central and local vents downstairs so more heat is forced downstairs.

[Anonymous]

we have electric baseboard heaters in our basement to amp up the heat. They are definitely not something you leave running all the time, but they help.

When our heat pump goes, we might look into zoning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:we have electric baseboard heaters in our basement to amp up the heat. They are definitely not something you leave running all the time, but they help.

When our heat pump goes, we might look into zoning.

Yes, we have these in our basement and they rock. Since our playroom and tv are in the basement, we often leave the heat off in the rest of the house and just put on the baseboard heat. It works really well and keeps the basement so toasty.

[Anonymous]

Insulation is easier to install than you may think. DH did it and it's made a HUGE difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Insulation is easier to install than you may think. DH did it and it's made a HUGE difference.

This. It is by far the best value for cost you will see returned.

Next most value is to replace furnance, but that will be an expensive repair. And I wouldn't do it until I got the insulation in, anyway.

Other things like the sideboard heaters, carpeting, will all make the basement cozier, but probably can't overcome the first two problems (no insulation and inefficient furnace).

GL!

[Anonymous]

We also live in a townhouse and had this problem. The windows and doors were the original - from the 1980s. We had a set of sliding glass doors right off of the basement rec room. We got everything replaced with energy efficient windows/doors. That alone helped significantly, but the basement was still probably 10 degrees cooler (instead of 15-20). We added some heavy insulated curtains to the doors and windows, and then we turn on a space heater during the really cold months. Even with a small space heater, the room will get up to about 72 in under a half hour and maintain its heat for hours.

[Anonymous]

Believe it or not, but a dehumidifier helps keep the air warmer by keeping the air dryer. Every basement has moisture. When we had our new HVAC installed, we had new vents installed, but we still use a space heater while we're down there, which is 80% of our time at home. I believe basements will always be cooler than the upstairs, heat rises and basements are generally below ground, but a space heater will help.