will heating basement heat upstairs

Full Answer

Can I heat my basement with forced air heat?

If your family has a movie night in your newly refinished basement and you turn up your forced air heat, it will also heat the upstairs even though there is no one up there. For many homeowners, the best heating solution for the basement is a convection or hydronic electric baseboard heater hardwired into a home electrical system.

Do I need a zoned heating system for my basement?

The amount of heat that will rise to the next floor will not be enough to heat the space. If you were looking to heat your basement as a way to keep your upper levels warmer, ideally, what you should have is a zoned heating system.

Is your basement freezing and upstairs hot in the summer?

Basement Freezing and Upstairs Hot in the Summer? Brr! You freeze in your basement, but wake up sweating at night upstairs in bed! Does this problem sound familiar to you? Your cold air isn’t circulating as well as it should be! This is a fairly common problem because hot air rises which can make your home seem to be unevenly cooled.

Should I put a thermostat in my basement?

If you were looking to heat your basement as a way to keep your upper levels warmer, ideally, what you should have is a zoned heating system. The basement thermostat will keep the basement at a nice comfortable temperature, while the thermostat upstairs will keep the upper floors warm.

Does heating your basement keep your house warmer?

It's looking at the heating bill! You should heat your unfinished basement. If you have cold floors, then insulating the basement ceiling will help the most. Once insulated, heating an unfinished basement will help warm your whole home.

Is it worth heating the basement?

Heating Your Unfinished Basement Can Save You Money If you leave the basement colder than the rest of the house, the air will draw out across the floor of the main level, leaving your feet cold and forcing the HVAC system to work harder.

Is basement warmer than upstairs?

During a hot summer, a cool basement is often a wonderful refuge from the heat. Basements are often the coolest places in the house, but on rare occasions, they can be warmer than the floors above them, and solutions for a hot basement are a lot harder to come across than solutions for a cold basement.

What is the best way to heat a cold basement?

Top 10 Basement Heating Options to Keep You Warm & Cozy in Freezing WinterGo Ductless. ... Heat the Floor. ... Extend Your Existing Ductwork. ... Use Electric Space Heaters for Your Basement. ... Use a Baseboard. ... Keep It Moving With a Portable Heat Pump. ... Use Basement Wall Heaters. ... Go For a Stove Option.More items...•

How cold is too cold for basement?

If you have properly insulated your finished basement, you shouldn't experience temperatures lower than 60°F. The finished floors and walls will not get as cold as exposed concrete.

Are basements warmer in the winter?

One rule of thumb to help determine the basement temperature is to average out your area's temperature across the entire year. In the summer, the basement is often cooler than the outside air. In the winter, the basement is often warmer than the outside air.

What temperature should a basement be?

Best Temperature to Set Your Basement In the summer your basement will probably stay cooler than the rest of the house, but keeping it at 80 F or lower will help suppress humidity and mildew. Ideal Basement Temp: 55 F to 60 F in winter; less than 80 F in summer.

Why is my basement so cold in the winter?

Basements tend to be damper than other places in your house. This is often caused by water seeping through the concrete foundation, rising from a dirt floor or simply because of poor ventilation. This higher level of moisture in the air will end up making you feel much colder than the ambient air temperature.

Should you open basement vents in winter?

Air vents should be open to prevent damage Increased air pressure can create cracks and holes in the ductwork. It can also cause your furnace's heat exchanger to crack. Leave all air vents open to prevent extensive damage to your home's heating system this winter.

How do you keep a basement warm in the winter?

InstructionsLocate Cold Spots With a Thermal Camera. ... Insulate the Rim Joists and Headers. ... Insulate the Ducts Leaving the Basement. ... Install Better Vent Flaps. ... Insulate Above-Grade Basement Walls. ... Make Sure First-Story Walls Are Insulated. ... Confine Utilities in an Unheated Space. ... Insulate Basement Ceilings Below Unheated Spaces.More items...•

Why does my downstairs room feel hotter than upstairs?

There are a number of different reasons for the fluctuation in temperature; however one of the more common reasons is because the thermostat is in the wrong place.

Why does my house not retain heat?

You might have poor insulation – If your home has less insulation on the middle and top floors of your home and more insulation covering the basement walls, your home will not retain heat, causing a fluctuation in temperature.

Where Should a Thermostat Be Placed In a Two Story House?

In a two-story home, and assuming that you only have one thermostat, the ideal place to mount the thermostat is on an interior wall, on the middle floor, in the most heavily used area, which is generally a living room. The reason for putting the thermostat on the main floor rather then the second floor is because heat naturally rises.

Why put thermostat on main floor?

The reason for putting the thermostat on the main floor rather then the second floor is because heat naturally rises. Ideally, in a two-story home, you would want to have two thermostats that are zoned so you can control the different temperatures for each floor.

How to get perfect temperature in house?

Instead, what you want to do is use the independence of your two thermostats to your advantage, to get that perfect temperature throughout the house. Here’s what you can try doing. Set your upstairs thermostat to your desired temperature, and then on the downstairs thermostat set this, one to two degrees warmer.

What happens if your HVAC system is too large?

If your HVAC system is too large, it will heat or cool too quickly in some parts of your home but shut off before hitting the rest of your house. If it’s too small it will constantly run trying to achieve the desired setting making your thermostat readings inaccurate. Check with a professional HVAC technician for the appropriate size unit for your home that you should have. If you have a larger home or a house with a basement, two systems may be needed to ensure proper heating and cooling.

Why do you need a zoned HVAC system?

Installing a zoned HVAC system will help manage all parts of your house to ensure all rooms are a more accurate temperature. You can control zoned systems to target specific areas in your home, like the living room, basement, or bedrooms, where those areas are the most used. A zoned system divides your home into sections, for example, ...

Why is mold growing in my basement?

This is because warmer, moister air in your home can collide with cold foundation walls, which increases moisture and the likelihood of mold.

What is the coldest part of the house?

In summer we prefer to cool down and in winter we can’t help but wish we were warmer. Some of the coldest air found in your home tends to be in the basement . When this cold air rises, it is drawn across the floor of the main level, causing cold feet and other comfort problems. To battle this, you could wear really warm socks–but you could also heat your basement. By doing so, warm air instead of cold will be drawn up and you’ll have a much more comfortable home.

Can ducts draw cold air in from outside?

Energy Efficiency: When the air in your basement is cold, this can actually result in the loss of heat within basement water lines and ductwork. While this may not seem terribly important, this loss of heat can draw cold air in from outside if your ducts aren’t properly sealed.

Is heating a space that isn't often used a waste?

While heating a space that isn’t often used may seem like a waste, there are important facts to consider. These relate to personal comfort, health and safety, and overall efficiency of your resources. Comfort: As humans, we’re creatures of comfort.

Does a furnace make your basement colder?

Not only does this make your basement colder, it also means that the upstairs rooms in your home drop in temperature as well. Ultimately, most people crank up their furnace when this happens, resulting in higher heating bills than if they’d simply heated their basement.

Where is the insulate installed on a house?

The insulate was installed on the outside of the foundation before back filling. It is not inside.

Why did I remove insulation from floor joists?

Good point - forgot to mention that. I removed the insulation from the floor joists to help allow the heat to rise - definitely another difference maker.

What is hearth.com?

Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

Can you heat a basement with 2 stoves?

It will always be warmer in the basement and you could see a temp difference up to 10 degrees upstairs. It sure is nice to have 2 stoves, one on each level to even out the heat on colder days.

Is it necessary to insulate a basement?

Insulating the basement is key to this working, without doing this all the heat is lost to the outside walls.

Does radiant heat go to the basement?

It tends to work poorly; radiant heat goes to the basement which is often poorly insulated.

Can the stove heat the upstairs?

To my surprise the stove I put down there was able to heat the upstairs also. Now in the mornings the ends of the house are a little chillier than the center. Like the center of the house when I wake is around 70 and down at the ends of my 1900 sq ft ranch style house it will be around 68. But we like sleeping a little cooler so as to have the covers on.

How do floor grills work?

Floor grills are the traditional way to move heat from a lower floor to an upper floor. Floor grills can be built into the second story floor to create an opening between the first floor and the second floor or as many floors as there are. Since heat rises, the warmth from a wood stove will travel through the floor grill and heat the upstairs. It works on the same principle as leaving the doors open, but adding in floor grills are a much more direct heating solution.

Can a wood stove be used to heat a room?

However, that doesn' t mean that it can't be done, but you may have to make some modifications to get it accomplished.

Does heat travel up stairs?

Heat always travels up, and it will do the same in a two-or-more story home. If you leave the stairway door and the bedroom doors open, then stoke the wood stove until it has a hot burning fire inside , the heat will naturally go up the stairs and fill all rooms with heat. As long as the passageway leading upstairs remains open, the heat from the wood stove will warm the upstairs.