INSULATION QUESTION

Any heat your losing through the ceiling is just making the floors warmer on the floor above. Insulated the walls ,thats were your losing the heat. THat 55D deg ground temp is sapping heat out of your basement 24/7. Big waste of money insulating between heated spaces IMO.

I posted a similar question without any response, but what if the basement is not heated and thus one should see a return by insulating the space in between the joists?

Hot air rises. that 64 degree air in the basement is not coming upstairs unless you have a chimney effect going (hot air escaping into attic) and significant air leakage into the basement.

I agree with the others - Do not insulate the basement ceiling unless you want to seal that space off as cold space outside the building envelope. Since you have the stove in the basement it seems you don't. Insulating basement walls is the better option, but even that I think wont give you a worthwhile return on investment unless you use the basement as finished living space.

The only thing insulating the basment celing does is provide sound insulation. I plan on insulating the basment celing, but we have 4 kids that play down there so this will help quite them down, having to yell KEEP IT DOWN all the time lol. Now Putting insulation between the joist where they meet the sil plates at the outside walls does make a differance. Also as everyone else has said, the walls and floor will make the biggest differance.

Ditto what BeGreen said: you gotta get them walls insulated.

I work as an Energy Advisor up north here and have done over 600 energy evaluations (sorry for the polymath stance) -- I just want to offer my voice on the matter. Your whole house will be warmer and have a better balance point if you can keep the radiant heat from escaping out the basement. Contrary to popular belief heat does not rise -- it goes from warm areas to cold areas. As such insulated basement walls save you and it's something you have to do and feel to experience yourself.

I just got a thank you card in the mail last week from a happy customer of mine. When I showed up to do his energy assessment he was pretty much convinced he was buying a pellet stove. I told him not to waste his money and that a better investment was to insulate his basement. In his thank-you card he said he saved 50% on his oil expenditures this year.

By insulating the walls instead of the floor joists you will also raise the R.H point of the house and basement and be less prone to moisture damage. Minimum R10 in the basement recommended.

On my energy audit, some recommendations I got were to:
Insulate the foundation walls (I used 2" blue board on the outside down to 2' below ground level)
Replace an old patio door
Add 8 more inches to the attic (I blew in about 12" more)
Replace my old (1982) BK with a new catalytic type (& I really like the new BK & burn less wood)
Caulk & air seal some areas
Foam around window frames (I removed inside widow trim & use the small cans of spray foam)
New weather stripping around doors
Some others I have yet to get done but are planned, in the future budgets

Saved some $$ on Fed income tax (energy credits) & got some State rebates