Does having a concrete floor affect how well our stove will heat the house?

[UncleAnthony]

Due to a recent flood in the basement level of our raised ranch--we had to take up all the carpeting in the stove room.

[First floor of raised ranch]

This left the slab exposed--It has been treated or painted with something..I don't know what I should do to finish the floor.
I like the exposed concrete but am worried that this will affect how well the stove works. Does exposed concrete floor suck up the heat?

The stove gets this room pretty dusty. What solutions would anyone advise?

 

[jtakeman]

Does exposed concrete floor suck up the heat?

I don't know any of the exact details as far as heat loss. But the answer is yes you will have heat loss due to the concrete.

You could use furing strips and insulate(highest R-value possible) the slab. This should be done on the knee walls as well. Then cover with a sub floor, finish flooring and walls. But I wouldn't waste my time if you haven't cured the water issue.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Through floor loss isn't as bad as you think it is Jay.

In fact slab heat loss is directly related to perimeter of the slab and not its area, as long as walls are still finished and insulated you shouldn't notice much difference.

What really causes basement issues is the difference in temperature between inside and outside above the ground line multiplied by the area above ground level of the wall x the conductivity of the wall material (normally concrete and very high).

What mitigates the below ground level heat loss is that the outside temperature below the ground line is a lot higher than that above ground level and it goes up below the frost line.

 

[stallau]

Mine is in the basement and while I do notice heat loss it is only for the first day or so and then once that gets up to temp the heat going upstairs is steady. One good benefit is though that if you loose power for an extended period of time as we have been doing the past two winters in Maine it has takes almost 48 hours before the house has really started falling in temp.

Good and bad reasons