Is my basement worth insulating?

  • 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.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.

joefrompa

Minister of Fire
Sep 7, 2010
810
SE PA
Hi all,

mid 1970s 2-story colonial. Basement is a poured concrete foundation and in many places has fiberglass batts stuck to the concrete with a vapor barrier facing the inside space.

When it's mid-winter and 25 degrees outside and I'm only running the wood burning stove (which is on the first floor), the basement stays a consistent ~65 degrees. In truth, it never get uncomfortably cold down there. It's ~35% humidity in the winter and a dehumidifier runs alot during the summer keeping it at 45%

I have access to about 15% of the un-finished basement walls which remain uninsulated. I'm considering putting up something like 1-1.5" thick XPS foam board on those walls but I have no idea if that's worth it: it's only what I have access to, the basement seems to hold itself to a good temperature in the winter and it's not like I'm trying to heat it moreso, and I don't even know if it'll be worth the effort.

The attic is R-38 between blown in cellulose and then batts laid down perpendicular. The walls of the house are r11 or r13. The house is going to be re-sided this summer at which time I'm going to have it foamboarded, tyvek'd, taped, & sealed....it MAY actually become too tight for airsealing but I think it'll just get close to that. And I'm going to be tearing out the garage drywall, attaching some thickening strips to the drywall, and re-insulating the walls with thicker batts and re-sealing it.

I'm just trying to figure out my last few places to improve the heat retention of my home :)

So - insulate those exposed walls of my basement or leave it be and save my money and time?

Joe
 
It's a finished basement. We don't spend much time down there now - but I can see doing it in a few years.
 
I'm curious what the temp in that uninsulated area would be if it were partitioned off? Thinking cool storage/root cellar here, which we would love to have.
 
Hard to say - the uninsulated area currently sits in with the furnace/oil tank and water heater. I'm sure that's skewing it, but it all feels just stable to me.

The top ~8" of the foundation is above grade though and that's probably where I'll look carefully to see if I can do something. On one side of the house I forgot to turn off the hose and that pipe burst a seam when I turned it on at the beginning of spring.
 
BeGreen said:
I'm curious what the temp in that uninsulated area would be if it were partitioned off? Thinking cool storage/root cellar here, which we would love to have.

Not to get too far off topic....but I have an uninsulated area in my basement where I keep my soon to be burned wood (about a month's worth at a time). It only has a 5' ceiling so it's not really basement...just a room off the basement. It stays in the low-mid 50's in the summer and gets down in the 40's in the winter...and is always dry (now that I patched up the outside access hole). Concrete floor, walls, and ceiling. Works great for storing 'taters from the garden. I should harvest about 100-150lbs of red and another 100lbs of white this year.
 
OK, that won't work for a root cellar I guess. You might want to check on code to see whether the XPS insulation can be used near a furnace, especially if it is within a few feet of it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.