With the heating season upon us soon, I'm going to ask this question again (I mentioned this last year). Here's my situation. I have an older wood stove in the basement (next year will see an upgrade) with R-19 between the joists. The house is a technically a tri-level with the kitchen/dining room/foyer being directly above the basement. Last year, our first year in the house, the wood stove would keep the basement really warm, but very little heat transitioned to the upstairs. Later, we added floor registers and returns and that seemed to help a little, but still not what I would like. We are in the process of cutting and building a stairway into the basement from the upstairs (right now the only access is from the outside). I'm hoping this opening will help transfer the heat a little better this year, but I'm curious as to whether I should remove the insulation as well? It's a lot more work seeing as I have to rip down the MDF which the previous owner did a poor job of installing (LOTS of nails). The other factor that is affecting the heat transfer is that the chimney is about 90% external, and the basement is block wall which absorbs much of the heat.
With that all being said, what suggestions does everyone have at this point to aid in the movement of heat up the main floor?
With that all being said, what suggestions does everyone have at this point to aid in the movement of heat up the main floor?