Remove or keep basement ceiling insulation?

[KB007]

Our house is approx. 30 X 60 bungalow with a finished, mostly open plan basement. The wood stove is about 1/3 from one end of the house along the centreline. We have one set of stairs at the very end of the house closer to the wood stove. The basement has a std dropped 2X4 ceiling. There is 4” of paper backed fibreglass insulation in between the basement ceiling joists. The walls are insulated and drywalled.

So, my question is – should I remove the insulation or not? It seems counter-intuitive to have insulation keeping the heat IN the basement, when what I really want is the hot air to move up into the main floor of the house.

 

[elmoleaf]

I think it depends on the answers to other questions.

If the stove is
1.your primary heat source.
2. the stove is truly capable of heating the entire house.
3. and downstairs is not occupied very often as living space.
4. the basement doesn't allow a lot of cold into the house
then there may be some benefit to removing the insulation and attempting to allow more heat through the floor to upstairs. However, the benefit may be marginal, based on other posts about trying to get heat upstairs from a basement wood stove.

If you have
1. a primary heating system upstairs that presumably is costing you more for fuel than the stove.
2. the stove isn't big enough to heat the entire house.
3. downstairs is occupied frequently
4. the basement would otherwise be cold without the stove
then I'd be inclined to keep the insulation, leaving the stove to take care of primarily heating the basement. If some heat escapes up the stairs to assist the heating system upstairs, then that'd be a bonus.

The ideal answer would be to move the stove out of the basement and into the spaces you're trying to heat.

 

[begreen]

Also depends if you have a teenage son hanging out in the basement with a drum kit.

 

[ikessky]

IMHO, if your stove is in the basement, I would get rid of the ceiling insulation. My wood furnace is in the basement and the radiant heat coming off of it and up through the floor of the main level is enough to keep the back half of the house warm. I shut the vents off in at least two of the back three rooms.

 

[Cearbhaill]

I can't speak as to the specifics of anything.
But I just wanted to relate that I do heat an entire home with a wood insert in the open floor plan basement, and feel as if a large portion of our success in doing so is because the ceiling is not insulated.
The particular configuration of my home prevents our using much in the way of fans etc. to move cold air down into the basement, so we have just by default relied on passive heat flow up the stairwell. That said, oftentimes the stairwell door is closed and the rooms at the far end of the house are as warm as the room at the top of the stairs so I have to believe that heat keeping the ceiling/floor warm contributes a lot.

 

[KB007]

I think it depends on the answers to other questions.

If the stove is
1.your primary heat source.
2. the stove is truly capable of heating the entire house.
3. and downstairs is not occupied very often as living space.
4. the basement doesn't allow a lot of cold into the house
then there may be some benefit to removing the insulation and attempting to allow more heat through the floor to upstairs. However, the benefit may be marginal, based on other posts about trying to get heat upstairs from a basement wood stove.

The current stove is not big enough (old Nap NC-16), but it is being changed very son for a new Nap 1450. We do have a propane furnace, but are trying to use the stove as a primary heat source.

The basement is not used that often, the odd game of pool... And luckily it does not let in a lot of cold air.

I guess it won't hurt to try to remove some insulation, see what happens. I can always put it back if I don't liek the effect.

 

[pen]

I heat from the basement and have success also because I don't have insulation between the basement and the first floor.

however, consider that it is code in some areas for finished rooms to be insulated. As such, if you remove it and sell your house you could have an issue. Again this depends on where you are.

Just something to consider.

pen

 

[ozzy73]

Your basement ceiling is within the building envelope. Since you have a finished basement most of you heat loss would be through the basement floor and walls. If you want the heat transfer to the upper floor the insulation serves no real purpose except a sound barrier.

You don't have to discard it, but removing it would help the heat transfer.

We had safe and sound in the basement ceiling below on of our bedrooms and by removing it we increased the temp by a few *F.

 

[velvetfoot]

I have insulation in the ceiling and on the walls as well (no stove).
I hate that stuff. Everytime I do anything on the ceiling it I breath it in.
I was going to cover it with sheet rock, but this topic does bring up the possiblity of putting in a stove downstairs and not having a ceiling I can get to.
On the other hand, it'd be shame to waste it...

 

[mikepinto65]

I just removed half the insulation from my basement ceiling after much debate. It makes a very big difference on the portion of hardwood floors above. Keeps them toasty warm! haven't noticed much of a difference with room temps though

 

[KB007]

I took out about 2/3 of the insulation this aft - will see if that helps any - even with the old stove still in place.

 

[Eisele]

What is the effect in the summer time if he took out the insulation and was possibly running a central air conditioner?

 

[KB007]

What is the effect in the summer time if he took out the insulation and was possibly running a central air conditioner?

Not much - Our basement is always much cooler in the summer. to boot, we're in Ottawa Canada, the A/C comes on about 4 times each summer, I think twice last summer with all the crappy weather we had. When it gets hot I just go jump in the pool

 

[Cearbhaill]

What is the effect in the summer time if he took out the insulation and was possibly running a central air conditioner?

Not much - Our basement is always much cooler in the summer. to boot, we're in Ottawa Canada, the A/C comes on about 4 times each summer, I think twice last summer with all the crappy weather we had. When it gets hot I just go jump in the pool

It's a non-issue for me, too- my basement stays cool all summer. In fact I wear more "winter" clothes hanging out down here in the summer than I wear in the winter with the fire going.