Should I insulate my basement?

[SGilbert86]

Purchased a home in CT last Spring. 980 sq foot ranch with electric baseboard heat. Wasn't going to cut it so I made the decision to buy a wood stove. It had the set up already - think the prior owner sold the stove before foreclosing. Bought an Englander NC30 from Home Depot. Got a late start on it and the wood I purchased was a little damp but dried pretty well by the end of the year. Had a rough time heating the upstairs as the stove is located on the North side of the house and the stairwell is on the South side. Cut a few vents into the floor but still had an issue.

My basement is unfinished so my thought process leads me to believe that the foundation will remain around 55 degrees year round so if I'm running my stove am I really just heating the walls and floor in the basement and allowing little heat to travel up? Should I invest in insulating the basement for a more efficient burn? Hate to have to run electric heat. Saw the bill go from $50 to $220 during our bitter Feburary last year.

Any insight will be appreciated. Would hate to invest if it's not my best move.

 

[DougA]

Insulating anything and everything is the best way to save heat and $$. If the rest of the house is reasonably well insulated, then I would do the basement. If not, I would work on the rest of it first. Heat travels up, so if your attic has less than ideal insulation, that's where your heat is going and I would work on that first. The other big problem is getting rid of drafts around windows, doors, baseboards, etc.

I'm assuming the stove is in the basement and you might be better to move it to the main floor.

 

[Rossco]

Yeah even 1" of XPS will do wonders.

Foam board is well expensive thou.

 

[SGilbert86]

Insulation in rest of the house is good. Attic is well insulated as well. Not a usable space - just a lot of insulation. The floor plan doesn't work for moving the stove. the chimney is set on the north side. Directly above are the master and 2nd bedroom. Smaller 3rd bedroom next to master and then living room with walls everywhere. Would have to completely alter and move chimney. No budget to do that in the foreseeable future.

 

[BrotherBart]

Only way it will work is insulating the basement. I have had stoves in the un-insulated basement here for 30 years and no amount of firepower will heat the house from down there. The foundation and the ground behind it can eat more BTUs than I could ever produce. Constantly.

When I had my office down there I would fire the stove at six in the morning and the office finally got comfortable about noon. Zip making it upstairs.

 

[Grisu]

Cut a few vents into the floor but still had an issue.

Did you check with your local code authority whether cutting vents in the ceiling of the stove room is ok? Did you install them with a smoke damper? I hope you have at least several smoke and CO detectors in your home.

 

[goofa]

i have heated my 1400 sq ft ranch from the basement the past 2 years. the upstairs is consistently around 75 degrees but the basement is 85+/-. yes there is a tremendous amount of heat loss through the foundation. but as stated before lots of heat is lost through the attic. my first year i blew in 16" of insulation phew what a difference. the second year i cut registers in the floor on the far end from the stove and by the stove there is a stair well i was having trouble moving heat up it because there was a struggle in the stairway between the warm and the cold. so i cut the bottom panel of the cellar door out and now keep the door shut. this allows only cold air to move down the stairwell and forces the hot air to the other side of the basement and up through the registers. man what a difference that made. you can simply test the airflow with a piece of string or tissue or toilet paper. circulation is key and return air is important factor.

 

[firefighterjake]

Yes.

Adding insulation and tightening up a home is never a very sexy home improvement project . . . not near as much fun as adding a hearth, new counter top in the kitchen or fixing up the den . . . but it pays big dividends in the short and long term.

Some of the best advice I got here early on was to work on insulating and tightening up the home before getting a woodstove . . . and yet even now I am still finding new spots to add more insulation or chaulk!

 

[BruceNorEast]

I'm a newbie so take my comments with a grain of salt: From what I've read, most of the radiant heat will go to the walls and you will lose most of your heat to the ground. I don't think you have to insulate the entire basement, you just need to minimize what's lost to the foundation/ground. Perhaps you could wall in a smaller room around the stove, and allow the heat upstairs via the stairway or vents? Just be sure to observer clearances, and consider adding standoff shields. I was hesitant to write this due to fear of someone burning their house down - please be careful, and ask a pro and your local fire department to review your plans.

 

[DickRussell]

Yes, ditto on advice to insulate the basement walls. But do it right, and be sure to cover any foam insulation applied with sheetrock, for ignition and thermal protection. Here is a good place to get you started:
http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/how-insulate-basement-wall

 

[kniffin50]

yes by all means, I have a basement stove and before I finished off the basement the ground outside the foundation never had snow on it and the crocus and daffodils were coming up in january. After finishing off the basement a ton of heat staying in the house and using half the wood. Rusty

 

[nctacoma]

Yes the attic and basement walls are where you get the biggest bang for your buck in terms of air sealing and insulating. Note the two terms I used, air sealing is as important if not more important than adding insulation.
You should insulated with either xps or eps foam board inside or outside and the cover them up for either uv damage or fire proofong(interior or exterior reasons). You should also air seal and insulate the rim joist while you are at it. That is a huge heat loss area in most houses

 

[JA600L]

If nothing else, atleast make sure the rim joists are sealed and insulated. That is a major heat loss area.

I will second the importance of air sealing. I had 10'' of insulation added to my existing attic insulation. The contractor told me that air sealing is a waste of time.

So I put on some protection and dug through the old insulation. Sure enough I could see top wall gaps all over the place. In one area I could even see the room down below through wood paneling seams. I could tell air was getting through because of the dirty insulation. Several cans of spray foam later I don't have to think about the what ifs.

 

[JA600L]

This is the product that I used for my basement. It keeps the whole job under 2'' so you don't lose space.

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[Charles1981]

insulating the basement is a must. But expensive.

Can you somehow move the stove upstairs if insulating the basement isn't an option? because you need wall insulation, drywall, and flooring. don't insulate the basement ceiling however. some have made that mistake and it prevents the hot air going upstairs.

 

[Rossco]

Even an inch of XPS will make it say vs night.

Am gonna do the entire basement over a few year.

The Insulpink is R7.5 and can be screwed on with furring. Done properly its also a vapour barrier. Then you can frame, cavity what ever.

 

[jjs777_fzr]

Even an inch of XPS will make it say vs night.

Am gonna do the entire basement over a few year.

The Insulpink is R7.5 and can be screwed on with furring. Done properly its also a vapour barrier. Then you can frame, cavity what ever.

As an option to furring strips and rigid foam insulation you can use adhesive (they make adhesive especially for bonding foam) and install directly over the concrete wall if its smooth enough.
As for me - I did the closed cell foam spray on my entire stone wall basement - including rim joists. It made such a noticable difference its probably ranks right up there with the top upgrades to my home.
And as was previously stated - just sealing the rim joists alone was worthwhile - as there is an incredible amount of air that can work its way in if not sealed.