Insulate Cellar Ceiling

Susan_6

A few weeks back, I posted a question about the benefit of insulating the cellar ceiling to keep the floor above warm. There was some discussion, but nothing firm. In today's Boston Globe Handyman column, this appeared. Thought you might be interested. Susan

I am thinking of insulating the ceiling of my cellar to help keep the kitchen floor warm. One book on insulation said yes, another said no; why block off heat from the furnace in the cellar? I have insulated the perimeter of the basement wall, just above the foundation. Who is right? Can I insulate just under the kitchen?

H.F., Norwood

The book that says do not must be ancient, especially in its claim that heat from the furnace (or boiler) will help heat the house. Do insulate the entire cellar ceiling. Insulating a part of the ceiling will do little good. The heat in the basement will do no good if the cellar temp is lower than that upstairs. How about the fact that warm air rises? Yes, that is a fact, but heat loss through an uninsulated wall, ceiling, or floor will move in all directions: sideways (through a wall), up (through a ceiling), or down (through a floor).

JDemme

Hi,

This isn't scientific, but I started to add radiant heat to the kitchen in my last house. There was no basement ceiling insulation or furnace heat loss. The kitchen floor was always cold. I began by installing staple up tubing and insulating beneath. I did the kitchen portion of the house first, but was planning on doing the entire first floor. I finished installing pipoe and insulation under kitchen floor so I could relocate the basement junk into that section before beginning rest of project.

There was such a comfort difference in kitchen, that I never connected piping. I simply insulated the rest of the basement ceiling. This is a warm air heated home.

Now the floor is not warm enough to be anything like underfloor radiant, but the floor is no longer cold and comfort improved dramatically.

According to my IR thermometer the vinyl floor went from 63 to 68 degrees with the room temp of about 71.

I never calculated heat savings, but my feet are much happier.

Susan_6

That's funny. I thought about putting in floor heat too because the floor is so cold. I have re-insulated my steam pipes so not much is escaping to warm my feet. Waht do you use of insulation? I want something that does not clog the air with fibers.