Should I insulate my ground floor?

Hi. We are renovating a place we just bought and have to tear up the ground floor to level the floors. We’re trying to decide if it is worth it to insulate the floors as it’s an additional $1000\. We weren’t expecting to have to do this much floor work so we are just curious if it is worth it to insulate the floor? Downstairs is an unfinished basement where the mechanicals are and it is one open basement. If uninsulated, does a lot of cold air come up through the basement? What about humidity? Please let me know any experiences you might have had. Thanks!

blaqhole

in For Sale 12 years and 8 months ago

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ekoflooringwoodwork | 12 years and 8 months ago

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Blaqhole When you have unfinished basement and no insulation there “might “be possible problems with flooring. If you decide to have wood flooring (engineered, solid) or laminate. Everything depends on situation in your basement: cracked walls, loose paint, any insulation of walls, damp, condensation on water lines, musty smell. Next thing is to check RH- Relative Humidity in Basement and rest of the house. When measuring RH You need to consider: season of the year, was it raining lately, how house is situated , etc. It depends also what kind of subfloor will be used , eg: plywood, osb, etc. For wood flooring installation there is “no need” of insulation BUT you need to install proper moisture retarders and/or moisture barriers for succesfull iflooring nstallation and to avoid future problems related to moisture.  I am sorry that my answer might be little bit confusing ut bAnswer to your question is not easy. Please give me a call if you have more questions. I am NWFA (National Wood Flooring Association) certified flooring Inspector, Installer, Sand & Finisher and I hope I could be of help to you.  Phone: 347-628-3965 (Tomasz)

cate | 12 years and 8 months ago

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The temperature in our cellar is always very pleasant at all times of year, and nothing in our house is insulated. Because the cellar is below ground, it stays cool in the summer and warm in the winter. It’s very pleasant. I see no need for insulation between floors. In fact, I think it would be counter productive. The cellar helps keep the rest of the house cool in summer. Also, if you’re trying to cut down on heating costs, the first step is to address air infiltration in the house, then insulate the attic. I’ve never heard anyone mention insulating the cellar ceiling.

blaqhole | 12 years and 8 months ago

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Thanks for all the feedback. bklnite: Radiant heating would be great but it’s definitely beyond our budget at this point.  We have steam heat and are putting in a new high efficiency boiler and water heater. Our first floor is around 540 sq feet. and the basement is directly underneath. If the mechanicals keep the basement at a reasonable temperature in the winter then I’m leaning toward not insulating the floor. Since I’ve always rented, I’m not sure how warm a basement stays in the winter.  slopefarm mentioned their cellar stays warm because of the mechanicals down there. Let me know if others have the same experience. Thanks!

elbow | 12 years and 8 months ago

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Given the basement or cellar location, the radiant floor heating may be overkill too. A friend recently installed raidiant in his cellar, but the combo of below grade and heat thrown off by the steam boiler rendered the floor heating excessive.

Bklnite | 12 years and 8 months ago

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blaqhole, if I were in your position I would take advantage of the opportunity to install radiant floor heating. That would be money well spent and you’d be happy with the comfort.

Bklnite | 12 years and 8 months ago

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OP was asking about insulating the floor, which I doubt makes much difference. The BSC article linked above has a picture of a typical suburban freestanding house and if you’re in a typical brownstone brooklyn row house this doesn’t apply. Insulating the roof, the front and rear walls & good windows makes a difference. When I lived in a row house, I got the asbestos insulation removed from the pipes in the cellar and left them uninsulated which made the ground floor cozy from the warm pipes running to the hot water radiators.

timespace | 12 years and 8 months ago

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I would absolutly insulate it. According to the Building Science Corp. (the authority on such things) uninsulated basments account for about 1/4 of a building’s heat loss. If done right, it’s a really cheap and worthy investment now to save over the long term, especially with energy prices being potentially volitile. Air sealing it from the upstairs is important too. Ideally you would want the whole basment sealed, insulated, and conditioned, but insulating the floor would probably help a lot. It’s reccomented that you do it from the bottom, which might not coordinate with your plans. Here is BSC’s article on crawspaces but if you don’t insulate the whole basement, it applies: http://www.buildingscience.com/documents/insights/bsi-009-new-light-in-crawlspaces

notny | 12 years and 8 months ago

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slopefarm, can you describe your vent ducts? our cellar is very humid and i think adding a vent or two would help. did you vent to the front and back of the house? what do the vents look like? would you recommend the person who did it? thanks.

slopefarm | 12 years and 8 months ago

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Our cellar does not get that cold in winter. I would not worry about this. More important to make sure the cellar gets fresh air for the boiler to run optimally and to reduce humidity. We have two vent ducts from cellar to outside — even with that the cellar still not that cold. If anything, you’d be trapping boiler heat in cellar and not letting it radiate through floors. And you want that coolness in the summer.