How to Keep Your Basement Warm
- 1). Close your basement door and keep it closed. Install a door that fits tighter if you have one with air gaps all the way around it. This helps prevent warm air from the basement flowing up into the upper floors.
- 2). Close some or all of the vents in the upper floors of the house. These floors stay warmer due to rising warm air. But with the vents closed, more of the warm air created by the heating system will be forced into the basement.
- 3). Install a subfloor into the basement to provide a dry and warm surface to walk on. Any flooring solution must include some sort of moisture protection barrier. A plywood subfloor with a foam moisture barrier underneath offers a warm platform on which to lay carpet, laminate or other flooring options.
- 4). Insulate the walls of an unfinished basement properly with the R-factor insulation recommended in your area. Home renovation expert Mike Holmes advises in an article in "The Globe and Mail" to use rigid foam insulation to insulate a basement.
- 5). Install a heating system in the basement to provide independent heat. Some furnaces can be set up to run a dual zone system, or you can install a second, smaller furnace to supply basement heat. Radiant floor heating is another option to consider for a cold basement.