Having a finished basement in your home offers a lot of advantages. Not only does it boost the home’s value, but it also adds to your living space by the potential to have more bedrooms, a rec room, exercise area or other uses. And while modern basements are stylish and can blend seamlessly with the upstairs décor, a cold basement in the winter can make you want to spend your time elsewhere.
Why Is My Basement Cold?
There may be several reasons your basement is cold in the winter. Some of the most common include:
- Basement heat being drawn upward into upper levels of the home
- Moisture getting into the basement through windows and making it colder
- Poorly ventilated laundry room, adding to the moisture problem
- No insulation in basement walls
- Poorly installed heating registers
Luckily, there are several solutions that will help you keep your basement warm in the winter so everyone wants to spend time down there.
Install New Windows
If your basement windows are single pane or have been there for many years, you may be losing heat all winter long. Cold air can get in and affect the temperature of the basement, which is why having double or even triple-pane windows installed might be a wise decision if your basement is cold in the winter.
Insulate Basement Walls
The basement is supposed to be naturally insulated by the earth, so it is cool in the summer and warmer in the winter. Keeping your basement cool in the summer seems to work out fine, but it’s not always true in winter. If your home doesn’t have any basement insulation or it was cheaply installed by the builder, consider getting some new insulation installed to help keep heat in the basement where it belongs.
Radiant Flooring
There’s nothing quite like walking on a warm floor in the winter, and that’s exactly what you get when you have radiant flooring installed in your basement. As the name suggests, heat radiates from the floor upward via in-floor heating that’s installed between the flooring and concrete slab in your basement. The heat produced by radiant flooring heats the room and the objects in it, rather than just the air like a traditional forced-air system.
Add More Heat Vents
If you have a forced-air heating system, you can help keep your basement warm in the winter by adding more heat vents for better air circulation. Some basements seem to have a short supply of heating vents in inefficient locations to distribute heated air evenly throughout the basement. Adding vents will require you to get in touch with your HVAC specialist, but it may be worth the effort.
Regular Maintenance
Maintaining your heating system and equipment is a great way to ensure it is always working at full capacity to keep your basement and your home warm in the winter. When you schedule annual maintenance before the heating season, you can feel confident that your system is in top form and blowing clean air throughout the house.
We all want our basement to be another living area in our home. Don’t let a cold basement stop you from enjoying your home. The experts at Link ClimateCare are here to help.
