The basement may be a great place to hang out, but sometimes it’s impossible to get rid of the chill.
Space heaters can go a long way, but they can only do so much. They do even less if you can’t figure out a good placement.
Basement Heating Tips
Everyone can use a few tips on beating the basement chill. Whether you’re in the process of remodeling or just trying to watch TV comfortably, the following tips should be of use to you.
Find and Eliminate Cold Spots
Basements will often have spots that are colder than others. These are easy enough to find by simply walking around and taking note of the temperature. However, you can also place thermometers around the basement.
These cold spots are places where the heat is escaping particularly quickly.
Sometimes the only solution is to refinish the basement. If you can’t do that, then plugging up the obvious spots can still go a long way. Sometimes it’s as simple as putting plastic over a window or a rug over the cold spot on the floor above.
Deal With Any Water Issues
Water pipes in basements should always be covered by foam. Even if you live in a place where pipes freezing isn’t as worrying, water pipes tend to be damp and cool.
That can chase away heat fairly quickly. In fact, many of the more noticeable cold spots tend to be from uncovered pipes.
Try Using Flooring
Many basement floors are made of concrete and for good reason. Since so many basements tend to become storage, there’s almost no reason to bother with installing flooring.
If you’re refinishing the basement then this is easy. You can simply install flooring as part of the refinishing. If you’re not, then rugs are a great stop-gap.
Much like placing them on the floor above a basement cold spot, they can help insulate against colder spots underneath the foundation. If nothing else, you won’t have to walk on a cold concrete floor!
Using Space Heaters Properly
Space heaters are an old go-to when it comes to heating a chilly area. They can be great, but it’s important to have the proper setup.
Read the box and presume the heater can only hit the minimum range. Follow all proper safety precautions. Otherwise, try to have the space heater placed in a corner. That way, the heat can radiate out in a cone-shape. It will still be chilly on the edges, but this can be fixed.
Place a space heater in each corner of the room if possible. Or at each corner of the sitting space. That will help the cones match up.
You may have to adjust your space to fit the space heater, as well. Don’t put things directly in the path of the heater, but keeping sitting spaces in the general path of the heat can help it absorb that heat and make it more comfortable.
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Consider Additional Insulation
This happens during refinishing as a matter of course, but not everyone is refinishing their basement. In that case, there are other possibilities. Try putting up some wallpaper where possible. You can also try placing storage furniture, such as shelves and boxes, next to the walls. This can help
There are a number of ways to fight off the basement chill if you’re willing to put in the work. It’s not always possible to do the things that would be most useful.
Even if you can’t do a full refinish, you might be able to do a half one. Or put up some wallpaper. The important thing is that you get a chance to use the living space you’ve had all this time.
Author Bio
Tom Philips is the operation manager and HVAC Consultant of Milwaukee Heating Cooling. His experience made him knowledgeable on all of technologies and designs that made him especial from other consultants. He also write blogs to share his learnings about HVAC.
