Insulated Basements Lower Heating & Cooling Costs

Because temperatures in your basement don’t stay in the basement, a trusted basement insulating service in Cleveland is essential to enhance efficiency and comfort around the home, no matter the season.

Heat loss and heat gain are the enemies of consistent indoor temperatures, as well as managing affordable heating/cooling costs. Heat transfer can occur from any direction inside the house, including beneath your feet. In winter, a frigid basement acts as a giant heat sink that draws expensive heat energy out of living spaces and overworks your furnace. During summer, heat accumulating in a stuffy enclosed basement naturally rises, infiltrating rooms above.

Two approaches are available from basement insulating services in Cleveland. One insulates in such a way to include the basement in the overall home temperature environment like it was just another living space. Alternatively, you can insulate to totally exclude the basement environment by sealing it from the rest of the house. Detailed below are some ways to accomplish both.

Insulating Basement Walls

Insulating basement walls only include the basement in the home’s environment and can be done in two ways:

• Attach rigid foam board insulation directly to the concrete basement walls. This one-inch thick material, typically extruded polystyrene has an insulating R-value of about R-5 and retards heat transfer into and out of basement walls.
• Erect a stud wall against the existing basement wall, install fiberglass insulation batts between the studs, and then cover the studs with drywall. When finished with paint or paneling, this converts the space to an attractive extra room minus harsh basement temperatures.

Insulating the Basement Ceiling

The basement ceiling — also known as the underside of your floor — can be insulated to prevent basement cold or heat from influencing temperatures and heating/cooling costs in the living spaces above.

Fiberglass insulation batts installed between the floor joists inhibit heat transfer in either direction, keeping the house and basement temperature environments separate. Basement insulating services in Cleveland also seal cracks, gaps, pipe penetration points and other openings between the house and the basement to stop air leakage that also transfers heat.

To learn more about basement insulating services in Cleveland, be sure to contact us at P.K. Wadsworth Heating & Cooling.