) writes:
Hi,
I am having a problem with cold floors. I live in a bungalow and have
hardwood floors, the "unfinished" basement walls are insulated and the area
is heated...can I insulate the ceiling of the basement without causing any
problems?? Will this solve my cold floor problem upstairs??

As someone else snarkily suggested, the heated, insulated basement should
warm the floor as the heat rises. If the floors are cold, something else
is going on. The heat in the basement is going somewhere it's not
supposed to, or the hardwood floors are somehow exposed to heat loss from
somewhere else, or both.

Does the basement have a finished ceiling? Is there a space in the
ceiling, above the insulated basement wall and below the upper floor,
where the walls are not insulated? This could be a cause of heat loss.

Are there any drafts in the upstairs part of the house? Cold air falls, so
the floor might seem cold even if the air was being cooled by poor wall
insulation or drafty windows.



--
"For it is only of the new one grows tired. Of the old one never tires."
-- Kierkegaard, _Repetition_

James Owens, Ottawa, Canada