The winters in Elgin, Illinois, are well-known for their severity.
The extremely cold weather lasts for more than half the year.
We expect temperatures well below zero, bitter wind chill and feet of snow. I recently noticed that my basement was freezing cold. I got worried about the pipes freezing. Plus, having a cold basement means cold floors in the home, increasing the workload of the furnace. I started looking into ways to warm up the basement. Most of the strategies I found are centered around optimizing energy efficiency and adding additional heat sources. One of the first suggestions was to add insulation. While I wasn’t willing to tear down the finished drywall of the ceilings and walls, I was able to find a local Elgin HVAC contractor that specializes in spray foam insulation. The additional layer of insulation helps to lessen heat transfer and keep the basement warmer in winter and cooler in summer. The HVAC technician recommended installing a wall-mounted electric heater. The unit is located on the wall, doesn’t take up valuable space or detract from aesthetics. We only run the electric heater on especially chilly winter days and nights. The cost of operating the small basement heater is negligible. We’ve found that having warm floors makes a big difference to the comfort of the living environment. We can lower the thermostat setting and still feel perfectly warm. Because of this, I had the idea to lay down throw-rugs over the cement floor of the basement. The rugs contribute to insulation and feel less chilly under our feet.