DIY Home Improvement Forum banner

Thoughts and ideas basement finishing and HVAC

4K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  beenthere 
#1 ·
Hey gang,

I am in the very early stages of planning a remodel to finish our basement. The house is a 1100sqft ranch with concrete block foundation in Western NY built in 1964. After having another addition to our family I think its time to expand our living space into the basement :) I am thinking of having a new high efficeny natural gas furnace and HRV put in this year and want to try and plan ahead for this basement project. Here are my questions:

1) Should I use the furnace to heat the entire house including new basement living space or should I think of using electric registers in the basement and heat the first floor with the furnace as it is now?

2) The basement gets humid in the summer even with windows closed and we have to run a portable dehumidifier. What should I be thinking of using for basement dehumidification after its finished? Portable or whole house?

3) After having a NYSERDA home energy audit done last year the house was found to be slightly air tight and thus humidity in the winter has been an issue, so I want to install a HRV this year. How should I think of tying the HRV into a basement finishing project?

4) If the answer to question 1 is heat the entire house inc new basement with natural gas furnace then what would be a ballpark BTU recommendation. I know that without software its not an exact science, but the home enregy auditor recommended a 40,00 BTU single stage furnace to us. Would this be enough to heat basement and 1st floor? If there is avaialbe software I can use can anyone point me in the direction to figure out BTU recommendations for a furnace.

5) If the answer to question 1 is electric registers and answer 2 is whole house dehumidifer then can I run seperate ductwork for the basement tying the whole house dehumdifer into this?

About the HRV and whole house dehumidifier ideas, I want to bring more fresh air into the house since it is tight for the winter months and also help with the higher humidity, so running a whole house dehumdifier in the winter is not the best choice. But a HRV wont help the high basement humidity in the summer so Im thinking both are needed.

BTW we dont have central AC, we have window units for the bedrooms, we tend to like the fresh air and fans and dont use the AC units unless its really, really hot. Last summer we might have used the AC units for a few weeks at most.

Thanks for any input :thumbsup:
 
See less See more
#2 ·
If you use the furnace to heat the basement. Then have it zoned. Or the basement won't be as warm as you want it.

Then the HRV can al;so be connected to the furnace, and do the whole house.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top