Thermal Mass At Basement Floor

Full 8 foot tall basement ceilings in older homes are rare with 7 footers more the norm.

Thermal mass at basement floor. Provide the recommended level of insulation under floors above unheated spaces around walls in a heated basement or unventilated crawl space and on the edges of slabs on grade. If the latter then it can still serve as a thermal mass floor if it s not too shiny. Insulate your attic to the recommended level including the attic door or hatch cover. Yes i ve looked at dricore but i don t want to put osb on my basement floor.

Concrete slab floors should be 100 200mm thick for the best performance while thermal mass walls should be 100 150mm thick. Your basement should be designed by a professional of course but we would recommend eps foam at least 4 inches better would be 6 or 8 inches if you can but not more than that. Thermal mass and floors. Yes you can build a 12 inch high basement subfloor and stay dry above everything but basement ceilings tend to be low.

A 1980 s study by industry researchers concluded that any floor covering whose thermal conductance exceeded about 10 btu hr ft 2 would not impair the thermal storage capability of the concrete slab. The way thermal mass relates to floors is important because most times the floor won t be exposed to the most direct source of thermal energy the sun. Is the basement floor hardwood over a wooden frame or hardwood over concrete. 2 insulation priorities it is most important to.

Below is a thermal model of what a floor would like in a climate similar to yours. Darker colors are ideal for absorbing heat but within the confines of a home the heat collection advantage of darker floors is not that pronounced. Very thick thermal mass walls and floors may take too long to heat while those that are too thin won t store enough heat. I ve also looked at superseal s subfloor and may go with that in case no one knows of a thermaldry knock off.

Thermaldry basement floor tiles dry basement floor i love the product but refuse to pay 8 sq foot and the company doesn t sell the tiles to diyers. Even if you put a floor covering on a concrete slab floor you will still get the temperature balancing effects of thermal mass as long as it is insulated below and therefore kept inside your building envelope. Concrete foundation walls in finished rooms areas shall be furred out and insulated with a minimum of r 8 insulation extending down to the basement floor slab on basement walls less than 50 above grade and a minimum of r 13 insulation on basement walls that are more than 50 above grade. Most of the thermal energy will come from internal heating.

Floors can absorb warmth from a concrete slab s sides being exposed to the sun but this doesn t translate very far. Dark slates are good solar absorbers though they are not massive enough to store much heat.