warm basement?

[lil_acorn]

Before we finished it, our basement used to be very cool in teh summer. We finished 3/4 of it and now it is hot down there, even in the summer. Any ideas on why? I've been in other people's finished basements and theirs is cool. Too much insulation? it's sad that it's not comfortable down there in teh summer!

[cckwmh]

We have 1/2 basement finished, and up until this summer, it has always been cool. This winter, we changed our heating and hot water system over and had our house re-insulated through the state energy program. The family room downstairs was my favorite place to hang out, now I don't even want to go down there. Previously, our hot water was separate from our heat, but now the same boiler does both, so it is running in the summer to heat the water (we used to shut it off for the summer). I don't know if this is the cause or if it is the insulation change.

[lil_acorn]

hmm..our furnace and hot water heater are on the finished side, in a separate room with louvered doors for proper ventilation - maybe that is it?

[cmo]

Do you have a separate HVAC system for it, or did you tie it into your existing system? When we finished our basement, there was one room that the contractor said was too far from the unit, and that it would be a stretch on the system to tie into it (too many sq. feet for the size of the unit). We did it anyways, and he was right. The room is not even close to adequately cooled in the summer or heated in the winter. We shut the vent and use that room mostly for storage.

[KLD313]

Is it damp and warm? My finished downstairs is like that and I have a tenant down there. I told him to try a dehumidifier and it seems to be better.

[hellokitty]

Is your door from upstairs down to the basement often open (ie: when kids are down there, etc.)? In an attempt to help the cool air circulate better from the basement to our main floor, we keep our basement door propped open and it has made a HUGE difference in our electric bill, BUT our once cool basement is now much warmer. DH compared our electricity prices from last summer and was shocked, esp given that this summer has been so much more brutal than last summer.

[lil_acorn]

Originally Posted by cmo

Do you have a separate HVAC system for it, or did you tie it into your existing system? When we finished our basement, there was one room that the contractor said was too far from the unit, and that it would be a stretch on the system to tie into it (too many sq. feet for the size of the unit). We did it anyways, and he was right. The room is not even close to adequately cooled in the summer or heated in the winter. We shut the vent and use that room mostly for storage.

We have no HVAC in there and a dehumidifier running 24/7 in the summer.