HVAC for Your Basement Will You Need to Change It HVAC for your basement. Lets tame this wild beast. Web portal for buildingrelated information with a whole building focus provided by the National Institute of Building Sciences. Areas include Design Guidance. First things first. What the heck does HVAC stand forThe exact definition is Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning. I did list HVAC as one of my 8 phases of how to finish a basement but what youre probably wondering is Will it be to hot in my basement in the summer Will it be to cold in winter Will the air in my finished basement smell and feel fresh and clean. Will Zack and Kelly eventually get married. Ok, that last one I just threw in for fun, if you get that reference then youreold and dorky like meawesome. M00-2B-37-rBVaEFf8blyAS0ZVAAKe97EehO4127.jpg/4m-fine-sani-fine-lift-fine-hvac-fine-gas.jpg' alt='Fine Hvac Serial' title='Fine Hvac Serial' />The carbibles automotive abbreviations a lookup for all those 3letter and 4letter synonyms and codes that youll find in cars. AC_Wiring_Diagram_Portable_Unit_023_DFe.jpg' alt='Fine Hvac Serial' title='Fine Hvac Serial' />What do you need to do to your HVAC before you finish your basement Do I need to expand my HVACDo I need to run new ducts Can I just throw in some new registersHow do I make sure my system will be balanced once I add my basement. Does my furnace have a large enough capacity to service my basement. Dont freak out me now. I know there are a lot of questions. Letscool down for minute. Microsoft Visual Studio Fortran Compiler'>Microsoft Visual Studio Fortran Compiler. Take a deep breath. Get into your best Yoga pose and consider the following You may not need any HVAC changes. Yup. I didnt change a single thing and my basement is money comfortable. You may just need a solution for heating. Especially if you live in a cold ass state like Michigan, New York or Canada an awesome Country, not a state, I know. In most cases you can add a solution AFTER your basement is finished. So if your budget it tight you might be just fine waiting a bit. I didIn this section on HVAC, Im going to outline, in a simple and fun way, 1. Google searching, Youtube video watching, and general calling up of HVAC guys asking them questions about HVAC for your basement. Yes, youre welcome. Lets start by answering this question. Will You Need to Expand Your Basement HVACIf the air in your finished basement will be either to hot, too cold or too stale then you will want to either expand your HVAC or add a separate unit more on why I recommend adding a separate solution a bit later. So how do we find that out. Measure Your Basements Comfort Levels. One of the simplest ways is to buy a thermometer with a humidity reader and put it down in your basement. Maybe even buy two one for your living space and one for the storage area or the space that wont have any access to windows. Put a temperature and humidity monitor down in your basement. Make sure it has a 2. Low High functionality. I highly recommend this little baby here. You can buy it here on Amazon for around 1. Plus, Ive personally owned two of them for over a year and theyve been fantastic. Regardless of which brand model you decide to buy, make sure is has a daily Low High hold function. You dont want to just sit down in your basement like a creepy serial killer just staring at the thermometer all day. Ok. So now were measuring temperature and humidity. What are we looking for For me. I wanted to make sure the high temps stayed below 7. And humidity between 3. Now wait just one second. If youre thinking 6. Christmas, Ill bake in those temps. Hear me out. Those are the extremes. On average Id like to be at 6. And guess what with almost not additional HVAC work thats where my basement temps are about 9. Whats that You dont have time to wait 1. I have a few samples below. Consistent, Comfortable Temperatures Thanks Mother Earth, Your Rock. Heres whats kind of awesome. The earth the dirt part of it anyway has a very regular temperature of about 6. I made this uber professional graphic to try and explain why your basement temps will be fairly consistent year round. Alpha Zip Download For Mac. Note where the ground begins the coldness cannot penetrate the basement as well. Same concept for hot air. This is why youll often see insulation only on the top half of the wall of a basement. Because the bottom half of the wall doesnt need it. The ground temps that far down are a constant 6. Factors that can dictate if YOUR basement will be comfortableWhat Style of Basement Do You Have Is your basement mostly below ground If it is, youre in luck The temps will be fairly comfortable and consistent. My basement is a walk UP. I have a double door exit to the outside then you have to immediately walk up stairs. What this really means is only the door part of that wall is exposed to the hot sun and cold air. If your basement doesnt have any exits youre in even better shape in terms of temp control, in other ways that kinda sucks for you. If your basement is walk OUT, then guess what, sad face for you. You might need to spend some extra coin to heat and cool it. The reason is that you likely have an entire wall exposed to the elements. Where Do You Live You need to take into account where you live. Me, I live in Virginia, which has a moderate year round climate. Sure, we have our moments of extreme heat or extreme cold but by in large were the Baby Bear of temps not too hot, not too cold. Remember, I have a total of 2 registers in my basement. During the coldest week last winter where temps were in the mid 2. Acurite Monitor read 6. During the hottest week this past summer the average highs reach 9. So not too bad. I was able to get my video game room up to 6. I did not need to add AC, the 7. To all my peeps in Green Bay Wisconsin you may need to supplement your basement with a heat boost. To all my peeps in South Georgia you may need to add an AC boost. I have a separate article coming soon that lays out your options, my recommendations and what it might cost. How are You Going to Use Your Basement Just Kickin it or Living In It Finally, what you plan to do in your basement may affect your decision on whether or not spend the extra money to get your temps perfect and controllable year round. If youre just gonna play some video games or watch movies or host a poker night or two then youre probably good to go with less precise control over the temps. But if someone is going to be down there a lot, like living there, or youre going to use it as an office that you actually work in then you might want to make sure you have control of the temps. Alright, hopefully that will get you started. If you think youll just need a bit of extra heat like me, read my recommendations on heating your basement here. Do you have a specific question or comment on basement HVAC Leave it in the comments below I answer ALL questions. Cheers Jason. Other Hot and Cold Links.