Going to insulate my ducts

[Fanatical Meat]

Cat's do better than dogs with heat, but still, they deserve AC.

Sound like my wife but overall I agree, furnace needs to be done, we’re both getting older and yeah the pets could use some relief

*dog is young and doesn’t have a lot of fur

 

[Red Squirrel]

Animals tend to be more resilient to temperature. Humans have a rather tight comfort zone tolerance. That said if it starts to hit like 27C or higher in my house I will turn the AC on for my cat. I usually start to get alerts on my phone if it gets that hot and I'm not home.

 

[Billb2]

Instead of air conditioning the basement you could just add a dehumidifier.
Tip: Drill a hole in the collection bucket and put the dehumidifier over a floor drain, then you avoid the hassle of constantly having to empty it.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Update, furnace is happening now. HVAC Guy (older one) thinks insulating the ducts could lead to a basement that is too cold. He agrees insulating the floors is a good idea but wait to see what the basements tempature looks like in the winter then reevaluate if the ducts should be insulated. He also said be prepaired for weird consequences because weird stuff tends to happen when you super insulate a house that wasn’t made to be super insulated.
To my knowledge my basement stays around 55 degrees in the winter give or take a little.
He confirmed our ducts are small, he said with the amount of oil we use it’s probably not worth it to increase their size.

 

[WilliamM2]

Update, furnace is happening now. HVAC Guy (older one) thinks insulating the ducts could lead to a basement that is too cold. He agrees insulating the floors is a good idea but wait to see what the basements tempature looks like in the winter then reevaluate if the ducts should be insulated. He also said be prepaired for weird consequences because weird stuff tends to happen when you super insulate a house that wasn’t made to be super insulated.
To my knowledge my basement stays around 55 degrees in the winter give or take a little.
He confirmed our ducts are small, he said with the amount of oil we use it’s probably not worth it to increase their size.

I think he means sealing a house that doesn't have intake air. I've never heard of over insulating having a problem. I've done both to my mid 70's house.

Still not sure why you would insulate the basement floor. I'm in Northern Michigan, it gets pretty cold here. I've never seen anyone insulate the floor between the basement and first floor. If you want to save energy, you need to insulate the outside walls of the basement. Better yet, make sure the attic has enough insulation. I upgraded mine from 4" of blown insulation to 15" (after settling), the gas bill dropped by 30%. The floor of the basement should already be at least 55, which is much warmer than outside.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I think he means sealing a house that doesn't have intake air. I've never heard of over insulating having a problem. I've done both to my mid 70's house.

Still not sure why you would insulate the basement floor. I'm in Northern Michigan, it gets pretty cold here. I've never seen anyone insulate the floor between the basement and first floor. If you want to save energy, you need to insulate the outside walls of the basement. Better yet, make sure the attic has enough insulation. I upgraded mine from 4" of blown insulation to 15" (after settling), the gas bill dropped by 30%. The floor of the basement should already be at least 55, which is much warmer than outside.

Walls & attic were both done with cellulose 7 years ago attic is currently at 14 inches cellulose, we also had the foundation sealed. Insulating the floor will only cost me $500 with masssaves. Wife hates the cold floor, I’m thinking this will make her happy.
By floor I mean the ceiling of the basement, floor of the living area. We have a ranch.

*His words were more to the effect is heat leaking into the basement or is cold leaking into the conditioned area, hard to tell since it’s never been insulated. Better to do these things in two steps.