Should I insulate my small cold storage room in the basement?

Herb Lefebvre
by Herb Lefebvre
  5 answers
  • Cynthia Cynthia on Jan 01, 2018

    Depends on how you intend to use it- cold storage allows one sort, while general household storage may require insulated space

    • Herb Lefebvre Herb Lefebvre on Jan 01, 2018

      Thanks Cynthia! The room is damp in the spring/summer (not conducive to keeping things cool, and really cold in the winter. Not sure if we should insulate it to try and maintain a steady temperature and then decide to use it as a cold storage or just general storage. The wooden door is cold and there is a draft coming from the bottom, even though I installed a door sweep and there is a draft emanating from the door frame.....appreciate any input.

  • Barb Brown Barb Brown on Jan 02, 2018

    I would check the foundation if it is damp, could be water seepage or a crack and needs to be fixed. Also it could just be drainage problems. Depending, it could be very expensive. Get at least 3 itemized bids if not more and check, check, check references and BBB.

  • Eroque022810 Eroque022810 on Jan 02, 2018

    Does the room above feel cold? If not I would say wait til spring reinstall the door making sure that you have sufficiently insulated around that door. That should help the door it is a steel door not an interior door that is hollow. You didn't mention windows so no worries there. As for change in air a lot of people have that issue so I would guess that it has more to do with the door than the drainage at least that is my hope for you.

    • See 1 previous
    • Eroque022810 Eroque022810 on Jan 02, 2018

      Oh boy,yes a hollow door in Canada for that room is probably not even code,is it? I feel for you. Well its a start,in the meantime can you place plastic over the door to keep cold air out,but not on frame because that may not help,but on the wall. You would still be able to get out of the room if you needed to escape by pulling the plastic off so you aren't sealed in but it may help. Or do you have a heavy thick quilt that you can hang over the door and brace the bottom with a few towels to keep air out as much as possible. Once again you aren't trapped in the room. A steel door also allows safety since a hollow door can be so easily broken by a person,so regardless ,it may just be safer to replace the door anyway. Good luck this winter,we just got the first real taste of the artic air. I wish I was in the southern hemisphere.


  • Emily Emily on Jan 03, 2018

    I have a store room in the basement that is under my small kitchen. . . same size. Our basement is unfinished (field stone walls) we do have a wood burning stove, but it is as far away from my store room as possible. We have lived here many years and no harm has come from any of our basement being unheated. This is a particularly cold winter (sub zero temps when we get up) We live in Maine. I might not be understanding you. Do you mean the door in the store room is an outside door or an inside door?

    • Herb Lefebvre Herb Lefebvre on Jan 03, 2018

      It's an interior door Emily, the basement is fully insulated except for the cold storage room which is right below our front steps. There are two 4" vents that allow the outside air into the room, it's extremely cold (not freezing) in the winter (we live in Ontario Canada) and the air seeps into the basement through the bottom of the hollow wooden door and around the door frame. I have installed a door sweep that helps but was thinking of insulating the whole cold storage room with foam insulation to keep the cold air contained, which would help in reducing our heating costs....

  • 2dogal 2dogal on Jan 03, 2018

    search "encapsulating your crawl space". You can transfer this idea from a crawl space to your room. It is along the same idea of using foam insulation.