Warm air rises, so it’s no surprise that your home’s second floor is often hotter than the first floor. But that doesn’t help when you want to stay toasty on your home’s first floor.

Find out how to warm up your first floor with advice from home renovation and HVAC experts.

Install a Door

Warm air escapes the first floor via the staircase. Install an interior door at the foot of the stairs to keep warm air downstairs.

Though exterior door installation is often best left to the pros, installing an interior door is far easier. Interior doors are usually hollow-core and lightweight, so they’re easy to handle. Plus, you don’t have to worry about weatherproofing them. 

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Zone With a Mini-Split

Zoning through mini-split multi-zone solutions is a great way to meet different comfort needs, says Brad Niehaus, of HVAC manufacturer Friedrich. It’s especially effective when addressing heat on lower floors is a priority,

“These systems, along with emerging side discharge heat pumps, meet cold climate needs,” Niehaus says.

Zoning ductwork is another option, Niehaus says.

“But it can become challenging to meet large variances in temperatures on the second floor.”

Add Radiant Heating

When you want to add warm air on the first floor but don’t want to add another HVAC unit, you can install radiant heating under the floor.

Electric radiant floor heating systems use a wire mesh or loops of individual wires that run across the entire floor directly below its surface. Gentle warm air is created as the electricity flows through the wires.

Another type is a hydronic radiant floor heating system, where hot water flows through tubes beneath the floor. The water is heated in a central boiler.

Add Another HVAC Unit

Your current HVAC unit may not have sufficient capacity for your multi-story home. In this case, it’s time to invest in a second HVAC unit.

“People will try to heat the whole home with one unit,” says home renovation expert Ty Pennington. “But you likely need more than one unit to do that.”

Pennington owns a historic home in Savannah and says that, in his experience, you need “at least two units to cover the whole home.”

While effective, adding a new unit is a pricey fix. HVAC heat pumps cost from $4,000 to $8,000 to install. A heat pump can produce warm or cool air as a combination furnace and air conditioner.

An electric furnace is a less expensive option if you only need warm air. The average cost of an electric furnace is between $1,700 and $6,750, for an average cost of $4,445.

Use a Space Heater

Chilly first-floor rooms can be quickly heated with a budget-friendly option: portable space heaters. It’s also smarter to heat one room instead of the whole house.

“Think about it,” Pennington says. “If you’re only heating the rooms where you spend the most time, then it’s not going to jack up those heating bills as significantly as it would if you were heating your entire house.”

Maintain the HVAC

When your first floor won’t stay warm, the condition of your HVAC system might be to blame. Instead of adding expensive new HVAC units, you may need to maintain your current system.

If you forget to have your HVAC system checked, it may start to overwork when winter comes, says Pennington.

“The HVAC system could even break down, forcing you to get a new one,” he says.

The cost of an HVAC maintenance visit is an average of $195. It’s often more cost-effective to sign an annual HVAC maintenance contract.

Close the Chimney Damper

Your chimney provides warm air on the first floor with an easy escape route. Close the chimney damper to keep that warm air downstairs.

Every wood-burning fireplace should have an operable trap door (a damper) in the chimney flue. With the fireplace cold and not burning, look up into the chimney flue with a flashlight. You should see the damper—a metal trap door—and it should be closed when the fireplace is not used.

To close the damper, push or pull the metal lever. In some cases, there may be a metal chain that you pull to close the damper.

Winterize the Windows

Drafty windows can rob your home’s first floor of warm air.

“Especially for older windows, which tend to have one pane of glass, that’s where a lot of cold is going to come through,” Pennington says.

The solution to leaky first-floor windows is to winterize them. Winterizing windows is a multi-step approach, and a few of the steps include:

• Adding window film: Transparent plastic window film that attaches with double-sided tape acts as a second barrier to prevent heat from escaping.
• Installing cellular blinds: Pleated cellular blinds that look like mini-blinds can reduce heat loss by as much as 40-percent.
• Hanging thermal curtains: Thermal curtains are extra-thick fabric curtains. You can close them at night to insulate the room against cold air from the windows.