I am about to finish out about 520 square feet of basement.  I am putting in a bath and laundry room as well as a family/tv/guest room.  I am researching the best way to heat the area.  It gets really cold down there and I am also concerned about the dampness.  I have looked into Ductless systems, which seem to do a good job with dehumidification, but I am worried about it providing adequate heat.  Plus they are expensive, even though I hear there are some tax benefits.  I also have considered electric baseboard which seems like it would provide better heating, and be most cost effective way, but doesn’t entirely address dehumidification.  Any suggestions?  I am hearing a lot of good things about ductless systems.

Ductless heat-pumps can do a great job keeping you warm if sized properly. Keep in mind that they do not have a “back-up” source of heat, as a ducted unit would. This means that it may have trouble keeping up with the heat loss in the basement when the temperature drops outside. However, if the basement is well insulated, your heat loss may be low enough to allow the ductless heat pump to keep you plenty comfortable. A load calculation should be completed to ensure proper sizing of the system. I would not recommend electric baseboards, as they are horribly inefficient. That would be similar to heating your basement with incandescent light bulbs. Cheap to install… costly to operate… and DEFINITELY a far cry from “green.”