We are trying to decide whether or not to insulate our basement ceiling. We have radiant floor heating in the basement and forced air in the upper two stories. With 2 noisy little boys it would be nice to have some soundproofing between floors but I am unsure what effect this would have on the efficiency of radiant flooring helping to heat the upper floors of our house! (We have >6 months of winter here) Thanks!

Insulate the ceiling for noise if you like. The amount of heat transfer through that entire ceiling between a 70F ceiling and a 65-68F floor above is minisucle compare to the heat loss of just one first-floor window on a cold night. There is no "... efficiency of radiant flooring helping to heat the upper floors..." to degrade.

Air-sealing between the basement & first floor is of primary importance for sound abatement. Doubling-up the ceiling gypsum will also help (especially if you use a sound abatement adhesive such as Green Glue ). If insulating with batts, batt density matters a little, but be sure to not fully fill the cavity- a full cavity will have more mechanical coupling through the insulation.

Thanks for your reply Dana1! Is resilient channeling overkill for a single family home - just not sure which combination of options are best. What do you think?