Thanks for all the replies. The consensus seems to be that fermenting in the basement isn't a problem as long as it's a closed system, so I'll just keep it down there.
Yesterday I brewed up a new batch of German-style wheat beer (using White Labs WL300 yeast), and it's my first time brewing during the summer in a non-air conditioned house. I'm a bit concerned because the temperatures this time of year can be rather high (it's in the 60s right now - raining...