Basement Ventilation
I need help/suggestions. my cellar is humid and i need ventilation. the walls sweat and things i store get moist. i already installed a vent to hatch in the front but the rear is still moist. i have a vent from the furnace room to the outside vent in the back. i would like a…
I need help/suggestions. my cellar is humid and i need ventilation. the walls sweat and things i store get moist. i already installed a vent to hatch in the front but the rear is still moist. i have a vent from the furnace room to the outside vent in the back. i would like a fan or something to bring in fresh air. does anyone have suggestions as to what and who to do this work? approx. how much? getting desperate. thanks.
thanks slopefarm. now to find someone who won’t rob me. lol
WIth a semi attached, you can use the side alley to put in vent ducts with goosenecks at the top. Put one that vents the boiler room and one elsewhere. You probably won’t need fans, dehumidifiers etc. if you have two vents for circulation.
thanks invisible. i have no windows in the cellar. sounds like i may have to do the costly thing of having someone make a hole through concrete and foundation for some sort of ventilation.
you’d have to get a condensate pump with tube, but somehow you have to get that tube outside. even if you did BHS’ air dealie, you still need a vent outside.
moisture comes through the floor into the air (you can not prevent this (afaik ever) and you either move the wet air out or take the water out of the air. neither is going to happen in a totally closed up space with no drains or windows that can’t be compromised.
why not iron bar those windows and provide for both venting and a pump?
I found this idea on Fine Homebuilding, which is a fan used as an alternative to a dehumidifier. They use ductwork to pull air from near the basement floor and send it out a window. It is DIY. Maybe you could rig this up with your hatch vent. Might be similar to the Humidex another poster mentioned, which I’m not familiar with.
http://www.finehomebuilding.com/how-to/tips/a-dehumidifier-alternative.aspx
Hm. Our cellar is 100 percent below grade and has no floor drains, no sinks, no washers, no nothing.
Just a sewer pipe running the length of the house and a clean out. And two below-grade windows, which we usually keep shut and locked for security reasons (plus the attached aforementioned hatches without vents).
Any ideas? Thanks!
What invisible said. Totally programmable. If you don’t have a floor drain, mount it up high and run hose into soil pipe (washer drain or sink, whatever you have).
If the humidity level is not excessive (no moisture developing on joists, etc) just hook up a radon fan to some 6″ PVC and vent it out. Use a humidity controlled switch. There will be enough air inflow coming through the bottom of the door to basement and other “leaks.”
I do not think that you have moisture coming though the walls. Walls are colder then the air so the moisture condensates on the walls and makes them wet. You can check it by taping piece of plastic film to the wall. If the inner side of the plastic will get wet – water sips though the walls otherwise water condensates on the cold walls. Hydro isolating walls would not help in this case. Ventilation probably would not eather since you will pump more of the same warm and moist air. Dehumidifier or AC would do a better job.
@mopar – you mentioned problems with covered rock walls. Please elaborate.
mopar if you have a drain in the floor, the dehumidifier route is complete autopilot. hook up a hose for the water to drain and you will never have to even check it.
The ones with digital display (LG?) kicks in/out automatically when the moisture reaches whatever humidity % you set (30/40/50% etc). its a no brainer. generates some heat, but totally worth it. my cellar is by far more consistently livable than my top floor.