"car crash" wrote in message
oups.com...

I bought a brand new home last year with a cold storage room in the
basement. The builder left all kinds of wood in there when they
poured the concrete. I noticed upon moving in and long after that the
mustiness in that room was unbelievable. I had the builder rip out
all the wood and install 2 new vents that were stuck open instead of
the flap vents he installed which allowed NO circulation of air. When
they ripped out of the wood the guy told me that that wood was
basically dripping wet it was so humid.
Well 1 month after new vents and ripping out all the wood, I bought a
thermometer that can read humidity and as soon as I installed it, it
went right up to 100% humidity !!! The mustiness smell is still
there for sure and my wife thinks is sickening and disgusting. So
here are my questions.

1-Why is the humidity levels so high in that room so high to begin
with?
2-How can I ventilate better ?
3-How do I get the smell out of there?
4-Is there a health risk ?

Any other help would be greatly appreciated.
Ottawa, Canada.

Consult your city councillor about local sources
of information e.g.
1. Health components of the Ontario and Ottawa
codes for new dwellings. Public libraries seem not
to carry the building code, but municipal building
licence offices often provide free copies of the
particular pages you need. I do not know its
provisions for ventilation.
2. Ontario new home quality insurance system,
which obliges the builder to comply with the code
and to remedy at his expense departures from code
(e.g. external drainage of the foundations.) This is
time-limited.
3. Archives of local newspapers may record
similar problems (because there has been so
much building in Ottawa since 1970.)

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)