Hi all,

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
B B
B B
B STORAGE ROOM B
B B
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB----BBBBBBBB
B B
B FINISHED BASEMENT B



I have a storage room that runs the length of the front of the house
under the porch. It's around 36' x 3' and has block walls.

I recently finished my basement (which this room shares a wall with) and
found a lot of dripping condensation on the corrugated steel ceiling in
the storage room. I posted here about it a while back and was told that
I needed to coat/insulate the metal on the ceiling that the concrete
porch pad was poured on.

Well... I went ahead and insulated that metal - coated it with the
greatstuff spray foam and set rigid foamboard insulation sheets under the
coating. Seems to have worked pretty well since I no longer have any
visible condensation - at times it was dripping in there like a
rainforest before I coated the ceiling.

While I was at it, I also thorosealed the walls - both the three under
grade and the one that borders the basement. The dashes in the wall
above represent an insulated steel door going from the storage area to
the basement.

Anyway, it's all done now, but the results weren't what I expected... I
put a humidity guage in there and while I don't see any visible water or
condensation, it's pretty much stuck around 90% humidity. In the
basement area it stays at around 50%-60%, but that goes up if I leave the
door to the storage area open.

Any idea what could be causing this? I need to get that number down so
that I can actually use that storage area for storage!

Thanks!!!

Me wrote:
....
I have a storage room that runs the length of the front of the house
under the porch. It's around 36' x 3' and has block walls.
....
Well... I went ahead and insulated that metal - coated it with the
greatstuff spray foam and set rigid foamboard insulation sheets under the
coating. Seems to have worked pretty well since I no longer have any
visible condensation - at times it was dripping in there like a
rainforest before I coated the ceiling.

While I was at it, I also thorosealed the walls - both the three under
grade and the one that borders the basement. The dashes in the wall
above represent an insulated steel door going from the storage area to
the basement.

Anyway, it's all done now, but the results weren't what I expected... I
put a humidity guage in there and while I don't see any visible water or
condensation, it's pretty much stuck around 90% humidity. In the
basement area it stays at around 50%-60%, but that goes up if I leave the
door to the storage area open.

Any idea what could be causing this? I need to get that number down so
that I can actually use that storage area for storage!

Yeah, you have a closed area underground in an area that outside
obviously is saturated or may even have underground water flow. You've
slowed down the moisture infiltration, but not completely stopped the
vapor flow.

Only way you can do that is to start on the outside and figure out what
the source of the water is and either divert it away from the basement
walls before it approaches them and then add additional waterproofing
outside as well.

Almost surely you would still need a dehumidifier in the storage area to
keep the humidity down. You could try the expedient of a dehumidifier
now, but it's likely not going to be sufficient by itself, but it just
might if enough capacity and you once get it dried out some...but given
the symptoms initially described, there's too much water on the
outside--you're basement is acting essentially as a concrete boat hull.

--

In article , Me wrote:
[...]
Anyway, it's all done now, but the results weren't what I expected... I
put a humidity guage in there and while I don't see any visible water or
condensation, it's pretty much stuck around 90% humidity. In the
basement area it stays at around 50%-60%, but that goes up if I leave the
door to the storage area open.

The normal solution to excess humidity is a dehumidifier; thought about giving
that a try?

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

Thanks for the replies - what kind of venting is in order? Into the
basement area or to the outside?

I did run a dehumidifier in there right after sealing it up in the hopes
that it was just leftover moisture from before I sealed it... I let it
run for 24 hours & it dropped the humidity down to around 60... but I
think it would be prohibitively expensive to run it all of the time in
there - plus there's not a drain so I'd have to empty the bucket all the
time.


"Joseph Meehan" wrote in
:

Venting and dehumidification. The lack of ventilation is what I
would
tackle first.

"Me" wrote in message
9.11...

Hi all,

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
B B
B B
B STORAGE ROOM B
B B
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB----BBBBBBBB
B B
B FINISHED BASEMENT B



I have a storage room that runs the length of the front of the house
under the porch. It's around 36' x 3' and has block walls.

I recently finished my basement (which this room shares a wall with)
and found a lot of dripping condensation on the corrugated steel
ceiling in the storage room. I posted here about it a while back and
was told that I needed to coat/insulate the metal on the ceiling that
the concrete porch pad was poured on.

Well... I went ahead and insulated that metal - coated it with the
greatstuff spray foam and set rigid foamboard insulation sheets under
the coating. Seems to have worked pretty well since I no longer have
any visible condensation - at times it was dripping in there like a
rainforest before I coated the ceiling.

While I was at it, I also thorosealed the walls - both the three
under grade and the one that borders the basement. The dashes in the
wall above represent an insulated steel door going from the storage
area to the basement.

Anyway, it's all done now, but the results weren't what I expected...
I put a humidity guage in there and while I don't see any visible
water or condensation, it's pretty much stuck around 90% humidity.
In the basement area it stays at around 50%-60%, but that goes up if
I leave the door to the storage area open.

Any idea what could be causing this? I need to get that number down
so that I can actually use that storage area for storage!

Thanks!!!

Me wrote:
Thanks for the replies - what kind of venting is in order? Into the
basement area or to the outside?
....

Yes.

Anywhere to move the air and circulate will help. Of course, if simply
exhast it into the rest of the basement and there's nowhere for it to go
there, you'll just reach a new equilibrium overall.

Your only real solution is to solve the outside water problem or
evaporate/exhaust it once it's inside. That's simply the reality of
once the water vapor is inside, it has to be removed in one of two ways
-- exhausting the air that carries it somewhere or evaporating it out
and removing it as liquid. There are no other places for it to go, so
you would be better off keeping it from coming in. You've made
progress, but ...

--

On Thu, 01 Nov 2007 13:28:10 GMT, Me wrote:


Hi all,

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
B B
B B
B STORAGE ROOM B
B B
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB----BBBBBBBB
B B
B FINISHED BASEMENT B



I have a storage room that runs the length of the front of the house
under the porch. It's around 36' x 3' and has block walls.

I recently finished my basement (which this room shares a wall with) and
found a lot of dripping condensation on the corrugated steel ceiling in
the storage room. I posted here about it a while back and was told that
I needed to coat/insulate the metal on the ceiling that the concrete
porch pad was poured on.

Well... I went ahead and insulated that metal - coated it with the
greatstuff spray foam and set rigid foamboard insulation sheets under the
coating. Seems to have worked pretty well since I no longer have any
visible condensation - at times it was dripping in there like a
rainforest before I coated the ceiling.

While I was at it, I also thorosealed the walls - both the three under
grade and the one that borders the basement. The dashes in the wall
above represent an insulated steel door going from the storage area to
the basement.

Anyway, it's all done now, but the results weren't what I expected... I
put a humidity guage in there and while I don't see any visible water or
condensation, it's pretty much stuck around 90% humidity. In the
basement area it stays at around 50%-60%, but that goes up if I leave the
door to the storage area open.

Any idea what could be causing this? I need to get that number down so
that I can actually use that storage area for storage!

Thanks!!!

That sounds the ground is soaked, and the need for weeping tile along
the outside of the house, properly filled with drainage rock against
the brick. Also on the outside, it could be coated with a 'tar'
spray. This could be real expensive fix.

Do you have eavstroughs, that drain away from the house?

Check the ground around the house is not settled towards the house,
and slope it away.

Also, check for cracks in the floor, maybe moisture is coming up
through the floor.