air flow under house
 

Under 10 years ago I had my house lifted 5 ft because of flooding.
However it is still damp in the basement area and I think the moisture
and mold move upstairs to where I live. I have been trying to decide
on a method to move the air down there other than the 2 fans I have
going all winter. I have looked into an exhaust fan with louvers to
be installed in the outside wall of the house to vent better. Anyone
have any thoughts about this idea?

Penny

Describe the arrangement under the house.
Is it a basement with high ceilings?
How is water handled around the perimeter of the house?
Are the walls damp?
TB

IMHO it is better to blow air out of the space than it is to blow air into
it.

You should address why it is still getting wet rather than try to
continually dry it out



wrote in message
ups.com...
Under 10 years ago I had my house lifted 5 ft because of flooding.
However it is still damp in the basement area and I think the moisture
and mold move upstairs to where I live. I have been trying to decide
on a method to move the air down there other than the 2 fans I have
going all winter. I have looked into an exhaust fan with louvers to
be installed in the outside wall of the house to vent better. Anyone
have any thoughts about this idea?

Penny

Do you have a French drain system around the outside perimeter of the house?
Good gutters and is the landscape sloped away from the house? Depending on
where you live and the weather/humidity a lot of people feel that with a
perimeter drainage system you are better off sealing the crawlspace to keep
summer humid air out.



wrote in message
ups.com...
Under 10 years ago I had my house lifted 5 ft because of flooding.
However it is still damp in the basement area and I think the moisture
and mold move upstairs to where I live. I have been trying to decide
on a method to move the air down there other than the 2 fans I have
going all winter. I have looked into an exhaust fan with louvers to
be installed in the outside wall of the house to vent better. Anyone
have any thoughts about this idea?

Penny

Fans do little but move moist air around, Blowing air out may do little
more and in winter cool you down. Get a dehumidifier that is the normal
route, before I had one it was always humid. 2 fans running 24x7 will
probably use more energy than a dehumidifier. If it is below 63 in the
basement most models freeze up, Sears has a unit that runs to 45. Mold
you can spray with bleach in a garden sprayer to kill it. A dehumidifier
also adds a few degrees heat making basements more comfortable.

yup. the fix is to solve the moisture problem, not dry it out..

randy

"AutoTracer" wrote in message
k.net...
IMHO it is better to blow air out of the space than it is to blow air into
it.

You should address why it is still getting wet rather than try to
continually dry it out



wrote in message
ups.com...
Under 10 years ago I had my house lifted 5 ft because of flooding.
However it is still damp in the basement area and I think the moisture
and mold move upstairs to where I live. I have been trying to decide
on a method to move the air down there other than the 2 fans I have
going all winter. I have looked into an exhaust fan with louvers to
be installed in the outside wall of the house to vent better. Anyone
have any thoughts about this idea?

Penny

And if he cant fix the problem he has one option dry it out, a
dehumidifier. For immediate relief he can just buy one.

Stopping the moisture from getting in is the best solution. Call that
source control. A french drain may help if you have water around the
foundation. Gutters and downspouts piped well away from the house will
often work wonders. A good place for information on drying out
crawlspaces is www.rlcengineering.com. RLC Engineering has information
on mold related issues as well. Basement problems are similiar to
crawlspace problems, I recommend going to that site. I wrote an
article on drying crawlspaces that was published. If you post your
email address with the @ and "dot" surrounded by spaces I will send it
to you. If all else fails, use the dehumidifier. The exhaust fans
will work only if you are in a dry climate. Anytime you exhaust air,
the space you exhaust air from developes a negative pressure that draws
air back in from outside.


Stretch

This use to be a river bed and the water is natural from the ground. I
use a dehumidifier in the house and also air purifiers. I was hoping
to move the air around more and pull drier air in from outside to dry
the area. It is about 7 ft high and at times water does stand under
the house and I use a sump pump.
The fan I am considering is an exhaust fan which will move the air out
and over the soil. However even the outside soil is wet now from days
and days of rain in sunny California.