ventilation in finished basement laundry room in old house

12 years ago

i have a 90 year old house with a finished basement. in general i am not happy with the air quality in the basement. most of the smells and mustiness seem to come from the laundry room, where i also keep the cat box. the laundry room is in the center of the basement under the stairs and smells seem to migrate up the stairwell to the rest of the house.

the laundry room has no ventilation, no window, and a non-louvered door. we keep the door open most of the time. i am thinking of adding a bathroom-type exhaust fan and cutting a ~ 100 sq. inch hole in the wall between the rest of the basement and the laundry room. this could double as a cat door and an air source since i would be exhausting air with the new fan if I put one in.

the basement is about 750 SF altogether and has two supply vents and no returns. the heating system itself is in a separate unfinished space in the basement.

it may also be worth mentioning that the laundry room shares a wall with a finished bath with an exhaust vent. so perhaps i could upsize that vent and cut a hole between the laundry room and the bath.

the basement is our family room and we spend a lot of time down there.

any ideas?

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (6)

mike_home
12 years ago
Will the laundry room exhaust fan vent to the outdoors? I think this is the only way to get rid of any odors. Are you going to run the fan continuously? Panasonic makes small bathroom fans which are very quiet. The other option would be to control it with an electronic timer.
civ_IV_fan
Original Author
12 years ago
the laundry room fan would vent to the outdoors. my initial thought was to have the laundry room fan run continuously. however, i am concerned about extracting all that air from the basement which already suffers from a lack of fresh air. is this something i should be concerned with?
Related Discussions
Basement laundry room move
Q
Comments (0)
I'm looking at possibly moving my washer/dryer to the other side of the basement, but I have a few questions. In addition to moving the laundry, I'd also like to add a lavatory (bar sink) just upstream of the laundry. I have above ground access to a 4inch waste line that runs along the basement floor. However, in order to tie my new line into the current line at this point, I'd have to run the new line (likely 3 inch) just above the old 4 inch line, then drop down to tie into the old waste line. Is this possible? I'd like to know before I waste my time with a permit application and discussion with an inspector. How would they connect? I'm envisioning a 3inch horizontal from the CW and lavatory traps, connecting to a sanitary tee with a cleanout, dropping down to a long sweep 4x3 wye to mate with the 4inch waste line. This is a bit of a complicated path for the waste to follow. Is it legit? If not, how could it be done so it follows code (I live in PA)? This is an old house (1915) and the basement will never be finished. I'm just trying to move the current set-up to a more favorable location. Also, for venting, I have access to a 4inch vertical in the basement that serves as the waste stack for a second floor bathroom set (WC, Lav, Bath/Shower). I'm assuming that I cannot tie into this for venting. I can run a vent line to the attic to tie into this same stack if necessary. I could also use AAVs for the basement lav and washer. For the basement lav, the distance between the trap and potential tie-in is ~30 feet. This line would serve no other fixtures other than the basement lav and CW.
...See More
To finish or not to finish: basement laundry room
Q
Comments (10)
I sold my house with an unfinished basement this past summer that was located in Northern VA. I would recommend you finish off your laundry space for your own enjoyment, not necessarily because it may add value. Your descriptions of the space and your comments lead me to believe you would like to have that renovation for yourself. You can replace the concrete sink with a sink/cabinet from Lowes/Home Depot for a couple of hundred dollars. As others pointed out, you can brighten up the space for minimal outlay. (Definitely get rid of that floor before you market your house. Buyers do notice dirt and perceived lack of maintenance. Keeping my house clean and maintained was how I was able to get it sold in a soft market last summer, despite the disadvantage of the unfinished basement).
...See More
Basement laundry room vs 2nd floor laundry closet?
Q
Comments (15)
I have laundry in the basement-- have a laundry chute direct to the laundry. I have never wanted a laundry on the second floor but have wished that I had it on the main floor sometimes. Advantage to basement--usually have a lot of room (I don't). We can get really dirty sometimes, with gardening and landscaping projects. Can shuck the dirties in the garage or back entryway and drop down the laundry chute there (or in a bucket in the garage)...vs having to deal with them upstairs (where we have carpet). I wash clothes once a week. Smelly dirty laundry is in the basement; not stinking up the bedrooms. I have a clothesline strung in the unfinished part of the basement for drying rugs, mattress pads, sheets, jeans, etc. during the winter/ rainy days. As well as drip dry items that don't go in the dryer. The clothes line is also handy for hanging wet or damp dirty items to dry (like bath towels & kitchen towels) before they go into the dirty clothes hamper. I fold & sort items as I unload the dryer. Towel stack to the linen closet, DS's clothes in one stack, etc. Usually cart the basket to the main floor and someone else will haul it on upstairs. Have had three laundries that were in enclosed back porches and one just adjacent to the garage when I lived in the south. That arrangement worked really good and would be my preferred location for a laundry. Would not want W/D in a closet if it can be avoided. I use my laundry sink a lot as well as having the washer drain hose empty into the sink. (With a lint sock to keep lint and dog hair out of the sewer line--septic leach field if that's your situation.) You adapt to wherever the laundry is. Pros & cons to wherever it is. Main thing is that a home laundry beats the heck out of having to go to the laundromat! We've probably all had to do that at some time in our lives.
...See More
What spaces in a finished basement are considered a habitable room?
Q
Comments (18)
Don't forget you also need 7'6" from finished floor to finished ceiling in habitable space. No habitable space can be smaller than 7' wide and must have at least 70 sf floor space (other than kitchens). If the space is a bedroom, you need a qualified egress window in that room. Basements with habitable spaces, need a door or egress window somewhere. Habitable spaces in general have to go directly to an egress-connected corridor (i.e., you can't pass through another room). Smoke detectors are required for all habitable space. There are rodent proofing aspects of the code you'll want to make sure you have dealt with (these do not apply to unhabitable basements).
...See More
SaltiDawg
12 years ago
Running the bathroom exhaust fan takes conditioned air from inside your home and dumps it outside. If I run my 110 CFM exhaust fan during heating season it causes a noticeable reduction in temperature in the bathroom and eventually will actually cause the furnace to come on prematurely as previously heated air is "sucked in" to the bath from the adjacent rooms.
mike_home
12 years ago
Running the fan continuously could cause a negative air pressure situation in the basement. In intake air has to come from either the windows in the basement or door leading the the first floor. Does the furnace have it's one outside air intake? If not then having the fan run continously is probably not a good idea.

Bathroomfanexperts.com has a large array of electronic timers. There is one which can be progammed to go on and off on a 7 day cycle. Perhaps something like that would allow the fan to exhaust the air periodically. I would think the smallest (50CFM?) bathroom fan would be sufficient.
civ_IV_fan
Original Author
12 years ago
thanks for the link mike_home. i have a high-efficiency furnace with an outside air intake.

so what i'm hearing is the best solution is a timed exhaust fan. that seems doable.
ionized_gw
12 years ago
Be careful. If you basement is cooler than the outdoors when it is humid, you could condense water from the outside air that is drawn in by the fan. You mentioned a musty smell. You could make it worse. Using a dehumidifier might be a better solution.

ventilation in finished basement laundry room in old house

Comments (6)

mike_home

civ_IV_fan
Original Author

Related Discussions

SaltiDawg

mike_home

civ_IV_fan
Original Author

ionized_gw

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

ventilation in finished basement laundry room in old house

Comments (6)

mike_home

civ_IV_fanOriginal Author

Related Discussions

SaltiDawg

mike_home

civ_IV_fanOriginal Author

ionized_gw

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

civ_IV_fan
Original Author

civ_IV_fan
Original Author