Second-story laundry room is cold!

10 years ago

We have a second-story laundry room that we are having issues with during the winter. Some backround:
- House was built in 2006. It has 2x6 walls.
-Laundry room is between two bedroom on the front (south side of the house. It is approximately 5'x10'. Half of it is below the entryway (inside the house) and the other hald extends outside (overhang). There is one single-hung window. A door can be closed to close-off the room.
- During cold winter days the room get very cold (especially first thing in the morning when the heat hasn't gone on yet....we lower our heat at night). The floor of the room (especially over the outside overhang) is very cold to the touch. We have also had issues with excessive moisture during the winer (I'm assuming a condensation issue with the cold air and the dryer). There are a coule of areas of blackish mildew on the drywall on corners.
- There is one heater vent in the room (located on the ceiling) and no cold air return.
- I have replaced the dryer original dryer vent with this: http://www.menards.com/main/heating-cooling/venting/dryer/dryer-vent-closure/p-1461044-c-9502.htm It seems to have helped a bit as inside the dryer isn't as cold before starting on cold days.
- We did complain to the builder shortly after moving in and they did come out and pull off the overhand and check for insulation. It didn't seem to help and they have gone bankrupt since.

So I am wondering what I should do next. Should I pull off the sofitt and check for insulation (I don't really trust the builder)? Check in the attic for proper insulation all the way out to the edge? Insulate better around the window (we have an issue with all the windows that I've posted about it a seperate thread (http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/windows/msg0910325913713.html). Pull of all the drywall on the outer-facing walls and check for proper insulation? Should I be concerned with the mildew? Should I remove the pieces of drywall where the mildew has started?

Thanks in advance!

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Comments (5)

kirkhall
10 years ago
Does the heat vent have good flow (or perhaps did the hvac company not seal something well?

And, if you leave the door to the laundry room open, to allow air movement, is the room warmer? (ie, with the door closed, are you prohibiting the warm air from your hvac from coming in due to increased air pressure)?
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midwestguy33
Original Author
10 years ago
I will check the vent this weekend. The room is definitely warmer if we keep the door open but it's not ideal as then people are looking into our laundry room if they are in our upstairs hall. When I think about it, the laundry room and my daughter's room always seem the coldest and they are the farthest from the furnace. Her room has two outside facing walls (south and west) so that probably doesn't help either.

This post was edited by pmsmith2032 on Fri, Sep 27, 13 at 18:58
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dowlinggram
10 years ago
What do you want to bet the part that is the overhang is not insulated properly. That is a problem with a lot of houses that have rooms that extend outward. Can you access the overhang from outside by taking down your sofit. If you can you could spray with foam insulation. They do make it for home use now.

I'm not talking about not the little tube you get for sealing cracks but the one is used instead of bat insulation and acts like a vapor barrier too.
aaron37
10 years ago
yes, kirkhall was right.. you should lower the pressure on the laundry room by letting the air flow in and out so that cold will be minimize...

Here is a link that might be useful: roomplicity.com
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Second-story laundry room is cold!

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kirkhall

midwestguy33
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Second-story laundry room is cold!

Comments (5)

kirkhall

midwestguy33Original Author

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Bruce in Northern Virginia

dowlinggram

aaron37

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midwestguy33
Original Author