Installing downdraft vent in crawl space
Kam
3 years ago
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Kam
3 years agoRelated Discussions
Venting gas furnace from crawl space
Comments (3)Hey Doug, I live in the same area and just got a dual fuel system last year. I recommend you get the 90%+ furnace, not the 80%. I see no good reason to take a 10%+ efficiency hit, especially when you need to vent out the side of the house anyway. Progress & Duke are going to merge and they want to build new nukes, so our electric rates are going to go up and that means the heat pump costs will too. Also, you get $100 credit on your bill from PSNC if you get a 90% furnace (and $300 from Progress for your heat pump)....See MoreMechanical venting of crawl space...
Comments (10)By IRC code definition, a conditioned space is a "space within a building that is provided with heating and/or cooling equipment systems capable of maintaining, through design or heat loss/gain, 50F during the heating season and 85F during the cooling season, OR communicates directly with a conditioned space. For mechanical purposes, an area, room or space being heated or cooled by any equipment or appliance." What this means is that you can add any type of heat to the under space and condtioning it. Doesn't have to forced air at all. It can be steam pipes that radiate enough heat to maintain and heating season temp of 50F or above...A strip of electric heat, radiant baseboard or any other means. Likewise, the space can be conditioned in summer by running AC to it. Likewise, the space is considered condtioned if it opens to another portion of the basement that is already heated and cooled by design or default. Likewise, the space is considered conditioned if it simply naturally falls between the 50 to 85 range at all times...even without mechanical means. The key to #5 above is that you cover the floor with a vapor retarder....insulate the walls from the top of the rim joist to a point at least 2 feet below the frost depth...and then to condition the space by design or default....See MoreCrawl Space vent fan suggestions
Comments (5)It's hard to dry out a crawlspace with humid air which is why many feel new, vented crawlspaces should be illegal in humid climates, generally east of Mississippi river. It might appear things are improving with the fan, but you could be making long term situation worse as the building materials soak up even more moisture from the air. Drop the idea of crawlspace ventilation, seal things up as tight as possible and condition the crawlspace air. Sounds like your crawl is better off than most with the concrete surfaces. Building an unvented crawlspace is a better solution than more venting. Do the work yourself to save costs. What do you mean by crawlspace kind of? Cover any exposed ground or seal any existing plastic to walls and piers. A stand alone dehumidifier or replacing water heaters located down there with a heat pump water heater (if there is enough headroom) is more practical than pumping humid air into your home. What is your attic situation? I'm betting it has a poorly sealed house-to-attic interface. By air-sealing at the highest ceiling plane (vented attic floor), you block the migration of humid, crawlspace air into your home from below. Air-sealing your attic will probably have better results than more crawlspace ventilation....See MoreCrawl space vents
Comments (25)Went back last night to empty the dehumidifier, and out of curiosity pulled back an overlap. The house was closed up in November. The seams aren't taped, but folded back and overlapped with sand on top. There was enough water between the folds to run out when I lifted it. The ground is absolutely soaked underneath the plastic, and half a dozen spiders ran out along with other bugs and grubs under the plastic. Considering the seams aren't taped, I'm afraid we are going to have the termite equivalent of a rotten log in the forest - cool, wet, undisturbed dirt. Are the seams supposed to be taped? The wall nearest where I was at has a bricked/enclosed back porch on the other side and a big concrete patio beyond it. It hasn't rained in more than a week, so I find it hard to believe that rain/ground water is leaching that far. We are on solid red clay - the big thing in this area is having to have a perc test before you get your hopes up for a home site. MY GUESS -- they put the plastic down on wet dirt before the put any of the floor down. We had a lot of rain in the fall & winter. I have no idea what standard practice is, but I imagine that if it had been closed in and allowed to dry out for a week or two before the plastic went down, this wouldn't have been an issue. The HVAC guys had to run everything after it was closed in, so it's not like it wouldn't have been possible to do. I think the ground was soaked, the put the plastic down, and now its a saturated ground beneath the vapor barrier that isn't sealed to keep it out....See MoreIsaac
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