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
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.
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
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
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.
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