I have two bedrooms in the basement with small windows and if the heat or AC isn't on there is no air flow. I was considering installing duct fans with a timer switch and a short duct through the wall to provide some fresh air. Has anyone had any experience with these? I considered bathroom exaust fans but they seemed too loud to me.
for a home to be sold as X number of bedrooms basement bedrooms MUST have a ingress egress windoiw.
I gather yours doesnt?
Rather than a fan your better off upgrading the windows, its a safety issue so in a fire the occupants have a way out.
plus doing so adds home value since these rooms are legit bedrooms.
they have plastic window wellls with steps to be code compliant, and this happens to solve your ventilation issues
To add to what hallerb wrote, some places have some very specific requirement about having sleeping areas in a basement. They do this because of the very real safety hazard involved. My in-laws had a fire from a gas leak at the water heater. The boys sleeping in the basement got past the door to the utility room and on the steps out about three feet when the door was blown off and fire blocked the doorway. It is good the dog got them up. Please don't say to your self that it will never happen to me.
Fix it right. Get the windows re-designed or forget using those storage rooms for bedrooms.
At the moment, due to the budget, new windows is not an option. Down the road it must be done, but there's alot of work ripping out the hedge on that wall, digging down, and ripping out a brick wall. We're going to have to settle for fans for the moment.
I don't know about in-line fans, but I put Panasonic fans in both of my baths, and while not silent, they are quiet for the amount of air they flow. (way oversized for my baths).
Panasonic does make in-line duct fans and the rest, check out their web site.
-- If I had something to say, this is where I'd say it.
you put the fan blower well away from the sleeping area, nearer the exhaust spot. this minimizes noise. just a duct goes to the room or rooms..
honestly though the original poster has now been warned of the severe safety hazard in case of a fire. I really HOPE he recognizes some things are more important than budget
its a lot of work adding windows, removing hedges and digging, although easily done with a small dozer or bobcat with backhoe attachment.
Its very terrible burying someone espically if you were aware of the risks...
cut something else out of the budget, since lives can depend on it
Uh, no. Call your insurance company and ask them, if you don't believe what we tell you on here. Better yet, call local code office or fire department. There is a good reason they have made basement bedrooms without egress windows illegal in most areas. THEY KILL PEOPLE. The whole house doesn't have to burn- a small fire or furnace failure can fill the basement with CO before you know it, and before the alarms upstairs trip. Egress windows and smoke/CO alarms are not optional. Whoever is gonna be down there would be better off with bunkbeds in a curtained-off corner of the living room, till you can do it right.
aem sends...
I suggest that you read the responses you have gotten so far. Everyone has referred to the hazard you have and recommended correction. Read other threads and you will usually find a safety issue, when there is one is noted in maybe 50% of the responses and often someone will object saying it is not rally an issue. That hopefully will help you get the idea that this may be more real than you are thinking. We have nothing to gain, but are only trying to help you and yours stay alive.
FWIW. Tens of thousands of homes were built here in the 50's & 60's with windows in the basements like the orginal poster describes. I'll bet lunch most of them have bedrooms in the basements. I grew up in one.
I'll also bet fewer than 1% of them have spent the $ to excavate & cut holes in foundations to make the windows larger.
You are absolutely right.
There are many millions of people that have lived in windowless basements without a problem.
If you want to be cautious, put in a couple of detectors from Walmart. They cost $20.
I suggest you ask you local fire department what they think about it.
Well certinaly many live in less than ideal situations. I know of several people that had home fires, one house I helped gut after the fire since they had litrtle insurance.
The issues are these.
Bigger resale value when the home is sold, without the windows the rooms cant be counted as bedrooms
The ongoing hazard.... To each his own. Personally if I ignored such a situation and someone died I would likely commit suicide, couldnt live knowing my decision cost a family member their life...
foe others it may not be a issue. more power to them.
I have an exhaust fan in the room in which I am sitting and, you are correct, it is too loud.
Dick
I see you are a brainless fan of big government. I am NOT a fan of govenment running my personal life. Thanks, but no thanks.
I'll NOT ever ask my local authorities anything about MY property.
I'll manage my own property if you don't mind.
And I strongly advise everyone else to do the same.
Who in the hell makes a rule that you don't count a room as a bedroom unless it has a window.
That is absolute pure bull shit.
I gathr your bedroom is uptairs...
I dont like big government either but some rules are just common sense:).
I see you lack this:(.........
lets hope someone doesnt pay the ultimate price
WM wrote: ..
You are welcome to your own opinions. You should not try to pass the unsafe ones on to others.
In 2002 there were 402,000 home fires in the United States, which claimed the lives of 3,145. That is considerable more than the 9-11 attack and happens every year.
I suggested you ask your local fire department. They are the people who see the results of people ignoring the codes and safety advice. Ask them about the bodies and injured they see. Do so research and find out just how painful recovery from fire injuries really is. Most of those deaths and injuries can be avoided with reasonable efforts.
I hope you never find out personally the foolishness of your thoughts, but even more so I hope no one else who follows your advice or your family suffers because of it.
It's also not true. You just need two "ways out" that don't share any common failure modes. Windows are just the cheapest and easiest way to accomplish that, especially given that they also provide for ventilation.
Making the basement room windows code-compliant shouldn't take more than a weekend with a shovel and a sledgehammer, and maybe $200 in materials. Making it PRETTY might be a bit tougher, but that's what bushes are for.
realtors tell me a home cant be listed as including any bedrooms without a 2nd way directly to the outside.
as others said a window is ideal..........
And there are roughly 50,000 deaths on Americas highways every year.
So what? Life is a risk. Are you going to quit driving? Or riding in a car?
How did we ever make it so far? How did we ever live through riding a bicycle without helmets. How did we ever live through riding in a car without seat belts, safety harnesses, air bags.
Do so research and find out just how
Oh my. We could save lives!
So your kind would make it mandatory that the hundreds of thousands of homes in the US would not be allowed to have a bedrrom in the basement unless it met updated codes?
Absurd.
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