Streak sealed space - that's a bad idea

First, it could be very expensive (several thousand dollars). Secondly, and above all, an estate of the crawl space is probably the IAQ (Indoor Air Quality), degrades in the living room.

To manage rather than seal a crawl space and the creation of an IAQ problem in the house of the living space is less expensive methods crawl space moisture. In the U.S. the number of allergy sufferers has increased by 25% per decade, and doubled the incidence of asthma alonelast 20 years.

Humidity Control

The increase is more common in people with allergies in developed countries, and suggests that it "must be something in modern urban life, which will promote allergies." Some studies show a direct link with the rise of air conditioning and home region. People can save a hundred dollars a year in energy costs, but to spend thousands of medications and lifestyle changes, so there is no doubt that the house of IAQ is far superior, unique and importantOutput.

Proponents of sealing and venting I did not say a crawl space ", venting a crawl space will be added to eliminate the humidity or moisture from a crawl space is reduced depending on the moisture content of air compared to the conditions you want the crawl space. Ventilation with dry air, the humidity in the cavity during ventilation with moist air carries moisture. " In this respect, proponents of these are absolutely right, on the right!

So, even ifcould cost a homeowner $ 6000 - $ 8000, they beat hermetically sealed cavities, because the possibility of aeration with moist air can crawl space of time.

An excellent alternative that could achieve the best outcome would be to ventilate the crawl space, but with a ventilation strategy to know how much water vapor in the air outside, and you know how much water vapor is in the air hornet's nest. Armed with this knowledge, the fan can make an informed decisionif ventilation is helpful or harmful.

There is obviously a strategy to enable this, a cavity to be ventilated to dilute replace, and the stale air, odors and gases such as radon, but not to bring moist air into the cavity. A similar strategy is more effective than other ventilation strategies (such as a timer or dehumidistat), why not bring outside air in humid selectively, while the timer or not dehumidistatselectively.

Returning to the issue of keeping the crawl space and using a dehumidifier to control humidity, there is no doubt that seal a crawl space with a dehumidifier and reduce high humidity in the cavity, but when sealing the crawl space can affect IAQ your home you should think.

Here's why.

1 Even if you are able to seal the cavities are good, you will need a dehumidifier considerable. Must be well below the threshold of a form oflimit because other areas can be colder. The lower position is required to stagnate on the surface of the mold now emerging in the cold crawl space to prevent.

2 A dehumidifier in quotes, it takes 30 times the potency of other technologies.

3 A dehumidifier need occasional maintenance.

4 For the sealing of walls and pillars, as can be complete without a seal for the location of hidden termites? This means, of course, you can completely sealit.

5: The crawl space has become a stagnant industry, which is, of course, is never clean, it smells and gases to be there, and they migrate into the living room.

6: Under the vapor barrier is always 100% relative humidity, mold and bacteria grow well. And to the migration of mold spores and bacteria in the apartment.

With the house of IAQ in mind, it is clear that some sort of ventilation in a crawlspace is required. The ICC code for the usualConfiguration still requires passive ventilation opening for every 150 square meters square feet of space scanning. He also said that the International Criminal Code, if a vapor barrier was installed on the surface only 10% of the vent field is required (ICC 1804.6.3.1). This means that only 1 square meter of the crawl space opening for a 1500sqft would be necessary. Apparently, this code does not work, then the ventilation was increased, if necessary, and now, today, some status codes to identify the strategy of confrontationIndoor / outdoor water vapor.

Therefore, it is so important to IAQ, we can define our goal in a crawl space project: remove / replace the stale air and extract moisture from the crawl space wood materials in the cavity. This makes a case for mechanical equipment.

Dilution and replacement of the scanning area of ​​fresh air, outdoor air is easy to understand, but you know how to extract moisture from the wood mass in the crawl space? It is necessary to reduce the vapor pressure at the surface of the wood, andThis may be one of two ways. One is through dehumidification, is another blow air over the surface of the wood, better yet, hairdryer, air above the surface of the wood.

This brings us to the heart of things. IAQ perspective from the house, you must ventilate your crawl space, but with a dehumidifier and ventilation want to set up a dehumidifier in your front yard, and then pay the electricity bill will be.

A better method would be to use an intelligent system of mechanical ventilationthat contains (1) of the cavity closed in adverse conditions, (2) open when the outside air content of water vapor is moisture in the bottom of the cavity, (3) moves a large portion of the humidity of 'lower air, moisture from the wood for the extraction of mass. The result is that as you dilute and replace stagnant odors and gases, and radon in the cavity with fresh outside air, there are also the moisture of the wood mass.

In addition, an intelligent system could lead otherFunctions, how to unlock not when it's cold outside, and if the cavity is too dry, the fan can also automatically reverse its strategy to pump moisture into the cavity to further stabilize the wood floors, keeping the wood in an acceptable range.

This is an inexpensive, automatic ventilator with all the features described above. E '® SmartVent.

Streak sealed space - that's a bad idea