Hello, I am getting ready to finish my basement and I have a few questions. When I built my house I upgraded to a 9' basement so I had room for a subfloor and a drop ceiling. I have read 2 books on basements, and 1 says to frame all the walls and then install the subfloor, the other one said to lay the subfloor, and then install the walls, which one is right? The books said to lay fireblocking between the sleepers for the subfloor. How do I do this? What is fireblocking (Is it a special type of material, or just cut 2x4's)? Thanks, --Matt

Someone here mentioned a while back that they put in a ventilation fan or something in their crawlspace to help air flow. In the past I have opened our vents and so on to let air flow in the summer. Well so far here in Chattanooga, TN we have had record rains. A month ago we had some flooding. I got just a little and what did get in my sump caught. Now when it was done raining the water that did get in obviously evaporated. Well thing like the outside of my air vents and pipes and so on on got moisture on them. I tried running a fan, but I found that all the humidity outside was being drawn in. So I went to Lowe's and bought a basement grade dehumidifier. I put in the crawlspace, installed a drain pipe and shut all the vents to the outside (per the instructions). That got rid of the moisture on the surface stuff and the ground areas that were wet dried much quicker. Well I have had it running a month now on auto. It never cuts off, but I have heard the compressor or what have you cycle down to where it is off. My concern is the electrical bill. It has gone up slightly, but not significantly. I still have the vents shut and compared to outside temperature its cooler inside, but much drier. I was wondering several things. First, is it proper to use a dehumidifier like I am in a crawlspace? Second, If its on all the time, should I look an additional one? I have this one in the center of the house, but the crawlspace is about 1900 square feet. I was thinking one on each end. Third, should I ditch the demumidifier and go with a ventilation fan and thus open the vents back up? If so, where do I get them or who do I call to install them for me? Fourth, I have plastic all over the floor. I see sometimes moisture on it. Should I pull the plastic up to let the ground dry? Especially for those areas that have gotten wet from seepage. Any suggestions would be appreciated. My ultimate goal is to dry out the places that are still moist. Luckily I have no mold or mildew and the lowes point of the crawl space is about 3 1/2 to 4ft. The wood appears to have no moisture damage. Thanks in advance.