moisture in the basement


  #1  
Old 06-22-05, 01:31 PM
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GXM
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moisture in the basement

Hello,
I move into my new home in last Sept '04 and I have a question re:moisture in the basement. A few weeks ago we had a very hot and humid week. The temperature was around 30degree Celsius (or about 88 degree Fahrenheit) and the humidity was high also. Now, my basement is completely unfinished and is a walkout so most of the living area is 2x6, is insulated and has a vapour barrier applied with a red tape sealing the vapour barrier joints (some parts of the basement that is concrete walls is mostly covered with insulation stapled to the concrete walls and this part of the wall was ok). I noticed, during the this hot/moist period that there was quite a bit of moisture between the vapour barrier plastic and the insulation in the walls, but only on one wall and this wall happens to be the only wall with duct work going to the floor and of course this was the first time I had my central air conditioner going and I did not close the vents in the basement.
One other thing (if this matters or not?) my neighbour was watering the lawn between our homes and in the process he was soaking this problem/moist wall every morning and every night.

what I did to resolve this moisture problem;
1) I asked my neighbour nicely to not water the wall anymore.
2) made a few cuts in the plastic to allow air in to dry
(which I will buy and tape up later)
3) shut the vents in the basement so air conditioner would not make the basement cooler than it was already.
4) bought a dehumidifier for the basement that has a humidity setting and current humidity level indicator (a Maytag, from home depot).

The dampness is now gone, however, I was wondering if you thought this would been a result of the cool air conditioning in the basement hitting the warm moist air? or if you thought the watering of the wall contributed in any way? or both/neither?

also, do you think I took the right corrective actions? thank you
 
  #2  
Old 07-08-05, 09:37 AM
Armstrong
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Ha, interesting! I just posted the same problem. I live in a townhouse and I too have condensation buildup behind the vapor barrier. The wall below the vapor barrier is bone dry however. In addition, the condensation gets to the point where it accumulates and starts to drip in some spots.

We too have had a very hot month here (high 70's mid 80's mostly) and little to no rain. The grass along the wall of the affected wall is brown ..so little to no water is recieved.

http://forum.doityourself.com/showthread.php?t=221680

I too bought the 45 pint Maytag dehumidifyer and have it running 12 hours a day (evenings only). Within that period, I get about 1/4 to 1/2 full of water in the basin. Relative humidity when not using the dehumidifyer is in the 50-55% range (this is also my laundry room). Generally however, humidity is in the 40-45% range when running the dehumidifyer.

Im going to open up the vapor barrier a bit and shut the basement vents as you have done to further assist this problem.

In addition, I am going to build up the perimeter of my house by adding soil and new sod to 'raise the grade' as I have a bit of settling.

My home is approximately 5-6 years old.

Ill keep you posted. Feel free to PM me with updates...Im eager to see how our issues both transpire.
 
 

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