Humidity Control in the Basement

[Mike HArrington]

I was hoping to get more feedback and people to bounce ideas off of here! I am getting ready to start construction in a few weeks on my basement fishroom / basement remodel. I am finishing the entire thing.

I want to use vapor wrap around the fishroom for both the interior and exterior wall. As far as insulation I am not sure if I should use the standard fiberglass batting or styro board between the plastic sheets. I want to seal up the room as much as possible to prevent humidity from leaching into the rest of teh house.

The basement is roughly 850 SQ ft and the area for the fishroom is 90-100 sqft after its enclosed.

I thought about an exhaust fan on a humidistat and temp controller and also an HRV unit. If the exhaust fan will do the trick I am thinking of going with that to keep cost down.

Here is a link to the thread on R/C with photo's of teh area.

Thanks for any input or expertise you may have:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=640757

 

[les]

I would only vapor wrap the inside of the walls, not both sides. (for the fish room) You need to let the walls breath or any moisture trapped in there will rot the wood out. I would also use fiberglass insulation for the same reason, it allows the walls to breath better. From a cost savings, an exhaust fan sized properly for that room should do the trick. I should think that sizing the fan for about 5-10 air changes per hour would be fine. Make sure that you allow for make up air, in other words for each 100 CFM of exhaust air have 15-30 square inchs of free area for air to get into the room. This make up air can come from the rest of the house or from the outside if you want.

 

[Mike HArrington]

Thanks for this information. ALl things I had not thought about. So it is best to vapor warp the inside of the fishroom and the ceiling. I could put a afalse vent in the living room above the tank room for make up air and this will then utilize the make up air from the rest of the house that feeds the furnace and likely prevent negative pressure.

In terms on the rest of my basement I still plan on vapor wrapping it. Same goes for this ?just do one side?

 

[les]

Yes, just remember that the walls have to breathe just like us. Trapping moisture anywhere will cause many problems with the structure as well as mold problems within the house.

 

[Mike HArrington]

Ok I think I get it. Vapor wrap the wall that touch the concrete basement wall and that is enough?

 

[Mike HArrington]

anyone else here ever finish a basement? if so how did you do it>

 

[Ohgee]

Basements are tough But when I did mine I put up my 2x4 studs against the cement nailed to the floor joists above and then used cement nails and a 22cal nailer to drive into the floor. You can rent them from just about any rental place, but the nails aren't cheap.

I then insulated with fiberglass and then put up vapor barrier. I was told the concrete would allow the wood to breath as much as it needed. The barrier on the "inside" of wall stops most moisture from reaching the wood and concrete which will wick it and eventually degrade it and then start weeping.

But remember I'm not a contractor just going off what someone else told me.

Hope that helps
Duane