Basement Ventilation Systems
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Your basement ventilation system is an important part of your home- the system is essential when finishing, waterproofing or remodeling your space, and it prevents your home from being infested with black, toxic mold by reducing humidity. Your basement ventilation will also prevent cancer-causing radon gas from entering your home. This short guide will provide you some tips to help ensure that your basement ventilation system meets your needs and keeps your home safe. If you’re just planning to use your basement for storage, your top concerns are eliminating humidity and getting the air to circulate, and ventilation and heating aren’t as important. This kind of basement ventilation system only needs a home dehumidifier and an exhaust fan to get the damp, musty air out through the roof or through an exhaust duct. For those that want to turn the basement into a second living area, an HVAC system will be required. To improve the circulation of air in your basement, you will need a working knowledge of ventilation. If your basement is partially above ground, you may want to install several small windows, which you can open to let the air out. Installing a ceiling fan is a great complement to a basement ventilation system. Installation of a basement HVAC system should ideally be done while the home is being built, as the basement’s floor space will be added into the calculation of HVAC capacity for the entire house. However, it is possible to retrofit your basement- if you have a newer system, you can just add basement ventilation. If your system is too old, you can replace it with a more efficient model and save money. When you’re upgrading your basement’s ventilation system, don’t forget about removing mold and mildew. If you think you have a mold problem, there’s no point in installing an HVAC system before you eliminate the issue. When your dehumidifying and ventilation system is installed, you will never have to worry about mold again. | |