humid house !

[tostaky]

Hi,
i'm new here and i've got some questions. I'm just negociating to buy a house. There's one that interest us very much. We pay to made an inspection yesterday and everything looks fine except one thing. There's too much humidity ine the house. The inspector told us is nothing real bad..he says that it can be contolled by putting he calle an air extractor. The proof that ther'es too much humidity is that we hace sees condensation in the lower parts of some windows. I saw smal amount of mildew there (because of the condensation). I know it can be remove. What is worrying me is that we (the inspector in fact) also found mildew on the attic hatch. Theres no mildew on the roof just on the plywood that was built around the attic hatch.
Can it be a big problem ? Is it normal to found mildew on attic hatch and not anywhere else in the attic ? Is it a hard problem to solve ? The inspector just told me to change the hatch ans have good aeration of the house by always using the air extractor in kitchen when cooking and when taking shower or bath.

thanks for all your answers !

[paul52446m]

Hi,
i'm new here and i've got some questions. I'm just negociating to buy a house. There's one that interest us very much. We pay to made an inspection yesterday and everything looks fine except one thing. There's too much humidity ine the house. The inspector told us is nothing real bad..he says that it can be contolled by putting he calle an air extractor. The proof that ther'es too much humidity is that we hace sees condensation in the lower parts of some windows. I saw smal amount of mildew there (because of the condensation). I know it can be remove. What is worrying me is that we (the inspector in fact) also found mildew on the attic hatch. Theres no mildew on the roof just on the plywood that was built around the attic hatch.
Can it be a big problem ? Is it normal to found mildew on attic hatch and not anywhere else in the attic ? Is it a hard problem to solve ? The inspector just told me to change the hatch ans have good aeration of the house by always using the air extractor in kitchen when cooking and when taking shower or bath.

thanks for all your answers !

Hi paul here. I try to help on the heating and air con. question. There will probably others with input on this also. How long has the house been setting empty? Does this home have a craw space, if so did you look at it to see if there was water down there?.
A home that is getting carbon monoxide bad will have bad humidity. Was there a carbon monoxide tester in the house? Was the home setting empty
long enough to get a lot of sewer gas humidity because of drain traps dry, letting the sewer gas come up through the traps? Does the home have a over
head heating system? Have they been heating the house or has it been cold for a long time? Please answer these questions as good as you can. Later Paul

[tostaky]

Hi Paul and thanks for your answers !

The house isn't empty there's a smalla family living in there (2 adults ans 3 kids). There was no carbon monoxide tester but i can't see where this gas can came from. The heating is electric (forced air). The drain trap was ok.

[paul52446m]

One of the main causes is the wet craw space, did your look at it, and is there water in it?
Later Paul

[tostaky]

To be hopnnest I don't know what is the ''wet craw space''. But what i can say is that there was no sign of humidity in the basement. No odour, no problems on the wooden floor...The home inspector told me that an air extractor (that can be found on venmar website) that take air inside and blow it outside can solve my problem. In fact it looks that the house is sealed too tight and the air inside doesn't go outside easily.

[paul52446m]

To be hopnnest I don't know what is the ''wet craw space''. But what i can say is that there was no sign of humidity in the basement. No odour, no problems on the wooden floor...The home inspector told me that an air extractor (that can be found on venmar website) that take air inside and blow it outside can solve my problem. In fact it looks that the house is sealed too tight and the air inside doesn't go outside easily.

If the house is not too old and has electric heat , then it could be a fact that
the house it built tight, and the average use of cooking and showers is putting
more humidity into the home than it can handle. Maybe they are not using the
bath and kit. exhaust fans like they should be. Maybe Kit. fan does not exhaust out side. You might need to check this out and maybe put a small air to air
heat exchanger in to bring in and exhaust some air. later Paul

[tostaky]

The hous was built in 2000. So I think that a house build thight is the problem. is it a big problem ? And does the air to air kit expensive ? Do you talk about an HRV ? It can cost a lot ! If this can hel the house is electically heated. I think we call those forced air. Is this system help or make things worse ? Installing an HRV on such system wouls be more or less expensive ? I Have trap (hole) on the floor of the first floor but no trap or hole in the basement.

Thanks once again !

[paul52446m]

The hous was built in 2000. So I think that a house build thight is the problem. is it a big problem ? And does the air to air kit expensive ? Do you talk about an HRV ? It can cost a lot ! If this can hel the house is electically heated. I think we call those forced air. Is this system help or make things worse ? Installing an HRV on such system wouls be more or less expensive ? I Have trap (hole) on the floor of the first floor but no trap or hole in the basement.

Thanks once again !

if you have electric forced air heat then you can put a fresh air intake from out side to the return air of of the furnace and that would let some air into the house, and let your exhaust fans work to take air out. Do you know if the kit.
exhaust fan is a charcoal filtered recycling type or does it exhaust air out of the house? A exhaust fan does not work in a tight house, because the fan can pull a vacuum on the home and when it does that it will not move any air out of the house. If you have a fresh air intake on your furnace then the fans can work. Trying a fresh air intake would not cost much. I don't know what a air to air exchanger cost, i don't get into them. I don't know what you are
referring to when you talk about a HRV. later Paul

[tostaky]

Hi once again Paul ! If you have time maybe you can go and take a look on the pictures i've posted on another website. My name there is also tostaky and you can found the pics in the middle and at the end of the page. Thanks !

hvac-talk.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=519312&page=3

[paul52446m]

Hi once again Paul ! If you have time maybe you can go and take a look on the pictures i've posted on another website. My name there is also tostaky and you can found the pics in the middle and at the end of the page. Thanks !

hvac-talk.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=519312&page=3

I looked at your pic. You don't know it this house has a problem or not. You
know that the way these people are using the home that it has a problem.
Are they using a bath fan when they take showers and are they leaving the bath fan on for 1/2 hour after they take a shower????
Do they use a kitchen exhaust fan??? If so does this kitchen fan duct out side,
or is it one of those recirculating type that move no air out side????
I have explained to you that in a tight built home that exhaust fan create a vacuum real fast and then they will not move any air out of the house.
I have also explained that if you run a fresh air intake from outside to the return air of your furnace that this can let your exhaust fan work.
This is what we do to new homes being built today, and it works. Later Paul