Basements are known for their musty smell and dampness development. the reason is, most of the time, they are without windows which means there is no proper ventilation. You can use the given tips in order to reclaim your basement space and prevent it from growing mold or mildew that could cause harm to your health or even to the basement.
What Is Ventilation?
People often misunderstand or get confused to determine what is ventilation. For instance, they think that a dehumidifier installation is a form of ventilation as they get rid of moisture from the air. Some use air purifiers.
However, neither of them in reality ventilate your space.
Ventilation is defined as when fresh air enters a space and moist or stale air must be expelled. If these requirements are not fulfilled, then a basement will not be ventilated in an optimum way.
1. Use an Exhaust Fan in the Basement
The best method to ventilate your basement is to install an exhaust fan that can vent it to the outside.
However, it is not possible to vent your basement into a closed space, such as another room in the house or crawl space.
This rule is available in section M1501.1 Outdoor discharge of the International Residential Codes (IRC), which says:
“The air removed by every mechanical exhaust system shall be discharged to the outdoors in accordance with Section M1504.3. Air shall not be exhausted into an attic, soffit, ridge vent, or crawl space.”
IRC 2018
Exhaust fans will generate stale and moist air outside the house, which can cause the air pressure in the basement to drop, drawing in fresher air from the rest of the areas of the house or thorough holes and cracks available in the structure of the house.
It is very helpful if an exhaust fan is installed if there is a bathroom that has shower or a bath in the basement. Do not get confused by the false information available online about ductless fans. To make it effective, it should be vented outside.
Make sure that you choose a quiet fan, and one that is designed for continuous ventilation.
2. Go with a Mixed Ventilation Strategy
Another way to deal with it is by installing a mixture of both positive and negative pressure ventilation.
Both will pump fresh air into the basement and get rid of stale and moist air and it can be completed by venting it outside the house.
You will be able to enjoy the advantages of clean and fresh air, and the stale air and moist basement will not go to the rest of your house. Additionally, it creates the positive pressure environment.
It is an ideal system but it is not cost-effective as you would have to set up the venting and extractor fan and the positive pressure ventilation system.
3. Leave the Basement Door Open
Another free way to ventilate your basement is to keep your basement door open. The airflow available within the main area of your house will move to the basement and circulate the air.
An open door helps the fresher air to reach the basement and moist and stale air to be expelled from the basement.
It is a type of natural or passive ventilation, although it is free but it is not the most effective method.
If you want to keep your basement door open, the basement door’s direction in which it swings can make a significant impact, with an outward swinging door being great chance to interfere with hallway people.
For safety concerns, some people keep the doors of their basement closed, for pets and children. However, if you want to do it for this reason, you can also install a screen door over your basement door, which you can keep shut without disturbing the airflow.
You can also consider setting up a baby gate at the top of the basement stairs.
4. Install Vents by the Basement Door
Another option you can consider for air to access the basement if you want to avoid the idea of leaving your basement door open all the time is to put vents in or above the basement door.
It will help the air to travel from the main area of the house to the basement and can work as an egress for stale and moist basement air.
To make it work, just remember that you need some kind of fresh air supply vent in basement.
The efficacy of both techniques can be improved by installing vents by the door in conjunction with an exhaust fan.
At times, the design or layout of your house prevents you from installing the vents above the door. In this case, you can use them on the wall next to the door. Before you cut holes in the wall, you should ensure that it is a load-bearing wall.
You can also consider installing a louvered basement door.
5. Turn on the Whole House Ventilation
Often, houses are built keeping in view the whole house’s ventilation, but this system will not entertain the basement. However, it does not mean that it will restrict the ventilation of basement; it just indicates that it will not be as helpful as if it extended to the basement.
If your house’s ventilation does not remain on a consistent basis, then you should make a schedule to give time for your basement to take out its old air and draw new air in.
As you can see, the whole house ventilation system works well to ventilate your basement if your basement door remains open or if you use louvered vents by your basement door.
As we discussed earlier, it is necessary that there should be a fresh air supply vent in the bathroom. Otherwise the ventilation system will not be able to draw the basement air up.
6. Install Standard Fans or Use Ceiling Fans
In a sealed basement or any closed system, installing a ceiling fan or using a standard fan will not give ventilation; it will only generate the same air around the basement.
It can turn the basement into more ventilated than it would with stagnant air, but it does not serve the way it is intended to.
However, to improve the efficacy of other methods, you can use fans especially if you use them or install them in strategic positions.
The door vent, open door, or entire house ventilation techniques will be entertained when used in conjunction with fans.
7. Change Your Old Furnace Chimney Into a Vent
If your house is old and you have replaced the old furnace with a modern heat pump, so you can convert the old furnace chimney into a basement vent rather than blocking the old chimney.
The chimney vents do not need any new holes to be cut as they are directed outside and they can be used for mechanical as well as natural ventilation options.
You just need to open it and depend on the natural airflow, or you can use an extractor fan in the chimney vent for the sake of mechanical ventilation.
You can also use a wind-powered vent as an additional option. However, it is necessary to remember that unless you install a damper to control the flow of air, it will result in excessive ventilation in winter season.
Due to this, effective ventilation is possible at cheap as you only need to purchase and install an extractor fan or wind turbine vent.
8. Organize Your Basement
It may seem to be a strange technique to organize your basement for adding ventilation, and that is because it cannot offer ventilation. Then why we add it to this list?
Well, you can improve the ventilation that is already there or that you are going to install by organizing your basement.
A basement filled with boxes or full with old furniture will be hard to ventilate, especially with the door vents, open door, whole house ventilation and fan methods.
Taller items can cause more trouble, as will anything that prevents the way of extractor fan, vents, basement door etc.
You want to achieve the best possible airflow path in the basement and obstacles can cause turbulence and make it hard for moist or stale air to be expelled.
9. Use a Positive Pressure Ventilation System in the Basement
Installing an extractor fan is also called negative pressure ventilation. Another way to ventilate your basement is to install a positive-pressure ventilation system.
This works in an opposite manner. It will create a negative pressure that draws fresh air inside rather than air being pulled out, a positive pressure ventilation system pumps fresh air into the space, in this scenario, the basement.
It boosts the pressure of air in the basement, forcing the moist and stale air out through the basement door and into the remaining house, and it includes the holes and cracks in the basement structure as well.
As the stale and moist air is being pushed into the other areas of your house, this method is not as frequently used as the exhaust fan. If the building envelope is not airtight the moist air will be sent to the house construction and with the passage of time that can result in serious damage.
