Humidity, Help

formanbob

New member
I will start with this; I have had more than normal humidity before I ever put a tank of water in my old house.
The main problems that I see are.
• The pipes in the basement are sweating,( they are all ½ so they are getting replaced with ¾ PVC).
• All the windows (and French doors) new and old are sweating. If I put a fan on the French door there is no problem.
• The roof has be re-roofed 2 times, not only is that not allowed but makes for some water flow problems. All around the edges of the roof, water is making its was behind the gutters and the siding.
• A sub problem of the roof is the siding. The house has been sided over. In places the siding proud of the roof and I can see water going behind the siding. (yes lots of fun) When we redid the kitchen side of the house and we ripped of the metal siding the wood siding was cracked and split all over and if I go into the attic and basement I can see places that are damp from where water is getting behind both layers of siding.

BTW: Many of you have seen that I have been gutting the whole house, well this spring/summer I am re-roofing and re-siding. While I am at it I am adding insulation in the walls and replacing all the windows. This is to combat most of the water infiltration plus I want to make the outside of the house look as good as the inside, and for those of you who have come by you can agree my outside is nasty.




Now I know fish tanks “can” add lots of humidity, but having wet walls can’t be helping and I think it is my main cause. I don’t want to permanently take down my frag tanks or my filtration system any smaller.
I must figure out a fish for the sweating and I would love to know what people with or without fish keeps there house’s humidity at.
SOOO
Everyone who has the time please submit your 2 cents..
What is your humidity like.
Examples:

Fish room 56% (Basement)
Beedroom 50% (1st floor)
1stfloor of you house 46% (1st floor)
Enclosed fish tank 68% (1st floor)
 
my house is usually around 60%. In the winter when the furnace is on my gameroom (400g of fish tanks) is at about 50%. In the summer I use a de-humidifier to keep the gameroom at 60%.

Your humidity levels don't seem that high except maybe the 68%.

All of the pipes in my house are currently sweating, so are the toilets, but I think that is because the water coming into the pipes is still really cold and with the warm weather here lately my house is about 8 degrees warmer than normal.

--Ray
 
Hey Thanks Ray, My tank that is at 68 is this one

tankwall1.jpg


So I know that with the lack of ventilation it is going to be more than the rest.
When it is cold out "and not raining" it is anywhere between 38%48% but when i get up and go to bed the windows sweat....
 
My old, single paned windows all sweat badly, to the point that they cause a small puddle on the window ledge. None of my newer double paned windows sweat though.
 
Master bedroom upstairs - 50-60% (showers)
Rest of the house around - 50%
Basement w/ sump 180 - 55-60

I agree on the pipes sweating, mine are going like crazy. It's bad enough for normal people that use a little water during the winter, but add on top of that we're processing RO/DI with BITTERLY cold water coming in.

Sadly enough, I have a water issue today as well. First time in a long time I've been able to take a personal day off work due to the insane hours I work, and guess what? Wife wakes me up at 6:00 in the morning stating water is dripping from the ceiling... :mad: :mad2:
 
I have this issue once in a while. Granted my tank puts alot of humidity in the house but I notice it alot more on days like yesterday where it was 100 percent Rh outside and the temp was right about the dewpoint.

I run a bathroom vent over my sump to suck wet air and I also run a dehumidifier. That has helped alot. I do not use evaporation as a cooler it puts a lot of water in the air and compounded my problem. I got a killer deal on a 1/2 hp chiller and that saved my day.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9483509#post9483509 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by raynist
My old, single paned windows all sweat badly, to the point that they cause a small puddle on the window ledge. None of my newer double paned windows sweat though.

Yeah, the thing is all my windows are dubble pane, not most of them the seals a bad. The thing is the window and french door in the kitchen are new dubble pane, and they sweat
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9486029#post9486029 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by formanbob
Everyone who posted, what is your thermostat set to? day and night? and do you keep the fan set to auto?

I keep my thermostat set at 68 in the winter, 76 in the summer, fan always on auto.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9486188#post9486188 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by steve70
How well is your house insullated. temprature variations can cause your pipes to sweat.

It's almost impossible to avoid this time of year. The water coming into my house is currently 50 degrees. It was down to 40 at one point. Unless you use little to no water what so ever, they will sweat.

I have my fan on typically during the day, and off at night in an order to try to balance out the temperature in the house. Winter is typically set to 70-72 depending, summer set to 72-74.
 
I have an older house, and very very rarely do I have this problem. I even get water in the basement when it rains :( and I run a humidifier set at 60% in the winter and can't get it moist enough. Skin dries out and lips get chapped. Only the other day when it got really warm out did my pipes sweat--got dripped on. So, I turned the 'humidistat down to about 10%. I have an older house, but I've replaced all but a couple windows with double paned glass. I leave my furnace fan on 24/7. It's been on for 18months now. I think this really helps w/ air circulation and prevents musty stale air. I keep my stat at 55 degrees during the day and at night. It's up to 71 or so in the morning for an hour or two. It's set to 66 during the evening from like 5 to 10. Summer time, I have to experiment while keeping an eye on the tank. This will only be second summer w/ A/C and tank.

Duct tape some visqueen to your basement floor and walls in a few areas. Check them in a few days. See if moisture is under there. If so, it's coming in through there. You can try this trick elsewhere too. Helps with warmer temps though. You may need a sump pump, or to improve grading around the house, waterproofing, etc.

You can run a dehumidifier if you can, even in the winter.

I know you know this, but you have to stop the infiltration of water.

You said you are reroofing...I may have some roofing work to be done this summer. Are you doing it yourself, or are you hiring it out? If so, to who?

Jason
 
See the weird thing is mine (except over the enclosed tank) never gets above 60% . So my humidity is fine. I think my problem is lack of circulation, that is if we are all at or around 50-60%
I know that water is coming in and normal humidity or no I have to fix that, so I would like to stop the water coming in and see if it goes down. but I don't know how to improve the circulation. I left the furnance on 24/7 for a while that did not help.. I do have a bunch of - grade, I do have a sump pump (on one side) I am going to dig up the side yard and install a drain tile and a dry river bed and if the does not fix the problem then next winter i jack up the basement floor and install a footting drian and another sump pump...

Yes I am getting a new roof, and I am doing it all myself.

Lots of fun
 
Hey, I don't have that much roofing to do on mine--yet. Just maybe a porch (less than two squares). May do myself--dunno. If you would like some help with yours come summer time, I'll give ya a hand. :) I've dont a little roofing before.

If you're going through the trouble of ripping off and reroofing, and you do not have eaves, you may want to add them now while it's easier. You'll keep the water away from your house and provide a little additional shade in the summer. Helps w/ A/C!


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