Large system wet room questions...

[Theo A]

I'm finishing out a 19' x 10' room in the basement for use as a wet room. The ceiling is 8' high to the trusses. Slab base. 2 of the walls in this room are poured/formed concrete, the outside wall and the othe short wall(w/door) are 2x6's.

Tank/sump will be 500 gallons total

I'm planning on using a window AC unit to cool the room (not enough time or money to currently finish the entire basement (1800sq ft).


Questions:

Do I need to paint/epoxy the inside of the wooden walls? There is insulation on the one long outside wall. 2 are concrete, other wall is interior.

How do I seal the wall to the floor? I'm assuming I don't want the sheetrock to touch the floor at all. Do I use a bead of silicone?

What should I use on the floor, epoxy paint or vinyl?

Do I paint the walls with a 2 part epoxy, similar to what you would use on a floor perhaps?

Will a 140 CFM exhaust fan be enough to keep the humidity down?

I'm most concerned about moisture. I don't want to ruin my brand new house.

 

[Theo A]

Revised plan:

750CFM exhaust fan (in line 12") will be ducted into the room. Window AC will be for cooling, baseboard heater for heat in the winter.

I plan on using shower surround (1/8" fiberglass sheets) to seal the wall from the room. All seams will be silicone'd.

Should I use green board or hardibacker cement board for the walls/ceiling?

 

[Theo A]

You guys must not like me or something, 152 views and not one reply??

 

[jgmclellan]

Sorry Theo - was looking for info myself. I'd love to hear what folks are doing in around their tanks to make sure they don't have water damage in their tank and/or wet rooms.

 

[dsandfort]

Theo-
I insulated all the walls of my room, including new stud walls over the concrete walls. Then I covered everything in OSB mostly as a sound barrier but also as a solid backing for FRP panels. I then covered the OSB with FRP and siliconed the joints, as you said. The concrete floor is covered with epoxy paint and finally, where the floor meets the walls, I put a large cove of silicone to form a "dam" so water won't go under the walls.
I have an exhaust fan blowing room air outside and an outside vent that can be opened to bring cool outside air in. I also put a HVAC duct in the room so I can dump AC or heat in as needed. Remember, for every cubic foot of air you blow out, a cubic foot of air has to enter the room to make up for the exhaust.

Hope that windy dissertation helps.

 

[Theo A]

I'm wondering about my room/fan ration.

How big is your room, and what CFM do your fans blow?

 

[dsandfort]

The room is roughly 16x16. The exhaust fan is on a variable speed conroller so I can slow it down during the really cold/dry months here. At max, it runs 430 CFM. I'm thinking of converting over to a humidistat fan controller. The make-up air is either from the unfinished basement, outside, or a combination of each.

 

[dbsherwood]

I take it that tank, sump, etc. are in this room? Will you have a canopy on the tank, or will it be open?

If you have a canopy, I recommend putting two fans into the canopy--one to vent outside, one to draw air from the inside or outside (toggle). This way you always take the humidity out of the house, and with the ability to draw air in from the outside you'll also avoid pulling conditioned air from your house unless you want to.

Venting the room as a whole will be important as well. Covering your sump will also help with the humidity. In short, my belief is that if you get the tank air out, you won't have to worry as much about the other things.