Mold and humidity prevention

[Ansphire]

Hey guys I'm in the planning stages of finishing my basement.. when its done is going to have a full bath, small kitchen, family room.. and .. you guessed it.. in-wall tank.

My and my wife didn't want to go overboard so we decided to do a 75g.

Behind the tank where will be a 55g sump, 30g fuge, 30g ATO container and 40g frag tank.

Since I'm planning on doing new ductwork I wanted to set up some kind of ventilation system.. the whole in the wall is already made for the dryer which will be moved to another area.. so I was going to run duct work from the fish room to the vent and set up a fan on a timer to turn on every hour and remain on for about 15mins at a time.

Does this sound like a good idea?.. Should I run it more time?.. Is ther a better way of doing this that doesn't involve a de-humidifier?.. Is this going to cause my boiler to turn on more than ussual?

Any ideas and experiences would be of great help!.. Please drop your two cents.

Thanks.

 

[m2434]

I have a similar setup and do not have issues with humidity. I don't run any sort of dehumidifier. It sort of depends where you live I guess though. I'm in MA, which I think would guess would be fairly similar to PA humidity wise. The fan sounds good though. I think you can set up the fan on a humidity sensor too. That may work better than a timer.

 

[Urchinhead]

prime the walls with oil based Kilz and a good oil based paint and you will also seal in the drywall and protect it from mold. Mold needs "food" to eat and that means cellulose which means wood, drywall paper, etc.

 

[reefrick.M]

I have a 120 DT in the living room and 70 gl sump in the basement with a 10 gl fuge. I've been battling moisture and mold ever since. Obviously in the winter months. I get all kinds of moisture on the inside windows. I loose over a gallon a day to evaporation and it has to go somewhere. If I had forced hot air for heat, adding a HRV to exchange the outside air would no doubt help the situation.

 

[Ansphire]

ok so as urchinhead suggested I'm going to prime the room and water - proof it sort of speak.. also would like to find out about this humidity indicator..

Now does anyone currently run a fan/ventilator?... Have you seen any increase in heating expenses from air escaping?

 

[specialkb]

BUY a Humidistat and set it at 50% and have it operate the fan for you, and try to keep the room as cool as possible. prime and painting the walls will help but you also need something to keep the air from being stagnate, as mold will grow on particulate on the walls,tables etc, which will collect where there is "dead air".

 

[Indymann99]

Some basement build photos that might give you some ideas.

Green-board drywall for the area where the tank is. The rest of the room normal drywall. I run a de-humidifier in the mechanical (unfinished) room.

Tank up and running for 3yrs no mold or humidity issues. The basement is GREAT for temp control. The tank varies less than .5 deg year round. It actually help HEAT the basement.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn10/Indymann99/Tankframing.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn10/Indymann99/Basement52009.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn10/Indymann99/TankCabOpen.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn10/Indymann99/TankCabclosed.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn10/Indymann99/Bar1.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn10/Indymann99/Bar3.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn10/Indymann99/Bar4.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn10/Indymann99/Bar2.jpg
http://s300.photobucket.com/albums/nn10/Indymann99/?action=view&current=SNC00194.mp4
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn10/Indymann99/DSC_0014.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn10/Indymann99/MixRoom.jpg

 

[Urchinhead]

Greenboard is great stuff! But if you don't want to pull out the existing drywall you can use Kilz to seal it and if you do use greenboard you should still prime it with Kilz to seal it.

 

[Ansphire]

I'm def going with green board since i'm starting from scratch..

I'm thinking that with the humidistat and proper prep and ventilation i should have no issues..

Indymann99 beautiful work.. thanks for sharing.

 

[RA]

I have a 120 tank in my basement and I don't live that far from you (S. Jersey) that the climate would be any different. I can tell you that I definitely need a dehumidifier at times. During the winter you will be fine, you might need to turn down the humidifier on your heater if you have one. But that only takes care of the cooler months. At times when the humidity is high outside you won't lower the humidity enough in your basement by just venting it. Using green board is a good way to go, but you could get mold growing behind it or other places if the humidity levels are high. Why risk not doing it right.

 

[Guy340]

I also have a dehumidifier with with 150g in the basement. Wife was complaining about the high humidity and it has been going quite frequently which sucks electricity, but oh well my setup is pretty low tech anyways.