Basement Studio Humidity + Air Quality

D

Dan Merrill

New member
I'm moving my gear into an existing basement studio space. It's been used as a recording space before and is pretty much good to go. It does however have some of the usual basement dampness, and not much airflow with just one casement window in this soundproofed and relatively airtight space. I've got a dehumidifier to use, but I'm wondering if I should consider any further air filtering/purifying, or something to exchange the fresh air from outside. My intent is to keep this space dry and healthy to work in- for me and the gear. How have those of you with basement studios dealt with any moisture/condensation and air quality issues?
 
Damp basements usually require quite some work to get dry as the water comes through the walls. Insulating the foundation etc is required.

A good start however is a fan in one end of the room that blows air out from the room and a vent in the other end that allows new air to come in. Put the vent in the existing window and let the fan blow out the air throught the door to wherever.

Proper heating is another necessity(sp?).

Just using a dehumidifyer won't work in the long run.
 
Though I have not started building yet, I plan on putting a coat of paint over the concrete floor and walls of my basement as a first step. Then a layer of plastic sheeting before building the wooden floor and walls.

Someone suggested placing a square of plastic wrap on the floor (concrete) overnight as a test. If there was water beaded up on the plastic, you have a moister problem. If not, it is unclear... :( it could just be dry.

Good luck.
 
longsoughtfor said:
Someone suggested placing a square of plastic wrap on the floor (concrete) overnight as a test. If there was water beaded up on the plastic, you have a moister problem.
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I'd say then you have serious problems.

Paint and plastic sheeting will help but only half of the problem. You may be able to keep the water inside the wall but you really don't want it there either and chances are that you'll get fungus between the wall and the plastic. Just a layer of paint wont stop the water and you may create yourself yourself a nice pocket between the wall and the plastic, where all sorts of yucky stuff can grow.

If it's really damp, you either have to drain and insulate the foundation from the outside or have very good ventilation to keep that air dry and in circulatin all the time. Don't try to just incapsulate the water.
 
ola said:

<< Paint and plastic sheeting will help but only half of the problem. You may be able to keep the water inside the wall but you really don't want it there either and chances are that you'll get fungus between the wall and the plastic. Just a layer of paint wont stop the water and you may create yourself yourself a nice pocket between the wall and the plastic, where all sorts of yucky stuff can grow.

If it's really damp, you either have to drain and insulate the foundation from the outside or have very good ventilation to keep that air dry and in circulatin all the time. Don't try to just incapsulate the water.
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>>

So this would mean removing the dirt aound the foundation and putting up a layer of fiberglass board insulation against the foundation- yes? And this will act as a: vapor/water barrier ?, temperature barrier ?, or both? Obviously, I can't do this to the floor...

The studio has been sitting vacant with no humidifier for awhile, and has had some spots of mold appear on the walls. The humidity level, i think, can be controlled OK with the humidifier, so i guess I'm most concerned with any dangers the lack of ventilation may present. I have washed down the studio walls with a light bleach solution, and at this point, I'm thinking ventilation and circulation, as you mentioned, are my best options. I would also guess that heating and regular use of the place will keep it drier.
 
just a thought

All of the painting and plastic won't amount to much if there's an open floor drain, which there usually is in a basement, or worse still a sump. I think the dehumidifier is your best bet. As far as air quality, they sell those air purifiers but I doubt they really do much and the noise they make might be too much.

Plus, the usual question, how much can you spend on all this.
 
Ola - your right - pockets of fungus would be awfull - though a good name for a rock band :) You have conviced me that painting and plastic could cause more problems then solve.

I don't belive I have moisture problem in my basement through the concrete... the humidity there now, I belive is from sweating of pipes. I can cure that with insulation, heating and use.

Still, I think I'll orient the 2x4's on the floor so that I can vent under the floor if need be.

Thanks.
 
Re: just a thought

zoetrope said:
All of the painting and plastic won't amount to much if there's an open floor drain, which there usually is in a basement, or worse still a sump. I think the dehumidifier is your best bet. As far as air quality, they sell those air purifiers but I doubt they really do much and the noise they make might be too much.

Plus, the usual question, how much can you spend on all this.
Click to expand...

No sump or drain in the basement. And of course, it's a project/private studio space (owned by a friend) , so I hope to spend as little as possible. If moisture is indeed an ongoing problem here, I'll probably bail. ( out, that is!)

On the positive side: I'm looking forward to having a control room, drum booth, vocal iso booth, kitchenette and bathroom! Only the latter two were available in my living room studio! :-)
 
I have a bit of a problem with the idea of sealing the wall as the first link suggests. If such sealing is necessary, the drainage around the house is too poor and shold be dealt with in an expensive matter. Moisture actually most often (close to always) travles through the wall from the room and out and a seal like that would just trap the water inside the wall.

What I meant was something like this: http://www.isodran.com/bild/animf5.gif

It's in swedish but it's pretty self-explanatory. One thing worth mentoining is that the layer "Filterduk" is fiber-tex and not sealing plastic. This entire page is very good: http://www.isodran.com/swe/brosch.htm. Again, in Swedish but you can look at the pictures and get a good idea.

Keeping the basement heated at all times helps a lot but that will also increase the moisture movement through the wall and if it's sealed on the outside, you're pretty much done for.

Feel free to ask about specifics in the links.

/Ola
 
The other way is through a chemical injection, which is the way to damp-proof houses in the UK. Often this is accompanied by putting a thin wire, low voltage electrostatic system on the inside.
 
Funny thing. Those prefab Scandinavian houses have been real popular in London. Really. They put them on the roofs to get a really luxiorus pentohuse. So I'm told by the manufacturers anyway... Any Londoneer that can confirm this?

What's with the electrified wire? How does it work? I've never heard of that before.
 
http://www.cecer.army.mil/techreports/hoc_elos.flm/hoc_elos.flm.htm
http://www.greenweb.com.au/archicentre/html/treatment_of_dampness.html

The first article explains electro osmosis. If you have a damp are, like a basement, you fit a damp proofing membrane if its real bad, thereafter an osmosis system to keep it under control. Very effective.

In my farm in the UK, which was build in 1648, with 24" thick stone walls, we had a good size damp problem. I solved this by removing all plaster up to 4' high, drilling holes in the exterior and injecting a chemical barrier under high pressure, re- plastering the interior with a special, salt-free plaster, and fitting an electro osmosis system. This solved the problem entirely.
 
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