Through the World Barefooted -- Gerda's LBS Guide

[DnJ]

Good Morning Gerda

Lol. The metal roofing around my house does look rather charming. The roofing I used on my house is 32 inch high rib metal sheets cut to whatever lengthen you need, and come in all kinds of colours. The bricks of my house are sand yellow, which are made from the local sand. The roof is red. The granite stone foundation rises out of the ground two and a half feet. I built a 2x4 frame, on the flat edge so it’s only 2” thick, placed a 2’x8’ sheet of pink styrofoam insulation between the top and bottom rails, and covered with dark gray metal roofing. The top edge of the metal has 45 degree flashing that seals it to the yellow bricks. The bottom of the metal is buried into the ground around 4 inches or so.

I also built a deck which is at the height of the doors, no step into the house, Dad’s in a wheelchair after all. This height is the same as the stone foundation so the metal is mostly unseen, and unmaintained; thus metal roofing instead of something more charming. No painting, no mice chewing through.

The deck wraps around the entire house, aside from the carport. It’s is on average around 15-20 feet wide, with the longest side around 80 feet. There are five sets of stairs and one 3’x6’ hydraulically operated lift/elevator platform for a wheel chair, instead of a ramp. That lift has been quite handy for heavy items I don’t want to carry up the stairs to deck level.

Ah, yes, it would be nice to share a picture. I’ll try to keep my post to one or two thousand words; a picture or two.

On to your cabin.

Basement -- we -- wait a second -- I! I! Just me!

Perfect!

Feels kind of weird, doesn’t it? For 30+ years everything has been we, us, and our’s. Me, my, I - I haven’t been this self centred for a long time. Lol.

I have a real basement under the bedrooms and then under the main living space it is a crawl space and was supposedly insulated when we put in a foundation but I don't know how well they did it. Basement is not heated, but I want to make this basement a living space...

I think I am gonna get one unit for two of the bedrooms to start and do the temporary insulation and see how it goes.

it is very damp down there, and freezing. It doesn't freeze actually but it's cold. I have my washer/dryer down there too. One side is wet, the side that is more underground with no window.

I want to start by getting a dehumidifier, and I want to order it this week, so I need your advice!

Moisture in a basement is pretty common. Especially an unused or un-lived in one. Once it is a more living space, with heat, the moisture problem will lessen and a dehumidifier will work just fine.

Question for you. Do you have a floor drain in the basement? I am going to guess probably yes, the washer and dryer are in the basement after all. I am also guessing the dryer is vented outside, if not vent it to the outside; lots of moisture from dryer exhaust. Some have used the exhaust air as a heat source, but when a moisture problem already exists, not a great idea.

Let’s fix the moisture. Yes, buy a dehumidifier and get it running right now. My basement is the entire house and a full basement with no windows. It has three foot thick granite foundation walls and a concrete floor. It was very damp.

I bought a dehumidifier from the hardware store. The largest portable unit I could get. It is regular extension cord plug in - 115V. These work really well. Set your desired humidity level, around 50%, and it will run as needed. Mine basically never shuts off, during the more humid months. My basement is nice and dry. The dried out air will mix and swirl with the moist air; all the way into the crawl space. My storage pantry type room, is in the other side of the basement from the floor drain and dehumidifier. There are two walls in between, creating three separate areas in the basement, and the storage room is dried out from the dehumidifier. My dehumidifier is basically next to the west wall and affects the entire 1500 square foot basement.

Dehumidifier: Go to the local hardware store and buy your dehumidifier and get it going. Buy a dehumidifier with a optional drain hose attachment; usually a garden hose which can be cut to length. The default is the built in bucket which requires daily dumping. The drain hose bypasses that and therefore the unit can run more unattended. Place the dehumidifier by the floor drain and run the hose to it. This work well and requires much less attention.

However, the air filter does get dirty and the hose can get plugged, so some maintenance is still required.

Heat: Yes. Heat your basement. This affects the humidity as well as comfort level. Warn air can hold more humidity. And by the way, the air does require a certain level of humidity for comfort and to keep the wood in the house healthy. Like I said, around 50% in the basement seems to be a good level, the rest of the house being affected and finding the correct balance. Showering, dishes, cooking, etc. all adding humidity.

For right now, today, place a portable heater in the basement as well as the dehumidifier. Not right next to it, but it can be close if you only have one electrical outlet. I am picturing the full height area of the basement is around 1000 or so square feet; a 115V 750/1500W ceramic fan forced heater would do nicely. Set it on 750W and set the temperature to 20C and let it run. If it cannot reasonable keep up due to no insulation set it on 1500W. This is just a temporary heating source until the basement is finished.

The bedroom heater and insulation sounds like it is the next item that needs to be addressed. I’ve something to suggest to you, now that I have a more complete picture:

Install a furnace in the basement, in the laundry room/utility room area that you will be designing. Run ducts along the basement ceiling and put floor vents into the bedrooms and other main floor rooms - one or two hot air vents and one cold air return to each room. I’ve found placing the hot air vent under the window keeps them mostly frost free and we don’t place furniture in front of windows (that would defeat the purpose of a window) so the vent is always clear.

The ceiling run basement duct work will also provide heat for your basement and needed air circulation for entire cabin. Install ceiling hot air and cold air vents in the various basement rooms and areas. This will also help (a lot) with the humidity. Air quality will be better, comfort, etc... through out the entire cabin, including the crawl space.

With a full basement under the two bedrooms, and plans (or a wish) to turn the basement into a living space, a fan forced furnace is a great investment. Cost-wise it is probably the same as doing the room individually, maybe even less. The upside and benefits are much higher. Along with future considerations like central air conditioning.

Cutting a few floor vent into the main floor rooms and tying them into a duct system is pretty quick, especially with an empty basement. In days you could have central heat and air flow throughout the cabin. The wall mounted heater would be removed and provide extra wall space for other comforts of home. And less noise, the whisper quiet fan is in the basement.

Install the temporary bedroom insulation and remove the now extraneous heaters.

Basement insulation: Frame the outside basement walls using 2x4’s or 2x6’s depending on how much insulation you would like. My suggestion, taking into consideration your eco-sense and the fact that you want a livable space, use 2x6’s and pink styrofoam insulation. Remember the previous dew point conversation, utilize styrofoam and prevent the freeze/thaw point from happening within an open cell insulation material.

Install the electrical outlet boxes you want and need. Run the wiring. Staple up a vapour barrier on the 2x6 studs.

Basement walls: Design your living space (done before now actually so you know where to run the duct work and stuff) and build the interior walls. Laundry room, utility room, living room or whatever. Run the electrical throughout the basement.

Basement floor: There is a nice subfloor product that is click together squares of plywood with rubber feet on the underside. This provides a gap from the concrete floor so the plywood doesn’t rot, and a nice flat smooth floor to install the finish flooring upon.

Basement ceiling: Given it is a basement the height is most likely not that great. The duct work may have had to been run along a wall edge and boxed in, unless a dropped ceiling is possible. No big deal. Box in the duct work.

Finished product: Install ceiling tiles, wall material, and flooring. Add the couch and large screen TV, put on Lord of Rings and invite DnJ over.

D