Ok, That's it!

Missa said:
I also have a wet basement problem and I'm not sure if removing the gutters will exasprate the problem. Unfortuantly around here the wet basement is what you get if you want a house. EVERY house I looked at in Williamsport had a wet basement.
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Wet basements and radon are what you get for living here. The real estate weasel tried to convince me not to "waste the money" on a radon test when I bought my house because it already had a system in it... which the test confirmed was non-functional. Something tells me he knew about that. After saying "I'll make this simple. Either they put a functional system in or I don't buy the house," everyone was willing to give me a free new setup. :D

Even my house, though, has water issues for the basement. No leaks, but the walls show it some. I've got the dehumidifier working on it pretty much non-stop.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Even my house, though, has water issues for the basement. No leaks, but the walls show it some. I've got the dehumidifier working on it pretty much non-stop.
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I've got two, a french drain and a sump pump. It's not like it's got lots of water, but it's always damp after a rain.
 
Taking the gutters down will make the basement problem worse. BTDT.

Make sure that the gutter downspouts are attached to pipes that direct the water well away from the house.

I know some folks that have a sump pump - apparently there's an underground stream near the house - after heavy rain the water table rises.
 
wsuffa said:
Taking the gutters down will make the basement problem worse. BTDT.

Make sure that the gutter downspouts are attached to pipes that direct the water well away from the house.

I know some folks that have a sump pump - apparently there's an underground stream near the house - after heavy rain the water table rises.
Click to expand...

Yeah, because a lot of builders cut corners. Our basements were always dry.
 
Missa; said:
I also have a wet basement problem and I'm not sure if removing the gutters will exasprate the problem. Unfortuantly around here the wet basement is what you get if you want a house. EVERY house I looked at in Williamsport had a wet basement.

Melissa
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Well, you could live in SE Texas, where we don't get that problem... Mostly because there are no basements here.
 
My two grab bags of summer bulbs from Brecks arrived yesterday. I had intended to give one to my neighbor but they don't have any free plantable land, so they're going to use my lot for a nursery. :D

This is gonna be fun.
 
t0r0nad0 said:
Well, you could live in SE Texas, where we don't get that problem... Mostly because there are no basements here.
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No basements, tons of limestone in the ground, and whatever water that does come down evaporates rather quickly due to the immense heat. :D

I spent a decent amount of time sweating in San Antonio (also Rockport and Corpus).
 
EdFred said:
Or get rid of the gutters. I will never have gutters on any of my houses.
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Missa said:
I'm close. Ma is the same way. Only gutter I really like is the one over the side door that keeps water from falling on my head.

I also have a wet basement problem and I'm not sure if removing the gutters will exasprate the problem. Unfortuantly around here the wet basement is what you get if you want a house. EVERY house I looked at in Williamsport had a wet basement.

Melissa
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Considering that the save the water folks say you can fill up two 55 gallon rain barrels from a small roof in a light shower, I would say keep the gutters and get rid of the water from the gutters. Just put on an extension at the bottom of the downspout to carry the water away from the foundation.
 
wsuffa said:
Make sure that the gutter downspouts are attached to pipes that direct the water well away from the house.
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Yep, gots lots of big black tubes running from the down spouts out into the lawn

wsuffa said:
I know some folks that have a sump pump - apparently there's an underground stream near the house - after heavy rain the water table rises.
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Guess what's inbetween my house and the neigbors... at least that's what the neigbor said since they also have the same problem.
 
Missa said:
My house is over 50 years old. It's the area not the consturction.
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Ditto my friends (60 years in their case). Some area just has poor drainage and/or problem underground soils (porous material above a layer of rock or clay).

As for San Antonio, yeah it evaporates but it stays in the air. Lots of mold issues down there because nothing ever really dries out.
 
My gardens have been in for awhile and the new chickadees are starting to sing together.

Most things aren't growing much, or just hanging on because of the near continual cold rain and clouds this year. The corn is actually dying! I've started more for replanting.
 
Dave Krall CFII said:
My gardens have been in for awhile and the new chickadees are starting to sing together.

Most things aren't growing much, or just hanging on because of the near continual cold rain and clouds this year. The corn is actually dying! I've started more for replanting.
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Our weeds have been growing like gangbusters! So have the mushrooms in the lawn!:yes:
 
gprellwitz said:
Our weeds have been growing like gangbusters! So have the mushrooms in the lawn!:yes:
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I just planted new corn although it's pretty late at this point put all the "growing" corn under solar shelters (which I have always done in May, except THIS YEAR!) so now we should get some good sun if only to make my new horticultural efforts useless...

The Sun God can be a pri..!
 
Dave Krall CFII said:
I just planted new corn although it's pretty late at this point put all the "growing" corn under solar shelters (which I have always done in May, except THIS YEAR!) so now we should get some good sun if only to make my new horticultural efforts useless...

The Sun God can be a pri..!
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OK, now the new chickadees in their little birdhouse are singing in unison and the whole house is bouncing away in time to their tune on the limb that it hangs from. I've never seen that before.
 
t0r0nad0 said:
Well, you could live in SE Texas, where we don't get that problem... Mostly because there are no basements here.
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Yeah, in SE Tx we just burn down the houses to get rid of the mold problems. (most fun I had as an adjuster.)
 

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wsuffa said:
Ditto my friends (60 years in their case). Some area just has poor drainage and/or problem underground soils (porous material above a layer of rock or clay).

As for San Antonio, yeah it evaporates but it stays in the air. Lots of mold issues down there because nothing ever really dries out.
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So I've been basically out of my house for the past three days.

I came home this afternoon and strolled into my upstairs guest bathroom to collect some air dry laundry.

When I opened up the toilet, a tissue I had dropped in there when hanging laundry Thursday night was GREEN and MOLDY.

Needless to say, I'm disgusted. Is this just a VA thing, or do I now have to have my duct work cleaned out and my house "demolded"?

Cheers,

-Andrew
 
astanley said:
So I've been basically out of my house for the past three days.

I came home this afternoon and strolled into my upstairs guest bathroom to collect some air dry laundry.

When I opened up the toilet, a tissue I had dropped in there when hanging laundry Thursday night was GREEN and MOLDY.

Needless to say, I'm disgusted. Is this just a VA thing, or do I now have to have my duct work cleaned out and my house "demolded"?

Cheers,

-Andrew
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Air circulation and dehumidification.

(You MAY need the ducts cleaned, but IME closing a room off reduces airflow enough that the humidity levels can rise pretty quickly....)

No it's not a Virginia thing - it's far worse along the Gulf Coast, all the way up to San Antonio.

Basically, the AC system needs to run enough to remove humidity from the air, and the house needs to be sealed well enough to reduce humidity infiltration from the outside, and the airflow through out the house needs to be sufficient to keep humidity down. I liked the high-efficiency AC unit we had installed in Cincy.... it ran at a slow speed more frequently to keep the humidity under control... it was a far better solution than a dehumudifier that seems to put more heat into the air than it does reduce humidity.

Oh, and it's always a good excuse to use when the inevitable discussion comes about leaving the cover of the water closet up or down... ;)
 
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