Expert: Richard Taylor, AIA - 6/29/2008

Question
I am starting an exotic crayfish farm, and I will be setting up two baby pools (about 10 feet across) in my basement.  I do have an air return duct down there that does a good job at keeping that “musty” smell away.  It is a dry basement, the house was just constructed in 2005.  My question is, will this air return vent be enough to protect my floor above from dry rot?

Ryan


Answer
Hi Ryan - thanks for your question!

"Dry Rot" shouldn't be your concern with this; long before you have structural problems in your floor, you'll have other problems that go with high humidity levels - problems like black mold, mildew, etc.

The air return you have simply recyles air in the house; it's pulling basement air into the HVAC system and spewing it out in the rest of the house...so it might spread humidity-related problems throughout the entire house (mold and mildew spores in particular).

You need a separate dehumidifying system for your pools, probably for the whole basement; something that dehumidifies the air and sends it outside.  It's the same thing you'd do for an indoor pool.

It's important not to mix the air from the basement with the air from the house - not just for the humidity problems, but also for the odors.  Ideally, you "depressurize" the basement to keep the air/humidity/odors from creeping upstairs.  If you don't separate the air, the whole house is going to smell like crayfish!

There are commercially-available single-room HVAC systems that will do the job for you. Contact a local heating and cooling contractor for advice.

Sounds like an interesting business - good luck with it!

Hope this helps,

Richard Taylor, AIA
www.rtastudio.com
www.rtaplans.com