Air Quality

Air Quality in homes today is a subject that gets much discussion lately. When I tell people that I believe up to 40% of the air on the first floor of your home comes from your basement they look at me like I'm crazy. For many years people have been treating the basement as NOT part of the house. Out of site out of mind. Stack effect is at work in your home - which means that when you open windows or doors on the first floor, air is drawn up from the basement like a chimney.

Basements where the relative humidity is above 50% are possibly allowing mold to thrive and stack effect brings what is in the basement up to the first floor. I believe that since the 1970's energy crisis -when we started making houses more air tight , we added to the problem. When I was a child I can remember the curtains in our kitchen blowing in the morning. Houses prior to the 1970's were probably healthier. Any way you look at it, I am not saying to go back to the 1950's - just prepare your basements for the 21 st century. Even if you never plan to go in your basement, preparing it properly can add to the health of your home and more importantly your family.

Sometimes I get to feeling like no one is listening to me, sometimes I feel our industry will not change until it realizes the problems they are causing homeowners. Some contractors tell me "shhh... Steve" "Don't shake the tree." I am not afraid to say what I feel. My motives are pure and noble. I want a better future for my customers and their families. I do this work because of my love of helping people. It is true that for many years I installed opened backed drainage systems just like everyone else - but would you want me to continue doing something (just because every other company in my industry still wants to do it that way) I am not sorry for being discontent with the way things were. I am not sorry for having a desire to make thing better for all homowners.

In August 2006 when my local basement drainage company made a decision to require a closed sub floor drainage system, it wasn't long before some of my past customers asked me "what about me - you installed an open backed system in my home". I answered them honestly and said that prior to August 2006 - wall vapor barriers and closed systems were options. We offered such systems but found that left to themselves a lot of our customers went for what was "less expensive". We now offer these customers of ours an opportunity to upgrade their system by having us install a wall vapor barrier and Flexi-Flange. We do so for a special price for our loyal customers.

It is my hope that someday the basement industry will have best practices that includes requiring a closed sub floor drainage system. Also we need to educate everyone (including the guys on HGTV) that wood and organic materials should not be used in a basement environment. A micro environment behind a wooden wall could be the perfect breeding ground for mold to grow.