International Association of Certified Home Inspectors
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| Interior Contains discussions about the interior portion of a home inspection. This includes stairs, walls, floors, ceilings, smoke detectors, et cetera. |
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#1
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Here in Colorado, a pretty dry climate, they say on the average 11 gallons a day evaporates out of the soil and into the crawlspace. If the crawl is vented, much goes out, the rest must either be absorbed into the surrounding materials, leave the crawl by diffusion through the walls and floor or be carried through the walls and floor by air movement through cracks.
In a tight, unvented crawlspace, much of that moisture must be absorbed by surrounding material. Is it really possible for joists, subfloor etc. to absorb that much water contiuously without reaching the level at which decay fungi become active? Kenton Shepard, InterNACHI member # 04082383 Certified Master Inspector (CMI) EXPERT WITNESS Director of Green Building Director for International Development (303) 717-8940 (303) 258-8289 |
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#2
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No.
The 11 gallons (where ever that came from) does not apply to a closed CS. If the CS is not vented, it will reach a saturation point (Relative Humidity of 100%), at which point no more moisture will evaporate into the air. The absorption, diffusion rate you discuss will continue and an amount commensurate with it's rate will continue to draw moisture from the space. |
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#3
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That's why ground vapor barriers are so important.
____________________________________________ "An Education, not just an Inspection" Larry Kage Lake Ann (Traverse City), Michigan 49650 231 929 3525 Professional Inspector and Infrared Thermographer serving the Traverse City, Michigan area and beyond. ITC/FLIR CERTIFIED BUILDING SCIENCES THERMOGRAPHER ITC/FLIR CERTIFIED LEVEL 1 THERMOGRAPHER
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#4
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Quote:
http://www.stegoindustries.com/ Marcel Cyr Home and Commercial Property Inspections IAC2 Certified NACHI04070211 http://co.nachi.org/inachiawards Commercial Builder CertainTeed Master Shingle Applicator Shingle Technology Ouellet Associaties Inc. http://www.oaconstruction.com/ |
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#5
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Quote:
____________________________________________ "An Education, not just an Inspection" Larry Kage Lake Ann (Traverse City), Michigan 49650 231 929 3525 Professional Inspector and Infrared Thermographer serving the Traverse City, Michigan area and beyond. ITC/FLIR CERTIFIED BUILDING SCIENCES THERMOGRAPHER ITC/FLIR CERTIFIED LEVEL 1 THERMOGRAPHER
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#6
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Last edited by dvalley; 10/7/07 at 5:42 PM.. |
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#7
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The Building Science site is down right now but some of these other links are informative:
http://www.google.com/search?sourcei...d+crawl+spaces When installed correctly I can't imagine why builders would do it any other way with today's sealed structures. badair ADAIR INSPECTION 972-487-5634 Residential-Commercial-Construction-EIFS-Infrared Thermography TREC # 4563 EDI: EIFS-MA TX # 39 2008 US Member of the Year life is the random lottery of events followed by numerous narrow escapes...accept the good |
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#8
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Joe Lstibureck from the Building Science Corp. is my hero.
I was trying to come up with an article on how to handle your crawlspace for a local newsletter and in researching and writing the article it became apparent that you can't really offer information on how to configure a crawlspace that will work across all the climates and site conditions. The best you can do is to try to educate people on how moisture and temperature can effect their home. Building science, made as simple as possible. I can't remember were I got the 11 gallons a day number, but of course evaporation rates would depend on crawlspace humidity and temperature. Seems like it was from a pretty good source. Kenton Shepard, InterNACHI member # 04082383 Certified Master Inspector (CMI) EXPERT WITNESS Director of Green Building Director for International Development (303) 717-8940 (303) 258-8289 |
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