How to cover the floor in the cellar against dampness. Temperature and humidity in the cellar. Mold control
High humidity in the cellar appears for various reasons. First of all, it is necessary to find out why it has increased, take measures to eliminate it, and then bring it back to normal. At the last stage, if necessary, carry out disinfection. In any case, without properly organized ventilation and waterproofing, the problem will appear again and again. Therefore, before drying the cellar, check whether the ventilation pipes are clogged or whether the waterproofing is damaged.
Preventing dampness
As usual, this “disease” is easier (and cheaper) to prevent than to treat. Still being decided at the design stage:
Inspecting the floor
Very often the floor in the cellar is made of earth. This is often the source of excess moisture. Through it, the moisture contained in the soil gets inside. To reduce humidity in the cellar, you need to level the earthen floor, compact it and cover it with thick plastic film. You can use roofing felt, but it breaks more often. Although it seems more durable, it breaks due to less elasticity.
There is no need to pour sand or soil on top of the film. Sometimes there is a large amount of water in the basement (accidental flooding). Then you simply remove the film, the water goes partly into the ground, partly evaporates through the ventilation. After the dampness has gone, you can re-cover the floor. If there is earth or sand on top, you will need to poke around in this slurry, extracting the film.
If the floor in the cellar is earthen, it flows through it. most of moisture
If after laying the film the humidity level in the cellar has decreased, then you have found the reason. You can leave everything as is, just change the “flooring” periodically, or you can make a concrete floor with full waterproofing. The choice is yours. To prevent the film from tearing when people walk on it, knock it down wooden boards and throw them on the floor.
Improving waterproofing
The second reason why humidity increases in the basement is an insufficient degree of vapor barrier or waterproofing of the walls. This usually occurs if the cellar is lined with brick, especially silicate brick. The material is very hygroscopic and allows water vapor to pass through well. They settle in drops on the ceiling and all objects.
The problem can be solved if we do something good external waterproofing: dig out the walls and apply bitumen mastic in two layers. Previously, they were coated with resin, but mastic is more effective and easier to handle.
But excavation- it’s not always a joy, and it’s not always possible to dig out the walls. In this case you can do internal waterproofing cellar walls. For this purpose, there are cement-based impregnations: “Pnetron”, “Kalmatron”, “Hydrotex”, etc. They penetrate to a depth of up to half a meter into the thickness of the material (concrete, brick, etc.) and block the capillaries through which water seeps. Water permeability decreases significantly. Their only drawback is the price. But they are really effective.
All these measures will prevent the appearance of high humidity in the basement. But what to do if there is already moisture, how to dry the cellar? Next, we’ll look at ways to reduce humidity.
Preparatory work
All supplies are removed from the basement, as well as all wooden structures, cleaned well. On the street they inspect the wood - shelves/drawers/boxes. If they are not damaged and there is no fungus or mold, they are simply laid out in the sun to dry. If there are traces of damage, the wood is impregnated with a solution copper sulfate(concentration 5-10%, no more).
Whitewashing with lime gives good results - it will also “collect” moisture from the air. Therefore, before draining the basement, it makes sense to whitewash everything. They just do it differently from the outside. Needs to be applied thick layer lime on the walls. To do this, make a bucket of thick whitewash and add a little diluted copper sulfate. It is an excellent disinfectant, but the concentration should not be higher than 5%, maximum 10. The resulting thick liquid is poured in half into two containers.
The first half is lowered into the basement, dressed in old clothes, glasses, and covered hands. They take paint brush for whitewashing (it looks more like a small broom) and coats the corners well with it. Then you stir the slurry with a brush and spray it on the walls and ceiling. Just dip it in thick whitewash and spray it on the walls. They are covered with drops and tubercles of lime.
After everything is covered with lime, wait a day for it to dry. Repeat everything with the second bucket. As a result, the walls and ceiling are porous and uneven. But condensation rarely hangs on them: lime retains moisture well inside. After the lime has dried, you can begin drying the cellar.
Basement dehumidification with ventilation
Sometimes it happens like this: the cellar was dry, and suddenly dampness appeared. One of the reasons is poor ventilation. First of all, check the cleanliness of the ventilation ducts. Clean if necessary. If everything is fine, but the dampness does not go away, it means the exhaust pipe is not working well. This happens when the air in the cellar is colder than outside. Heavy and cold, it will not rise up the pipe on its own. A paradoxical situation arises, at first glance: it was cold and damp outside, but it was dry in the cellar. It got warmer - drops of moisture hung on the ceiling, walls and objects, and a musty smell appeared. In this case, in order to dry the cellar, it is necessary to activate air movement. There are several solutions.
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Sometimes increased air movement leads to the fact that the humidity in the cellar does not decrease, but increases. This can often be observed in hot weather. The reason is this. Heated air carries with it a significant amount of moisture in the form of vapor. Once in a cool cellar, the air cools down, and moisture condenses on the coldest surfaces: the ceiling, walls, and sometimes on shelves and jars. If this is exactly the case for you, then stop ventilation. Even close the supply pipe and slam the lid tightly, limiting the flow of warm air.
How to dry the cellar in this case? Wait until autumn, and when there is no rain yet, but the temperature is already about +10°C, start ventilation using one of the methods suggested above. Works. If your nights are cold in the summer, you can turn on the fan at night and close the ventilation ducts during the day. This way you can gradually reduce the humidity in the cellar in the summer.
Heating the cellar
If it is necessary to remove dampness during warm weather, and ventilation only worsens the situation, you need to heat the air in the basement so that it comes out on its own, carrying away moisture (the higher the air temperature, the more vapor it may contain).
To do this, take an old bucket or another metal container approximately the same volume. Make a lot of holes in it (you can use an ax) in the bottom and walls. Such a bucket with holes is tied to a cable (attach it securely). Coals for barbecue are poured inside (you can light it yourself), the bucket should be almost full. The coals are ignited and stable combustion is achieved (to accelerate the combustion, you can adapt a vacuum cleaner by turning it on to blow). A bucket of smoldering coals is lowered on a cable into the cellar, secured so that it hangs above the bottom, and the lid is closed.
Periodically, the cellar lid needs to be opened, letting in an additional portion of oxygen (every 20-30 minutes). You can put a fan on the supply pipe or periodically turn on the same vacuum cleaner. If the coals do go out, they are rekindled.
Attention! It’s better not to climb inside, do everything from above. Firstly, the temperature there is high (in a room about 2*3 meters about 70°C), secondly, smoke and, perhaps, carbon monoxide accumulate inside.
As the coals burned out, they took out the bucket and closed the lid. Don’t look inside for three days: smoke and gases will kill mold and, at the same time as drying, you will disinfect your cellar. Usually one such “firebox” is enough to dry out the basement in the house or on the street. You can also get rid of dampness in the basement under the garage.
Sometimes coke or coal is used instead of charcoal. He gives more high temperature and the “processing” takes longer, but it burns more difficult, it requires more oxygen, often - forced blowing (use an old vacuum cleaner and a corrugated hose, but turn it on for blowing). But the temperature rises even higher and dries even more efficiently. But the price of coke is high, even though you won’t go broke buying a bucket.
Instead of a bucket of burning coal, you can use other heaters:
- propane burner (lower the one burning on the wire, make sure it doesn’t ignite anything and leave it hanging in the middle, you’re tired of it, close the valve, you can only open the lid every other day);
- heat gun of decent power (3-5 kW);
- kirogas;
- lower the potbelly stove into the basement and heat it.
All these methods can be used, but you have to go down into the cellar in order to light a kirogas or potbelly stove. But this is not a safe idea and do not use this method alone. You need someone to insure you upstairs. Regarding the heat gun: it is also better to lower it by tying it with a cable, rather than lowering it yourself.
How to dry a basement in a garage is described in the video.
How to dry a cellar without ventilation
If ventilation was not installed during construction, it is advisable to install it now. At least some: it will be easier to get rid of dampness. It is better, of course, to have two pipes - one for inflow, the other for outflow - as described at the beginning of the article. If the cellar is made separately on the street, it is easier to organize: they broke through the ground and roof of the cellar, inserted pipes, and filled everything with concrete mortar.
It’s more difficult with a garage, but it’s solvable that no one cares about aesthetics here. But if there is a basement without ventilation under the house, everything is more difficult to do: it is better not to break the foundation, and you cannot stretch many pipes through the floor into the room. But even in this case, make at least one pipe. Even if it’s through the lid, into the wall or ceiling, or installing a supply and exhaust fan. It can be turned on either for supply or exhaust and in this way somehow dry the cellar.
Having at least such ventilation, you can use any of the methods described above. You can also try to collect more moisture. For this inside lay out hygroscopic materials:
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If all these dances with tambourines don’t inspire confidence in you (although they work), you can dry out the cellar using modern technology. There are such Appliances —household dehumidifiers. They are often installed in swimming pools to get rid of dampness in the room. You will need a medium power model. They cost about 20-30 thousand rubles, operate from a 220 V household network. In the process, they collect moisture from the air into a special container. You will need to drain the water periodically.
One way to dry out a damp basement is to put household dehumidifier air
Disinfection and control of fungi and mold
Increased humidity in the cellar leads to the appearance of mold and fungi on the walls, shelves and ceiling. different types and flowers, and all this beauty is accompanied by “fragrances”. In this case, take everything that can be taken out of the cellar and lay it out to dry. Wooden shelves After drying, whitewash boxes, boards, and racks with lime with the addition of a solution of copper sulfate. Better twice.
In the cellar, clean off all growths from the walls and ceiling, whitewash with lime and copper sulfate twice (the technology is described at the beginning of the article). Before the main drying, you can carry out special measures that will destroy the spores (or neutralize them for a while).
Lime vapor
Place a barrel in the cellar and fill it with quicklime. Lime is taken at the rate of 3 kg per 1 cubic meter of volume. There should be a maximum of lime in the barrel, a little more than half. Fill everything with water. Don't interfere. Quickly get out and tightly (tightly) close the lid and all ventilation ducts. You can open it in two days, ventilate it well, then you can go down.
Repeat the treatment after 7-10 days. Lime vapors should burn out mold and fungi, destroy insects and their larvae. They also cope very effectively with odors of dampness and mustiness. True, the cellar will smell of lime for several days.
Sulfur (smoke) bomb
Use sulfur bomb. They are sold in stores that sell seeds or household supplies. Each one comes with instructions. But, in short, you need to act according to the following scheme:
- take out all metal things; if this is not possible, cover them with a layer of lubricant - grease or something similar.
- You light the fuse of a sulfur bomb, it begins to smolder.
- Get out quickly, close the lid and ventilation ducts hermetically, and leave for 5-6 hours.
If the basement is in the house, it is advisable to leave it during the treatment: a couple of breaths if the airtightness is insufficient and the lungs will need to be put in order for a long time.
Disinfection occurs due to the formation of sulfuric acid. It is obtained by the reaction of sulfuric anhydride and water. Because more effective than mold a sulfur bomb is killed in damp cellars.
After 5-6 hours (or after the time indicated on the package), open the ventilation ducts and the lid (in that order). Leave open for at least 12 hours. The remaining gases disappear during this time. You can come in.
From the experience of operating such checkers, we can say that they need to be lit twice as much as normal. Then everything will really be neutralized.
Mold Remover
Sometimes white fluffy growth appears on wood or walls. This is a type of fungus. It can be dealt with using the methods described above, but if only it is present, it can be found on construction market a product for removing solid polyurethane foam (sold in the same place where the foam is sold). Insert the tube into mounting gun and apply to areas with fungus. It immediately begins to curl up. And then it doesn’t appear in this place.
Floor bedding
If you have an earthen floor, lay a thick plastic film on it (for which it is described above), knock down the wooden grates and throw them on the floor. Scatter pieces of slaked lime under them. And they will collect moisture and create “bad” conditions for fungi.
How to dry a basement after a flood
If the flooding was accidental, you need to pump out the water using any in an accessible way, and then proceed according to the standard scheme:
- Take out everything you can from their cellars.
- Leave the lid and ventilation vents open for a while.
- When it is more or less dry, remove debris, fungi, mold from the walls and floor.
- Whiten with lime.
- Dry using one of the following methods.
If the flooding is periodic, in the spring, for example, you will have to build a full-fledged drainage system, and this is a separate conversation.
All the methods described above on how to dry a cellar are mostly based on practical experience. They are used everywhere and very often. In one case, one method works, in another, another. Your task is to find the most effective one for your situation.
Shared
Any owner strives to have a basement or cellar country house, cottage or even garage. Without underground storage, it is difficult to preserve vegetables, fruits and other gifts of the earth. But often high humidity appears in it, the walls and ceiling become covered with condensation, which causes a lot of trouble.
The easiest way to determine the humidity level for the basement is to look at the instructions for your home refrigerator. The humidity limits for it and the basement are approximately the same: usually 85-95%. You can find out whether your basement meets these standards using a hygrometer.
Hygrometer shows indoor humidity level
You can do without this device:
Whether the humidity in the basement is high can be determined using a glass cold water
An increase in humidity in a basement or cellar can be noticed by various signs - drops of condensation on the walls and ceiling, wet floors and the lower part of the walls, heavy air in the room. This can lead to serious problems:
Why does dampness and condensation appear in the basement?
Before you begin to fix the problem, you need to find out the cause of its occurrence.
A lot of trouble is caused by the appearance of condensation on the walls and ceiling. The reason for its formation is the so-called dew point. When water vapor comes into contact with cold surfaces, it condenses into droplets and settles as dew. In winter, the outside temperature is much lower than the inside temperature, causing the walls to freeze. In summer, the opposite is true, and dew forms on cold walls and ceilings when warm air penetrates from outside. In spring and autumn, condensation appears much less frequently. The reason may also be a sharp change in temperature and insufficient thermal insulation of walls and ceilings.
Condensation indicates high humidity and poor ventilation
Ways to get rid of high humidity
First you need to find the source of the problem and fix it:
How to organize sufficient ventilation in a room
This system is installed in the basement or cellar during construction.
Ventilation pipes are located in opposite corners of the room
When natural ventilation can’t cope, forced help will help. To do this, fans are installed in the pipes to supply and exhaust air.
To check the effectiveness of the system, hold a sheet of paper to the exhaust pipe: if the exhaust is good, it will stick to the pipe. If this does not happen, the system does not work.
Waterproofing and vapor barrier device
Drops on the ceiling and walls, or a wet, slippery floor may indicate poor waterproofing. It is better to strengthen it in warm time of the year.
Internal and external basement waterproofing
Work is carried out outside:
A trench is dug along the outside walls
Simultaneously with the waterproofing of the walls, a drainage system is installed
It is not always possible to do external waterproofing; in this case, it is carried out from the inside. This can be done even by wet surface, because modern impregnations allow moisture to crystallize inside the slab.
Modern waterproofing impregnations can be applied even to damp walls
Lay roofing material or thick film on top of the backfill
Drainage system around the cellar
This is a separate building, and for effective protection from moisture, it is necessary to make a drainage system around its perimeter. In an earthen cellar, for this purpose, additional walls are built from wood or brick at a distance of 20 cm from the main ones. The gap is subsequently filled with crushed stone or expanded clay. It is enough to lay out the walls in half a brick. Every five rows the masonry is plastered on the side of the earthen wall and dried.
Brick walls are erected inside the earthen cellar
An earthen floor will not protect against groundwater. As a temporary measure, it can be covered with thick plastic film. For more effective protection, it is necessary to arrange the base:
The cement base will reliably protect the cellar from groundwater
Advice! When pouring the mortar, embed the reinforcing mesh into the screed. It will protect the future foundation from cracking.
Instead of expanded clay-cement screed, you can use arbolite or fiberboard blocks. Pour a thin layer on top cement mortar, it will also fill the joints between the slabs.
Arbolite blocks are made from sawdust and cement
Waterproofing in the garage
Waterproofing a basement in a garage is carried out in the same way as in a house. The design of the drainage system plays an important role here. It can be done outside or inside. The second option is suitable for apartment building and corporate garage:
Geotextiles absorb water well
Drainage pipes are laid with a slope
The principle of constructing a drainage system in the basement
Thermal insulation
The method copes well with the problem of condensation by reducing the temperature difference inside the room and the ceiling with the walls. To do this, the surfaces are covered from the inside with thermal insulation sheet materials
First, the room is dried, the surfaces are covered with a disinfectant solution so that the fungus does not multiply under the coating. To do this, use a solution of lime or copper sulfate.
Polystyrene foam is a popular material for basement insulation.
Special equipment is required for polyurethane insulation.
Advice! Pay special attention to the entrance hatch: it should be almost sealed. Otherwise, steam will penetrate from the upper rooms into the basement, and the cracks in the cellar hatch will allow cold air to enter.
How to dry a basement or cellar
The choice of method depends on the size of the room, the time of year, the presence of ventilation and how high the humidity is. It is better to take care of drying in advance, even before harvesting and storing it.
Preparing for work:
A household dehumidifier can be used to dehumidify a basement.
Using an iron stove you can drain the basement of a house and garage
A heat gun will help dry a room of any size in a short time
Video: drying the underground floor in the garage with homemade forced ventilation
How to prevent high humidity
You need to think about this at the design and construction stage. After all, it is easier to prevent a problem than to waste time and energy dealing with the consequences.
A dry cellar or basement is the main condition for preserving the harvest. That’s why it’s so important to prevent moisture from appearing in the storage area and to be able to get rid of it if a problem does arise. By completing thermal insulation, waterproofing and ventilation work, you will solve this problem.
Dampness is a very unpleasant phenomenon. It can destroy the entire harvest prepared for the winter. Indoor humidity also leads to structural destruction and deterioration in the health of everyone who constantly goes down to the garage or basement.
Many owners face this problem. This is not just an unpleasant phenomenon, but also dangerous. How to get rid of dampness in the cellar?
Causes
To begin to combat high humidity in the basement, you need to find out the root of the problem.
Main causes of humidity:
- Incorrect execution ventilation system during design or construction. Violation of air exchange leads to the formation of condensation, windows begin to fog up, dampness appears and mold spreads.
- Clogged hoods also lead to poor air exchange.
- If the foundation and basement walls are damaged during construction, capillary penetration of moisture from the soil is possible. This happens if the builders initially paid insufficient attention to the vertical waterproofing of the erected walls.
- Moisture penetrates directly into the cellar through cracks.
- Another reason is changes in groundwater levels. If the soil is oversaturated with moisture after snow and rain, puddles may appear on the floor due to unreliable waterproofing and poor drainage system.
When the enemy of dampness has been identified, you can begin to directly combat the resulting problem. Further steps are taken depending on the source of moisture.
Danger
Constant dampness in a garage or house creates unsatisfactory microclimatic conditions. Humidity in the cellar is not the only reason for its destruction.
A damp basement has a negative impact on the health of residents, especially if it is located in a residential building and not under a garage building.
Mold and moisture contribute to the exacerbation of pulmonary diseases. A person who frequently visits the basement suddenly begins to suffer from allergies. Possible development of asthma and rheumatism. In addition, there are known cases of lung cancer being detected, the cause of which was condensation in the cellar.
Also, under the influence of humidity and dampness in the basement, food products spoil faster.
It is especially dangerous if mold appears on the walls, ceiling, shelves for vegetables and fruits. Microscopic spores release toxins that can become a serious health problem for all family members.
Mold can cause a household allergy to anything. Toxins cause headaches, lethargy, and dizziness. For newborns and children under one year old, it is very dangerous and can trigger the onset of asthma, since their immune system is especially vulnerable.
Preparatory work
First you will need to remove structures and supplies. On the street, the tree must be inspected; if there are black spots, this is mold. This means that it is necessary to inspect all structures.
The shelves are laid out in the sun and dried thoroughly. Wood affected by mold must be treated with a solution of copper sulfate, the concentration of which should be no more than 10%.
If you have the funds for a new tree, it is better to replace the entire structure. There might be something inside, but it hasn't made its way out yet. In this case, after treating the room and bringing the wood inside, the mold will continue to multiply.
Whitewashing with lime will help remove moisture from the cellar. This procedure is carried out before draining the basement.
You will need a 5% lime solution; it is a good disinfectant. It is poured into 2 buckets. The first part of the solution is used immediately after removing the wooden structures.
Wear gloves and goggles.
The corners are treated with a whitewash paint brush; the remaining liquid is not applied to the walls, but lime is sprayed on them. The same is done with the ceiling. It is important to coat all joints.
All surfaces of the basement are covered with tubercles. After a day or two, when the lime has dried, the procedure is repeated using the second part of the solution.
Lime retains moisture inside and prevents it from penetrating into the room. After 1-2 days, you can drain the basement.
Drainage
Condensation in the basement can occur due to poor ventilation. In most cases, this is the first cause of dampness. Therefore, first of all, check the ventilation ducts and, if necessary, clean them.
To dry the air in the basement, restore air movement in the following ways:
- How to dry a cellar in a garage: open the hatch, windows and dampers. Then a powerful fan is installed on the exhaust pipes of both rooms. It will draw air, and after 3-10 days the basement will be drier than before.
- If the cellar is located separately from the house and garage, there is no electricity and there is no way to connect a fan, perfect solution- candle. The exhaust pipe must be extended so that it is at a distance of 10 cm from the floor. Place a burning candle on a non-flammable base directly underneath it on the floor. Because of the candle, the air in the pipe will heat up, accordingly, the draft will be restored and the damp air will come out.
- You can put a tablet of dry alcohol under the pipe. If this is not enough, burning paper is inserted into it. Just be careful if ventilation tube made of plastic.
Such drying methods can remove moisture only in damp weather. If it's warm outside, these methods will turn against you. The humidity in the room will not decrease, but rather increase.
Folk remedies
Condensation in the garage and basement can be removed using home remedies. They are inexpensive and effective.
Humidity and condensation in the cellar - how to get rid of:
- Dry sawdust will not completely dry out the basement, but will significantly reduce the humidity. They are poured onto the floor, shelves and in drawers. When the sawdust gets wet, add new ones.
- Before use of hydrochloric acid Food and preserves are removed from the cellar. A liter of product is diluted with 10 liters of water. Wearing gloves and a mask, treat all surfaces. It is important to ensure that the hydrochloric acid solution does not get on things or your naked body. It may cause chemical burns.
- Slaked lime. After recovery ventilation ducts or their creation, a container with this substance is placed in the corner of the room. Lime absorbs water. The humidity in the garage and basement will quickly disappear and condensation will disappear. Slaked lime also kills fungi in pairs. During the procedure, it is not advisable to go into the room or wear a mask. Lime vapors are not safe for human health.
- One kilogram of calcium chloride can absorb 1.5 water. It is laid out around the room and collected after 1 day (gloves and a mask are used). Then the calcium chloride is heated and can be reused. This product is also toxic, be careful with it.
- Cardboard boxes absorb water well. They are just like sawdust, laid out on the floor, and a day later they are collected and laid out with new ones. The method is cheap and effective, but it will not dry out the cellar completely. This method is only good for eliminating condensation.
- White moss powder is a great way to remove moisture. How to eliminate dampness: jars of white moss powder are placed in the corners of the cellar. This method is effective at a low percentage of humidity.
You can also make the room dry using hot clay bricks, electric fireplace, sulfuric acid and diesel fuel.
Smoke bomb
Smoke bomb - time-tested.
Advantages:
- cellar disinfection;
- disinfestation;
- extermination of rodents and moles.
The sulfur bomb warms the air in the room and saturates it with toxic smoke. During the treatment of the basement, you must leave the house or garage. There is a possibility that smoke will penetrate through the cracks into the living space, and a person may be poisoned by it if they inhale sulfuric anhydride.
Use of a smoke bomb:
- Preparation: remove metal objects, food, and canned goods from the premises. If you take out metal constructions impossible, they are treated with grease or other viscous lubricant to avoid corrosion.
- Counting the number of sulfur bombs: 1 piece per 5–10 cubic meters of area.
- Protection: you need to wear rubber gloves, safety glasses, a respirator and tuck your hair under a hat.
- Application: place a sulfur bomb on a fireproof stand (brick, stone or foam block), light the wick and make sure that it begins to smolder. Then immediately leave the premises.
After leaving the cellar, you need to change clothes, wash your face, hands and hair. After 5 hours smoke bomb clean and ventilate the room.
If there is mold in a wooden cellar
If mold appears on shelves, shelves and drawers in the basement, emergency measures should be taken.
How to remove dampness and fungus from wood:
- We take out all the structures.
- We treat the walls and ceiling with a solution of soap and soda with water.
- Then we dry the room. What to do next? After which it is necessary to carry out disinfection. Lime and clay in equal quantities are dissolved in 10 liters of water, 100 g of copper sulfate is added and the shelves and drawers are treated. The floor can also be treated this way, even if it is earthen.
Then the cellar is dried. To speed up the process, install a heat gun or electric heaters in the room.
If the area is very humid, drying may take a long time. Therefore, the cellar should be ventilated daily.
Handle wooden surfaces You can do this in the following ways:
- Take one of these products: sodium fluoride, zinc chlorine, ammonium or sodium fluoride in a volume of 30 g. The substance is diluted in hot water and all wooden structures are treated.
- How to make the paste: you will need 135 g of clay, a glass of water and 150 g of sodium fluoride. At first chemical agent add to water and then add clay. You should get a homogeneous creamy mixture. Everything is treated with this composition wooden racks, walls and drawers.
Such methods will protect wooden structures from moisture and mold.
Effective measures
If these methods do not help to cope with the problem of humidity and dampness in the basement, then radical measures are necessary.
These include:
- Improved ventilation. If air exchange is impaired, additional ventilation will be needed. It is necessary to draw one pipe (supply) from the floor and lead it outside. Second ( exhaust system) are placed under the ceiling and taken out into the street. The pipes should be located at different ends of the cellar.
- Lowering groundwater levels. In this situation, you will need to strengthen the foundation and pump out the water. First, a new drainage is laid around the perimeter of the building, then the foundation is strengthened, and proper external and internal waterproofing is done. At the end, they dry out the room and remove mold from the walls.
- Internal waterproofing involves impregnating the walls with bitumen mastic. Leaks are sealed with alabaster. To make the waterproofing more effective, it is advisable, but not necessary, to plaster the cellar walls.
- Floor work is also important if moisture gets on the floor. It must be concreted, and first lay a waterproofing film covered with clay. Such modernization must also be carried out in inspection hole, otherwise dampness from it will penetrate into the basement.
Carrying out such work some time after the construction of the premises is expensive. But it's better than building new construction if the walls and ceiling begin to collapse due to humidity in the room.
To prevent the basement under the garage from being very humid, it is necessary to initially carry out the construction works and take care of a good ventilation duct.
It is also necessary to sometimes ventilate the room, prevent mold and treat the walls with antifungal agents.
The basement under the house can be used both as a cellar for food and as a utility room. However, humidity in the basement can ruin all your plans. The appearance of moisture usually leads to dampness and mold in the room. And the appearance of puddles on the floor makes the basement completely unusable. In addition, mold and puddles are dangerous for the structures of the house itself.
Causes of moisture in the basement
Before you begin an uncompromising fight against dampness, you must first find out why it appeared. Usually there are two reasons:
- Penetration of moisture into the basement from the soil.
- Condensing it from the air.
Moisture from the soil penetrates into the basement quite easily. Here, both a capillary penetration path, through microscopic pores in the material itself, and direct water penetration through cracks in the foundation are possible. It should be noted that almost all of them have microscopic pores. Construction Materials- concrete, brick and wood.
Direct entry of moisture into the basement through cracks in the foundation is the scourge of many old houses. There is a whole range of problems that the home owner will have to solve.
When moisture condenses, water droplets appear on the ceiling and walls. The reason is the difference in temperature between the air and the walls, floor and ceiling in the basement. Often, condensation is further complicated by capillary penetration of moisture through the walls. Therefore, here too it is advisable to approach the problem in a comprehensive manner.
There is one rule that helps determine why moisture appears in the basement.
If water drips from the ceiling and collects on the top of the walls, then the problem is the condensation of water droplets from vapors in the air.
And if water comes out in drops along the bottom of the walls and stands in puddles on the floor, then the problem is the penetration of groundwater. The methods for solving these problems are slightly different.
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Moisture condensation on cellar structures
How to remove humidity if its cause is the difference in temperature between the air and the basement structures? First of all, you need to understand why the air in the basement suddenly begins to warm up.
You can often find statements that the cause of condensation in the cellar is warm air, the source of which is the ground floor. However, the question arises - why does warm air fall into the cellar, because usually only cold air layers move down?
It should be remembered that proximity to warm layers of air always leads to heating of the underlying cold layers. Thus, even through small gaps in the floor and door, heat will flow down. The air warms up quickly. For example, to heat 1 m³ of air by 1˚ C, it takes 3000 times less energy than to heat the same amount of water by 1˚.
Heating the air leads to an increase in its specific humidity, since heated air can contain more water vapor. In this case, water vapor can come both from the ground, through pores in the basement walls, and from above, from the house, through cracks in the cellar door or holes in the ceiling.
And here the solution to the problem depends on the purpose of the basement. The basement for food is insulated from above, along the ceiling and door, and the basement for personal needs is insulated from below, along the walls and floor.
The reason is simple - in the cellar for storing food you need stable low temperature, therefore the room must be protected from heat influx from above. As a result, the temperature difference between the air and the basement structures is eliminated, which makes it possible to remove moisture from the cellars.
And for utility rooms it's better to create comfortable temperature, That's why the best way out The walls will be lined with insulation and the floor will be insulated. In this case, the temperature of the basement will increase, but the dew point, that is, the thickness of the partition at which condensation occurs, will be recessed inside the walls. This will help remove moisture from the basement, simultaneously making it more comfortable for people, bringing its temperature closer to the air temperature in the basement.
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Basement insulation for food storage
In the first case, you need to start with thermal insulation of the door. It is best to cover it with sheet foam or polystyrene foam. The thickness of the heat insulator must be at least 5 cm. The blocks or sheets are attached to the door using a special construction adhesive.
The door can be covered with leatherette or covered with thermal insulation waterproofing film, of which there are now many construction stores. In addition, the opening should be covered rubber seal around the entire perimeter to avoid heat leakage. The place where the door jamb connects to the floor must be cleared of chips and debris, and then filled polyurethane foam. Then the door is left untouched for 24 hours so that the foam can completely harden. The next day, the foam is trimmed with a knife and covered with plaster.
Thermal insulation of ceilings for concrete and wood basement floor carry out different ways. When concrete floor the following work needs to be done:
- Coating all joints and floor seams cement mixture(possible addition to the mixture liquid glass).
- Sheathing or pasting the ceiling with insulation boards (foam plastic, expanded polystyrene).
- Coating the insulation with special plaster.
To make a wooden floor, you will have to do the following work:
- Installation of the subfloor (facing the cellar) on beams and joists.
- Subfloor lining from the side ground floor vapor barrier film.
- Laying bulk insulation(expanded clay, slag, sand).
To install a subfloor, you will have to open it up. However, if you don’t want to carry out such a large amount of work, you can simply fasten the sheathing to the floor beams from the cellar side, put sheets of insulation into it, and then cover everything with a vapor barrier film. To do this, you can use 2.5 cm nails, having previously placed a rubber square on each nail for compaction.
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Insulation of a basement intended for a utility room
Wall cladding in such a basement can be done either using sheet insulation or spray insulation. However, you should first coat the walls with cement laitance. This is necessary to close the capillary pores of the material itself. Adding liquid glass to cement will lead to better insulation. Then the insulation sheets are glued on top or reinforced with lathing. Finally, the walls are covered with plaster. For greater decorativeness, you can create false walls by covering them gypsum fiber sheets(GVL), laying them out with tiles.
It is better to combine floor insulation with waterproofing. To do this on the floor basement the following work is performed:
- Laying waterproofing (roofing felt with bitumen mastic sizing).
- Apply a 5-10 cm layer of insulation (expanded clay, slag, sand).
- Laying on top of insulation sand-cement screed 4-7 cm thick.
This work can be carried out either on top of compacted soil or on top of an existing concrete surface.
How to dry a cellar in a garage is a question that concerns many garage box owners. The work is not difficult, but it requires certain knowledge and skills. First of all, it is important to understand the cause of the damp atmosphere, and only then begin to eliminate it.
Mold has appeared in the garage, start looking for the cause, and only then start drying the cellar.
Reasons for increasing air humidity
You need to think about preventing increased moisture in the basement even when building a garage, but if trouble arises, you should pay attention to:
- serviceability of the cellar ventilation system. Check the air draft; perhaps the ventilation pipe is clogged or frozen in winter due to condensation. In this case, you can consider yourself lucky. It will be much more difficult to correct another cause of moisture in the garage;
- Perhaps the builders did not waterproof the basement or it is damaged. In this case, you will need to spend money on purchasing a penetrating waterproofing compound or covering it with a layer of internal or external protection of the basement from water.
Only after eliminating the cause can you begin to dry out the cellar in the garage.
Work to eliminate dampness in the garage
The whole process is divided into several main stages; we will analyze each of them in more detail.
Preparatory stage
First of all, you will need to disassemble and remove everything from the cellar wooden parts. To do this, you will need to disassemble racks or shelves, lift boxes and barrels for pickles. If the basement has a wooden floor, you will need to carefully disassemble it. If the wood is suitable for subsequent use, the boards are dried outside and treated with an antiseptic or whitened with lime.
If the humidity is low, you can try to dry the garage by opening the cellar hatch and box doors on a sunny, hot summer day. You may need to repeat this operation several times. If the dampness is insignificant and the ventilation is working properly, such work can solve the problem of a damp wall.
To check the operation of the ventilation, just light a piece of paper or a lighter and bring it to the pipe. If the air flows poorly, the flame will burn evenly; with proper exhaust, the fire deviates and flutters, and may even go out completely. Cleaning ventilation pipes is easy. Lower the rope into the pipe, in the basement tie a brush or rag to it and pull the brush up. This way, the pipe will be cleaned and there will be no mold in the basement of the garage.
It will cope with a small damp spot on the wall; in addition to natural ventilation, a container with charcoal, sawdust or lime. These materials absorb moisture, but after processing you should not leave the container with them in the cellar.
If the dampness in the basement is not removed using natural ventilation, you can proceed to radical ways. Before this, the walls and floor must be cleaned of dirt and plaque. To remove fungus, all surfaces in the garage are treated with a special impregnation or a concentrated solution of manganese.
If your garage floors are earthen or clay, you will need to remove and upper layer, treat with manganese and cover with an even layer of sand or clay.
How to dry the basement in the garage if simple methods fail? There are several ways to eliminate dampness in the cellar.
Methods for forced drying of the cellar.
There are several methods to get rid of dampness in the cellar, each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages.
It is important to know! All work on dehumidifying the air in the basement should be carried out in the summer, during hot and dry weather.
How to dry out a basement in a garage using a candle?
This is the oldest, proven method of dealing with humid air. To do this, it is enough to place a large paraffin candle in a jar or other non-flammable container and place it near the ventilation pipe at a short distance from the floor. This allows for increased circulation air masses and replacing damp, musty air in the cellar.
When carrying out processing, the basement lid must be open. With the help of a candle, damp air is replaced by dry atmospheric air and the wall gradually dries out. But the candle can go out due to gusts of wind, so it is recommended to replace it with dry alcohol and a burner.
You need to continue processing until the wall is completely dry. Dry alcohol, when burned it releases chemical elements, which work as antiseptics and help get rid of fungus in the basement. But you should stock up on a sufficient amount of the substance; 15-20 tablets may be required to treat a small basement.
If candles and dry alcohol did not help, you did not get rid of moisture, try the next method.
Processing with a fryer
How to get rid of mold in the basement, perhaps a homemade roaster from an old bucket or small barrel will help. After making 2-3 holes in the top and bottom of the bucket, set it on the ground. The roasting pan should stand at a distance of 60-70 mm from the floor. You can use several bricks for the stand. The bucket must be installed under the hatch. Having securely hooked the hook with the cable to the shackle, we take it out to the garage.
Having loaded the first load of coal and wood, we light the mixture. You cannot be in the basement during processing, a large amount is released carbon monoxide. Therefore, subsequent fuel additions are carried out at the top, then the brazier is lowered to the basement.
Due to the gap between the bucket and the floor, natural craving, all that remains is to monitor the combustion and add firewood in time. Treatment lasts for 12-15 hours. In this case, hot smoke immediately begins to displace moisture from the room, will gradually dry the walls and remove harmful microflora and fungus. It is better to use firewood from hard wood; acacia and birch will maintain combustion for a long time and remove unpleasant odors.
But there are situations when more is required effective methods. How to dry a cellar in a garage after flooding, in this case, treating the room using electric heating devices of varying power will help.
How to get rid of dampness using electricity?
This treatment is carried out for quick relief in case of flooding or significant levels of air humidity. It prevents fungal spores from infecting the basement. In this case you can use oil radiators, heat guns, converter heaters or infrared. The work is carried out according to a similar scheme, but a person can go down into the cellar to carry the heaters.
The most important thing is to quickly remove moisture so that the treated surfaces become dry, like the air in the room. Be sure to open the basement door after heating the cellar for the first time to quickly remove stale air. The best option is a powerful heat gun. Such a device not only dries the air, but also ensures its circulation during processing.
But it should be understood that the use of powerful electric heaters will require additional costs to pay energy bills.
How to remove dampness faster when processing with an open fire, to do this, just connect several fans that will remove moist heated air, provide forced ventilation cellar But if we process small room, for the purpose of prevention before storing vegetables for the winter, it will be enough to use dry fuel with additional fumigation of the basement with a sulfur bomb.
This treatment will not only dry out the cellar, in this case we get rid of harmful microorganisms and fungi.
How to get rid of fungus and damp air in the garage basement - in conclusion, here are some tips.
To maintain a dry microclimate in the basement, you can install small fans in the ventilation pipes. In this case, the air will constantly change, and dampness will not be able to develop mycelium.
What to do if fungus has already appeared on the wall. A simple, uncomplicated operation will help you remove it. It is necessary to clean the wall of dirt and mycelium, dry the surfaces and treat them with industrial impregnations or a solution of potassium permanganate.
A simple sulfur bomb helps fight fungi and mold. This treatment is carried out before laying vegetables. It is not recommended to repeat fumigation with sulfur or warm up the air. In addition to waterproofing, the basement must have a sufficient layer of thermal insulation to prevent the passage of cold, humid air into the room.
Such simple and inexpensive methods will allow you to maintain a constant microclimate in the garage basement and ensure optimal conditions for storing vegetables.