Spring is around the corner and with it the return of the stinky basement. During the fall when the smell was there, it began to fade as the furnace kicked on allowing the heated air to dry up some of the moisture but now with the furnace cycling fewer times, that old smell is rearing it's ugly head once more.
What have you done to manage that smell? Installed a dehumidifier? A dehumidifier is a small air conditioning unit in terms of cost to maintain with electricity alone costing anywhere from $30 to $60 a month. Plus they need to be emptied, they need to be cleaned, the filters need to be changed, and they are only managing air in the immediate room.
To be effective in managing the air in the basement or crawlspace, there needs to be proper air exchanges that a dehumidifier simply does not provide. Being effective means circulating the warmer, dryer air from the upper level into the basement or crawlspace while exhausting the contaminated, stale air from the basement.
If you do nothing the humidity laden air will accumulate and can be absorbed into the floorboards and the structure of the home and can cause all sorts of damage including becoming a breeding ground for insects including termites that need water to survive.
Simple solutions are the best and installing a maintenance free ventilation unit in the basement that exhausts the stale, contaminated air from the lowest level near the floor creating a natural vacuum to draw down warmer, dryer air from upstairs providing healthy air exchanges keeping the basement free of those nasty smells.
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