Safety
AROUND YOUR HOME

Is water destroying your home?

You are on the verge of surviving another spring in Illinois. We've had several big storms move through, including a rather unnecessary early April snow, that have saturated soils, raised water tables, and probably flooded a few basements before they faded to distant memories. These heavy downpours and rising groundwater levels can seriously damage your house and your health as well. They are, however, not the only causes of excessive moisture in your home. Let's talk about the three ways water vapor enters your home, the effects it can have, and the methods you can use to control it.

Bill Campbell

The first, and most obvious, source of water is roof leaks. Though this can be a significant problem, the solution is also obvious. Repair your roof. My offer of information from the National Roofing Contractors' Association from last summer still stands. Their roofing guide is an excellent reference on proper roof repair and installation. If you have persistent trouble spots, you should contact a professional contractor, and don't hesitate to ask for a guarantee.

The next common source of water vapor in the home is the basement or crawl space. A wet crawl space or basement may add as much as 10 to 15 gallons of water as water vapor to your home each day. If this vapor stayed in the living spaces of your home in the winter this would be a wonderful humidifier. The problem is that it doesn't. It travels from areas of high concentration (inside the home) to areas of low concentration (outside). The vapor moves through your walls and ceilings until it encounters a cold surface, which causes it to condense back into its liquid form. This causes wet insulation, mold growth, peeling paint on exterior surfaces, and damage to roofing materials. Many times the first sign of a problem is mold growth on the underside of roof sheathing, even though there are no signs of water in the basement or crawl space. Sounds like a real puzzler: the problem is in the basement; the result is in the attic.

Fixing this problem may be similarly confusing. Wet basements and crawl spaces may be the result of improper gutter and downspout installation. Make sure your downspouts carry water at least ten feet away from the foundation or basement wall. You may need to use fill dirt to maintain at least six inches of fall in the first ten feet around the perimeter of your home.

Even a dry looking crawl space can add water vapor to your home. You may need to cover the soil and foundation walls with plastic sheeting to prevent this moisture migration into your home.

The last source of moisture in your home comes from within. You, your heating devices, and appliances that add to your comfort can all be major sources of water vapor in your home. A family will add between two and four gallons of water vapor by cooking, cleaning, bathing, and breathing every day. These amounts can increase drastically if individuals are not careful to exhaust cooking and bathroom vapor. Additional water vapor can come from unvented clothes dryers, backdrafting gas water heaters and furnaces, unvented space heaters, and from improperly managed humidifiers. Proper maintenance of heating appliances, chimneys, and installing clothes dryer vents should help with these sources. Remember that every ounce of water that you release in your home can end up as water vapor moving into your walls and causing mold or ruining insulation. This includes the water used in plants and aquariums.

Additional solutions to moisture problems are covered in a set of booklets from the Building Research Council at the University of Illinois. Call them at (800) 336-0616 and ask that they send you Set 6-Solving Moisture Problems, which will cost you $5.25 for the three booklets.

During April, my campus counterpart, Ted Funk, and I conducted training for the Consumer and Family Economics Educators of the Cooperative Extension Service. We were able to give this group information and materials that should help them deliver programs related to moisture control and indoor air quality. They can be contacted through your University of Illinois Cooperative Extension Service unit office.

Bill Campbell is an Extension Educator, Farm Systems, at the Springfield Extension Center, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Illinois. You can write to him in care of Illinois Country Living, P.O. Box 3787, Springfield, IL 62708. Telephone: (217) 782-6515. E-Mail: campbellw@idea. ag.uiuc.edu

14 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING • JUNE 1997