Looking for a little input as to best practices and I will try to fill in as much detail as possible. We just bought a property in northeast portion of Ill about 70 miles south of Chicago, semi rural area on a man made lake. The lakes came from strip mining for coal in the 30’s and there is a residential area around the lakes. It has been there many years and is a well established community. The house was built in 1969 with an addition in 1988 and is on a 5 acre parcel. Frame structure with some block foundation and some poured with both basement and crawl space portions, all with concrete floors.
We closed last week and I am trying to sort out the physical plant and understand the dynamics of the building and land. We knew of these problems at the close as and the price we paid reflected the issues. There was a termite inspection as well as a septic and well inspection and both were clear prior to closing.
There are two issues that I am having trouble with.
1. As I stated the foundation is a partial basement and crawl space with full concrete floors. There are vents in the crawl space and the basement is also vented. There are window wells in the basement portion at about head height and there is not really a sealed area there. The basement and crawl space area are very cool. There are well covers installed outside but no real window so hot humid air seems to be entering and condensing on the walls in the basement. I plan to seal these as I think they are creating a moisture problem. Looks pretty clear, my question is really with the crawl space portion. Seems to me that the vents should be closed in the summer to eliminate the hot humid air from entering and condensing. The house is not centrally cooled but cools down nicely in the evening and the basement/crawl space is very cool. Am I on the right track here?
2. This is a more complex problem. There is a serious sulfur/rotten egg smell from both the hot and cold water. My research has told me this is common in coal areas. What type of filter can I add to the system to eliminate this issue? I do not believe it to be bacterial as I have been in several houses in the area and they all have the same problem. It seems to be common to the area.
Thanks in advance for your responses.
Replies
I agree on the basement/crawlspace.
Also you will probably want to run a dehumidifier down there. At least for a while.
As for the water, what kind of testing did you have done.
If there is iron in the water a very common problem is iron reducing bacteria that gives off a sulfer smell. But the bacteria is harmless.
Typically the well is shocked with chorline.
Going to get a dehumidifier this week. Here is one of the water tests, friend had it done for me. The other was part of the closing and was not as detialed.
The water sample from this was taken prior to any filters and water softeners in the house. I need to sort out what filters are already in place, again this is an unfiltered and non softened sample.
Your odor is hydrogen sulfide gas given off by bacteria breakdown . Lots of sulfur in coal and good original sourse. To remove you need to oxidize it to sulfite or sulfate with bleach
See attached : http://ohioline.osu.edu/aex-fact/0319.html
Thanks for the link, good info
Dont drink the water!!!!!
-LMC
Bottled water in place but the smell makes showers not so desireable.
For #1, seal, seal, seal. If there's a high water table, you may want to try to create a moisture/vapour barrier on top of the concrete since a lot of mositure may be diffusing up through the slab. A lot of efflourescence (white stain or crystalline mould looking powder on the slab) would indicate this. As Bill said, use a dehumifier. Insulating the walls would help by breaking the cooling effect of the walls in contact with cool soils. This would also help winter heating bills.
#2- In our area, a "greensand" water filter system is used to remove H2S (hydrogen sulfide) from water. That'll cost $1,000 -$1,500 to install and about $300-$400 year to maintain if you must replace the media each year.
Figured I was on the right track on sealing it up.
As for the greensand filter, any good sources for more informaiton and capacity needed? Did a couple of google searches for it and found a lot of places selling them, guess I need to do some research. Thanks for the lead.
If I’m figuring your location correctly I grew up within 20 miles of where you’re talking about and used to fish & hunt in & around those deep lakes. I’ve got a couple of ideas.
For your water issue consult the local well drillers. You might even find the same company that drilled the well but either case I bet they’d have some direction for you to go on the filter. If my memory serves correctly they even did installs of the filters and possibly more. The house where I grew up had good water with a well depth at 45’ (!) (bedrock at <10ft and aquifer amazingly shallow). Neighbors to the south (distance from our well about 150’ south) were @ 55’ and had good water but a noticeable difference in water taste. Neighbors to the North (distance from our well about 60’ North) and at a depth of 65’and terrible egg-water. There’s a fine line between good and bad there. Check with your neighbors re: their water quality and their well depth. It would be a big gamble (high risk of failure on improving the water) but setting another well at shallower depth may be cheaper in the long run IF you can get the good water. Again check with your local well drillers. Will County Well used to have a good reputation there before I left the area. Not sure if they're still in business or licensed for the area.
Re: your basement moisture, have/can you check the foundation drain tiles (at the base of the foundation footings ? Are they installed? Blocked? Draining correctly?
Keep us posted.