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I have a customer who has a serious humidity problem in their home. The archives didn’t have anything on this one. Their home is fairly small – 1100 sq ft or so, single story above a crawl space. Its an older ’70s home, 2×4 construction, insulated, and has a 6 mil poly vapor retarder behind the sheetrock. Our climate here in AK is not considered unusually humid and I’ve never encountered a problem like this in any other home I’ve worked in with similar construction. I had replaced their windows and one slider door, properly caulking and insulating. Although the new windows are Low-E, argon injected, etc., condensation and ice buildup occurs in winter, and on the door it was so bad it actually iced shut. Any spot that is covered by curtains and doesn’t have good air circulation literally grows mold and rots. New oak casing I installed has been destroyed in places in less than two years. The bathroom and kitchen exhaust vents often weep condensation. They told me they had this problem even before the new windows and have had numerous people out to check the heat/hot water system to no avail – no leaks anywhere. The crawl space is insulated and has a 6 mil poly vapor barrier lying directly on the ground as is common. The air actually feels drier to me down there than in the living space. These folks want me to remodel their kitchen now but I’m hesitant to do this unless I can find a solution to this problem first, if there is one. I suggested a dehumidifyer but they felt the price was too high. Others encouraged them to run the exhaust fans continually to see if that might make a difference. They are both heavy smokers but I don’t know if that impacts anything (other than their health). Thanks for any advice you can input. Bob
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I have a customer who has a serious humidity problem in their home. The archives didn't have anything on this one. Their home is fairly small - 1100 sq ft or so, single story above a crawl space. Its an older '70s home, 2x4 construction, insulated, and has a 6 mil poly vapor retarder behind the sheetrock. Our climate here in AK is not considered unusually humid and I've never encountered a problem like this in any other home I've worked in with similar construction. I had replaced their windows and one slider door, properly caulking and insulating. Although the new windows are Low-E, argon injected, etc., condensation and ice buildup occurs in winter, and on the door it was so bad it actually iced shut. Any spot that is covered by curtains and doesn't have good air circulation literally grows mold and rots. New oak casing I installed has been destroyed in places in less than two years. The bathroom and kitchen exhaust vents often weep condensation. They told me they had this problem even before the new windows and have had numerous people out to check the heat/hot water system to no avail - no leaks anywhere. The crawl space is insulated and has a 6 mil poly vapor barrier lying directly on the ground as is common. The air actually feels drier to me down there than in the living space. These folks want me to remodel their kitchen now but I'm hesitant to do this unless I can find a solution to this problem first, if there is one. I suggested a dehumidifyer but they felt the price was too high. Others encouraged them to run the exhaust fans continually to see if that might make a difference. They are both heavy smokers but I don't know if that impacts anything (other than their health). Thanks for any advice you can input. Bob