Indoor air quality

Could it be possible? Could we possibly have made things worse in the house. I think it's too early to tell but there seems to be a trend. Here are a few things we’ve noted so far, and a few re-visits of our previous work.

First the problem. Though this summer is cooler than last year, but it is more humid in the house. The indoor humidity hovers around 60% these days. Last year the house was pretty comfortable at 75 d.f. but now the humidity is high. To combat this we’re lowering the thermostat down to 73 (depending on the wife) which helps the humidity but also makes it like an ice box in the house. We have an exhaust fan in the bathroom that we use, and there is water in the drain tube for the AC. So what’s the deal? Also I fixed the bathroom fan to vent to the outside. Here’s my guess.

Of course it probably depends on a number of factors. First we added a Gable attic fan and more insulation into the attic, making the house more comfortable and tighter. This means the AC doesn’t need to work as hard to cool, but now doesn’t run enough to dry the air. A catch-22 if you ask me. Also with screwing around with the waterproofing in the basement, where we have more efflorescence popping off the Xypex and will need to be patched in about a dozen spots. So there’s moisture migrating through the walls into the house. I know some moisture comes through the basement around the furnace because of the efflorescence that appears under things that I place around there. Perhaps now that the gutters are using the underground drains there’s more water around or under the house.

Solutions??? We’re going to un-borrow our de-humidifier and start running it, and see if we can regulate the basement’s humidity. So much for saving electricity. In these utilitarian areas I might add a liquid rubber sealant. In the future we might get an Energy Recovery Ventilator. So far I have not seen any housebloggers DIY one of these.