Is Your Basement Healthy?
You Breath Basement Air-Like it or Not… As warm air rises in a home it leaks out of the upper levels. New air must enter to replace the air that escaped. In fact, in an average home about half of the air in the home escapes each hour out the upper levels. This creates a suction at the lower levels of the home to draw in replacement air. In older, leaky homes the air exchange rate can be as high as a full air exchange per hour. What this “stack effect” does is create an airflow in your home from bottom to top. So air from the basement is drawn upwards in the first floor, and then to the second floor. Of course it dilutes with other air in your home, but building scientists say that up to 50% of the air you breathe on the first floor is air that came from the basement. Therefore, whatever is in your basement air is in your house and affecting you, whether you spend much time in the basement or not.
Many people are sensitive to high concentrations of mold spores in the air. They react with allergy-like symptoms. Being exposed to high concentrations of mold spores for extended periods of time can cause sensitivity in some people where they were not allergic before. Some mold can produce toxins in the air that we breathe, which can cause reactions of the worst kind-even putting some people in the hospital!
Basement Systems International, our parent company, holds the patent on the SaniDry. The SaniDry XP is a high performance dehumidification and air filtration system. This type of system eliminates damp, musty odors and also removes toxic mold spores and conditions the air you and your family breath. Particulate filtration is a process that removes particles out of the air down to 2 microns in size-and ALL mold spores are bigger than that.
Besides mold Dust Mites are the #1 indoor allergen. Dust mites are parasites that live in your carpeting, bedding and furniture. Their droppings are microscopic and float in the air. These droppings are the number one thing people with asthma and allergies react to indoors. Dust mites do not drink water, however; they absorb it. When the relative humidity is more than 50% dust mites thrive. When the relative humidity goes down below 50% they dry up and die (however, they leave their larvae behind to hatch when it gets damp again). The best way to combat dust mites is to dry up your wet basement and then keep the relative humidity down below 50%. SaniDry Basement air systems have 10 times the cold surface area of an average dehumidifier and a very unique heat exchange core. This enables the SaniDry to remove 10 times the water out the air in your basement thus freeing your home of dust mites and mold!
If you would like to find out how healthy your basement is, please contact our office to have a certified System Design Specialist come out and inspect your basement for moisture. Educating our customers, and improving their living space is our mission!
iii In late fall stay tuned for more information on an updated SaniDry, The Sedona.