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Enough natural ventilation to create through-draft in cellar?

2 replies

MacLaverty · 06/08/2023 18:17

Need a bit of advice:

We moved into a 1901 house last year with a converted cellar done in 2020, cellar was always dry and never flooded before conversion. Within 2 weeks of moving in we had a washing machine leak so bought a dehumidifier to dry the cellar back out and since then just left the dehumidifier running 4/5 hours a day with windows closed. I'm getting bored now of paying £15 per month to run it and emptying it every 3 days and asking people to empty it when we are away. I believe the previous owners had nothing down there and had no issues but unsure as I don't have their details.

Therefore, looking to utilise natural ventilation instead of mechanical. Just had a small window put in on the external wall and there is a air brick on the other, which leads to a crawl space that then has an air brick to the outside. 1st picture is the air brick by the stairs, no door at the top so opens to the kitchen, and 2nd picture is the window from where the air brick is. I also have a powerful air purifier down there as I work down there and don't want to be breathing in mold spores etc and helps with air circulation.

With the window open or on a latch, would this be enough to create a through-draft from the air brick to the window for ventilation or do I need more? And presume I should leave the window open/ latch 24/7?

Enough natural ventilation to create through-draft in cellar?
Enough natural ventilation to create through-draft in cellar?
OP posts:
MacLaverty · 06/08/2023 18:32

The room has no issues currently with damp or mold etc but does suffer high humidity at around 75% when the dehumidifier switches on.

OP posts:
Laughingravy · 07/08/2023 07:41

I can imagine a washing machine will always create a bit of a humidity issue. I get you on the dehumidifier. A sort of half way house would be a suitable quiet low speed low power fan to suck air out of the cellar - assuming it can get in easily. Keeping the air moving is key. A friend used his cellar as his art studio and it kept everything nice and dry.

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