Hello All - Thank you for your time.
I have a damp basement and I am in the process of finding out where water is coming in.
I do plan on fixing the problem from the outside, but lack the funds right now
(Est $14,000 exterior foundation drain). My humidity in the basement is high (90%) and I need to get it down. I put a 10mil tarp on my dirt crawl space but still high. Does anyone know anything about the WAVE VENTILATION SYSTEM http://www.waveventilation.com...urce=waveventilation
I called them - it's $895 and $250 install.
Claims the system will cycle air from main floor down through basement and out. This will keep humidity low and avoid mold growth.
Any feedback?? Thanks for your help and time. - Matt

Unless this is one huge houes $14,000 is way to high. Sounds like someone for some reason did not want the job and bid high.
You say basement in one sentance, then talk about a crawl space in another. Which is it?
If the crawl space is lower then the outside grade then it will always be wet because water is going to seek any low spots.
Filling with sand to raise the inside grade then using a 6 mil black plastic vaper barrier held in place with insulation ties bent in half is the way to go.
Any house has mold and mildew growing under it to some extent, not sure why you would want that air inside the house.
Working gutters, no mulch piled up againt the foundation, grade sloping away from the foundation will all help.

quote:

Any house has mold and mildew growing under it to some extent....

Beg to differ vociferously and emphatically. Correctly designed houses do NOT have mold and mildew at all. EVER.

I reply equally vociferosuly and emphatically that since there are NO correctly design nor built homes, that mold and midlew does indeed appear everywhere and all the time to some extent in every home everywhere.

Strange. There is none in the home I live in now. There was none in the previous four homes I lived in before this, not counting the first one I lived in in Pennsylvania, where someone before I got there had closed all the crawl space vents, and that crawl space was riddled with mold and decay. I have done work on hundreds of homes, and I can count the ones with mold or mildew on one hand. I think your statement reflects the general level of construction quality in Pennsylvania, especially before the adoption of the IRC and the upgrading in quality of code officials. The level of construction quality in New York was miles higher than what I see in Pennsylvania, and still is, just not as much.