If you pull air from the basement, it's going to get replaced with warmer, wetter air from upstairs. As it cools the air is going to deposit that water on the coolest surfaces. You might be trading this problem for another, more damaging one.
Good point, I'll have to keep that in mind. I would think that after the initial temperature equalization, it shouldn't be an issue as long as the temp remains relatively stable afterward, so in theory, if the rate of the initial equalization is gradual enough, I would think it wouldn't cause any long-term issues.
Though that does depend on how exactly any possible solutions would work, and how controlled they could be. I might just re-evaluate after I get the insulation work done.
I live in a geodesic dome and the finished basement is always noticeably cooler than the main floor and top floor.
As a test, I got a blower fan and put it at the basement stairs blowing the air from the very bottom of the house up towards the middle floor.
After about a day the temperatures equalized enough that it was difficult to tell the difference between the Middle floor and the basement.
Doing that causes the colder air to mix in with the warmer air upstairs, and the registers pull the warmer air in and blow out dehumidified air back into the basement, so no moisture build up.
The only downside is the noise and energy costs to run a fan. Probably 400 watts.
What I want to do is get a 4 inch duct fan and place that in the wall and run ducting from the basement up to the top floor so that the cold air is constantly being reblendid back up with the rest of the air upstairs.
I feel like that would use much less power and do a decent job of blending the two.
Maybe you can find something like that that will work for you.
Ah shit. The faucet is stainless but the counter around the sink is some kind of wood composite. Guess I'll put a bandaid on it and plan to replace the counter.
A bleach solution or white vinet solution will kill it. You could spot test for colorfastness on all surfaces first. And there are places online that give solution ratios.
The best way is find a friend who had work done that you were impressed with and have them introduce you. That way you can get first hand experience about the quality and customer service.
No idea. I get ecstatic over mediocre contractors who barely gouge. We've genuinely just started DIYing almost everything because if it looks "okay, I guess" then at least it didn't cost $8000 and I semi-learned a new skill.
Edit: our best contractor was from a random Google maps search for handy person. I picked a relatively new business with few reviews entirely because they were the only ones to call back. But they worked out great and I was happy with the work.
I think it is honestly trial and error.
Edit edit: the vibes you get from the in home estimate are helpful. If they don't try to upsell you at all, hire them.
In fact, the aforementioned best contractor we ever hired told me not to contract them to do something because it was a really simple to DIY. They showed me the exact kit to buy and told me how to do it. Theoretically he could have screwed himself out of money but we decided to do a bigger job than originally planned because of that move.
To seal the gap around your kitchen sink water pipe, consider using DAP Ultra Clear Flexible All-Purpose Sealant. It's a practical solution that can effectively seal the area from silverfish and provide a neat finish. While repipe services might be ideal for long-term solutions, using the sealant and possibly reinforcing with fine steel wool can help address the issue efficiently within budget constraints.
I'm a new homeowner and I also don't know how to find good quality contractors. For now I resort to posting on my city's subreddit to ask for recommendations. Also, recommendations from friends that have hired them in the past.
Most of the time I just DIY for anything that's not massive, but when it comes to big projects like Roof/Foundation you listed Friends/Family/Neighbours I trust who have used them in the past.
Once I find a not shit contractor, I latch on to them and maintain that relationship.
Community mailing lists. Maybe Nextdoor. I’m much more likely to try someone that a person I know recommended. For instance, we have a very active school “bulletin board” mailing list and people ask for and receive recommendations all the time. I may not know the person making the recommendation personally, but we’re all part of the same community group and that holds some water for me personally.
Nextdoor is a real crapshoot depending on where you live, but if you have nothing else, it’s worth a try.
Having used this site before, it’s worse than useless in my experience. I got a bunch of phone numbers of businesses that ghosted me or lost me in their terribly designed phone systems, and then got cold called by other contractors that wanted to charge insane prices, didn’t understand the project, or tried to change the scope of the project completely to upsell me.
I use a portable AC - this is different from a window unit. The unit itself stands up inside your room, and it has a flexy hose that goes into a flat panel that's about 10 inches high and expandable widthwise. You lift the window a bit, put the flat panel in the open spot, then close the window so the light pressure keeps the flat panel in place. It's all on the indoors side of the screen, so it counts as being inside your house and nobody can complain.
(Assumptions: you have the typical American sliding windows, and your HOA doesn't have rules about the inside of your house like curtain color or whatever)
From the "redirect the vents" side of things, I've been doing this manually for the 7 years with no ill effects. Last year I added a Flair system and Ecobee to automatically balance using the registers. They have back pressure detection to prevent damage to the HVAC system so there's always enough vents open. At least in my scenario it's been a game changer for the third floor of our townhouse. As we've headed into warmer months our bedroom is actually cool in the evenings and the lower floors are normal temperatures. During the winter our living space on the second floor was cozy without blasting the bedrooms and making it too hot to sleep. With the number of vents I had it cost just over 1K to do, but that was way cheaper than it would have been to have the house and system rezoned.
I'm into smarthome stuff so now I've actually got room level presence detection going and tying that back to Flair with Home Assistant so we only cool or heat occupied rooms. Wife is a very happy camper in her now temperature controlled office, and it only targets the office when she's in it.
This sounds super interesting! I didn't know that smart vents were a thing. I'd like to get some more smart home tech stuff in general and this seems up my alley. Plus my vents seem to be stuck open anyway so it wouldn't hurt replacing them lol.
Here’s a couple of cheaper ideas you can try before replacing your unit:
I have a smart thermostat that lets me configure the fan to be on X minutes every hour. Helps circulation, evens out temps
it has remote sensors, and I can tell it which to follow at any time or to average
I have partly closeable vents, so I can direct more heat downstairs in winter, more cool upstairs in summer. This is not as effective as dampers and you need to watch shutting down too much airflow, but it’s cheap diy that can make a difference
my brother swears by pointing a pedestal fan up the stairway
Same issue as you. Second floor bedroom above the garage gets really hot, but we can't stick a window unit out the front of the house because it would be conspicuous, ugly, and prohibited by HOA.
What I do have is access to the attic part that is adjacent to that room. So what I'm thinking of doing is punching a hole thru the drywall of the bedroom into the attic, mounting a window type AC unit in there so the attic is the "waste heat" side. I would install a drip tray to handle the condensation, and maybe something else to vent additional moisture and heat out of the attic. They make solar powered fans you can install that pull air out the top of the roof.
I had the same problem, in a similar sized townhome. My solution was similar to your first option. I bought and installed a wireless thermostat. This was back in the late 2000's, so it predates the "smart" thermostats like the Nest. It's just a basic programmable thermostat you can move around.
It works well enough. In the summer, I can move it upstairs so the upstairs stays cool. In the winter I could move it downstairs, but generally I leave it upstairs anyway because that's where the bedrooms are. I remember the thermostat was a bit pricy back in the day, but I'm still using it some 15 years later so I've gotten my money's worth out of it.
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