I have a half basement, 57" from cement to the bottom of joists. During the summer, as you would likely expect, it gets damp and even the cardboard boxes are not as crisp as normal. I heard you mention of one of your shows about a way of ventilating and I want to make sure that what I do is going to be correct. In one of the small windows (about 12"X 11") I am going to anchor an exhaust fan. I will ensure that it is the type that won't let critters in. I will then run a round duct from the fan to about six inches off the floor. By putting the fan on a timer I will operate it so that at 8:00 pm it will come on and at 7:00 am it will go off. On the opposite side of the house I will ensure that the two small windows are "cracked" open about an eighth of an inch. Is this correct and do I leave the windows like this permanently? What do I do in the winter?
Answer:
In principle your idea is great and works very well. I wouldn't be too worried about it in the winter because if you have a flap on the ouside of the window, it should shut down quite nicely. If you have not yet purchased the fan, you might look for a booster fan already installed into a 6" length of duct. Its available in the duct section of most big box stores and most of the work is already done for you.
