This Bluemont, VA Community Center was having trouble lowering the humidity in the building during the summer months. The building got cool, but it was always sticky and clammy. They had purchased commercial de-humidifiers and installed them, but nothing was working for them.
Solution
Upon a full evaluation by Scott Beers with Comfenergy, he found a tremendous amount of air leakage in the building envelope. This was allowing hot/humid summer air to enter the building faster than the AC and commercial de-humidifiers could remove it.
A complete attic and crawl space "encapsulation" was performed by the Comfenergy team. This sealed up the air leakage and allowed them to de-humidify the air in the summer. Wait until they see how low their new utility bills will be!
Project Summary
Evaluator: Scott Beers
Bluemont Community Center was in need of controlling the humidity levels in the building during the summer months. Even after buying commercial de-humidifiers, they still could not lower the humidity levels.
Closed cell spray foam insulation was used to seal and insulate the attic, thus keeping the hot/humid summer air from entering the building from above.
Another shot of the attic...Look at all that spray foam!
Intumescent paint being installed as a thermal barrier over top of the spray foam. This special paint is required in this attic for fire code due to the attic's accessibility and size.
This picture is of the basement. The rim joists and old stone walls leaked and allowed humidity in the building. Spray foam was used to seal the walls and insulate them at the same time.
The crawl space was also treated to allow the AC and de-humidifiers to do their work and make the indoor air dry and comfortable.
