Does Damp or Indoor Humidity adversely affect Emphysema?

[robevanz]

I live a basement and though not terrible, there is a musty smell one side of the bedroom, a hazard of all basement living my landlord says.

[Hidden]

In answer to your question - Yes

I would seriously consider moving from from your current accommodation.

Something that may be worth your attention (I'm sure there is a UK version somewhere too with a little web searching)

forensicconstructionexpert....

[robevanz in reply to Hidden]

Thanks Zoee, I did some googling but it mainly threw up climate humidity. I have an application for rehousing in and am running a dehumidifier all day. I notice it is helping me so my question was a no-brainer really.

I was after this: are there any experiences of the effect of indoor damp on people's COPD?

Perhaps I should ask this as a new question...

[Hidden in reply to robevanz]

yep damp and humidity anywhere, not just indoors but ourdoors too, including old building open to the public that are particularly, dusty and damp. Its not good for anyone with a lung condition. Definitely not in my own experiences of this.

Good luck with your rehousing.

[robevanz]

Thanks, will do. I'm learning a lot here! Rob.

[Hidden]

Thing is, there is a difference between non-motive damp, such as under the floor in old houses, like mine, and in basemets with no air circulation.

The problem with non-moving air and thus non-moving humidity, is that that causes stgnation, with can lead to fungusses,and fungusses can be dangerous.

I live in an old house, the houses here are often bad (I think); if I open up the hatch in the floor at my front door, where below that there is about 2 feet of crawling space, all as I see is the water meter and sand and so on, I mean it's just open, and I hate it; anything can be crawling about down there.

Some people have put in concrete under-flooring, which comes in sections I believe.

I had to make sure every bit of the edges of all my downstairs flooring was absolutely sealed off, or I'd get all kinds of unwanted lodgers in my home, like those huge black beetles that can walk upside down on the ceiling, hahaha; I had a girlfriend sat here one day who said, ah, what kind of pets are you keeping. It was pretty badly embarrassing, what she pinted to on the ceiling, it freaked me out, the entire family were out for an afternoon walk..

Anyway, sussed their entrance point out, took ages, it was under the old lino in the kitchen, I tore it all out, filled the holes along the wall and laid tiles, no more prehistoric families of black beetles having a walk in here anymore.That was the end of the Beetles and they made no comebacks.

Yet, with all of those, things still get in along the walls, and make their entrance, occasionally upstairs, now an then a mouse, at times being rather isolated here, I started thinking maybe I enjoy the company, should I try to tame the mouse. But, naaaar, I bought some poison rice grains and had to turn into J Mengele, I mean what can you do.

Anyway, old drums, pads, spreads, cribs, joints, homes, I know how it can be.

To live healthily in a basement, I'd say you'd need a basement that has been fully modernised which would mean, thoroughly damp-proofed and with modern ventilation, meaning a correct ratio of air coming in, in proportion to air being drawn out, which obviously has to take place by means of ventilators.

The ratio has to be more air bein extracted than being drawn in, because of pressure issues.

So the ratio of 2 parts of air in, to 3 parts of air being sucked out of any given space, would mean the higher force being extracted will pull on the air in the space, but it will always be better to have a ventilator blowing air in as another ventilator for extracting the air, to achieve this ratio of 2 to 3. You can adjust this using switches and dials.

This ratio means there will be a normal air climate in a room without any strange amounts of pressure or wind, leading to a constant supply of fresh air.

For those wishing to do this in their home, you need to buy or get hold of (I don't mean off the back of a lorry) what are sometimes called snail ventilators, flexible tubing is attached to two parts, one pulling the air in and the other blowing it out after it has passed through the actual ventilator. You place one tube in one side of the house, attached to an opening in the wall or window that you have to make, and the other ventilator is placed at the other side of the house or upstairs if you have that.

You can attach filters that contain activated charcoal and this extracts or retains all of the pollutants in the air. This means a constant stream of fresh air adjusted to the speed of flow that you want.

For the basement, both ventilators will mostly, if you have no windows, be placed upstairs with the pipes from both ventilators being led doen into the basement at opposite sides of the basement room .

This is combination with adequate heating would work against bacteria contained in fungal growth, and halt the dampness.

[Hidden]

the smell in your basement ill be the stale air, as down at that level one cannot expect there to be a good air circulation rate, in fact, there will be hardly any circulation at all, as there are often no windows, if you do have windows then this is slightly different, but air circulation is never as good as it is at higher levels.

You don't need, necessarily, to move, but considering you are ill, you need to fix the place, or else it is not good for your health.

It does not have to cost a fortune.

You will need someone handy to do the work for you, or you may be able to do it yourself depending on your current health status.

Basically if you are fixing a tube to get air in and one for blasting it out, then you want it too look tidy, so that is the hardest part, depending on the building.

As a tenant, you have rights, so I don't know what the situation is but basically, when someone rents a space out, it must comply with certain conditions,like work premises must, relating to health, so that means it must be dry and fee of draft, draft is not good, draft is different to the controlled flow of fresh air.

The smell comes from stagnant non-circulatory air, possibly fungal growth too.

[Hidden]

Landlord said: a hazard of all basement living my landlord says.

Computer says no.

Just kidding, I say no,

because one can act to create a correct and healthy atmosphere.

Landlord is incorrect. Landlord automatically says the right thing to save spending anything on making it properly habitable.

A housing inspection would nudge, perhaps, his sense of responsibility, or the idea of one may cause him to take initiative and make improvements for you, nobody ought to live in a musty smelling place, especially someone with lung disease.

You can get the ventilators, maybe, second-hand, you should be able to do the lo for a couple of hundred quid.

[Hidden]

Moreover, not all moisture is bad, damp and moisture are two words that fut closely together, what is damp exactly, well it is accumulation of water, moisture, evaporating water, water turned into steam in some cases.

To have an over-dry space is also bad, just like an excess of moisture, there needs to be balance, because a very dry space may cause coughing too, like tickly cough.

So one needs a certain amount of moisture in the air but one does not need to feel like they are living in a tomato greenhouse in summer.

Ideally one can attach not just a thermometer to the wall, but a meter that measures temperature and relative humidity, you can adjust the ventilators to switch on and off at certain temperatures so that you maintain a steady and constant temperature.

A basement retains cold and damp, so one really needs to work on making it healthy, as basically, basements are not healthy places.

Before one insulates walls, one must make sure those walls have undergone drying treatments, and are then treated with anti-fungal substances, then you can apply insulation, which will keep the cold away.

If you do these things then a basement can be just as healthy to live in as any other space. It's called climate control.

Now living in an attic may be worse, like in summer, it just gets so unbearably hot and to cool it down is harder than it is to heat a basement.

Of the two locations in comparison, I'd say the basement is better, for the above reason, that you can heat it up, but would need air-co to cool an attic or loft down during hot summer days.

[robevanz in reply to Hidden]

Goodness, thanks for taking the trouble to provide such comprehensive answers TJohn!

It isn't ideal here in other ways and is rented and cheap so I don't want to do any big alterations. This town has loads of flats vacant so a ground floor can be found to let privately if you pay more. Then there's the local authority or housing associations which can be better quality, or dumps.

We have a lot on our plates just now but I will be wanting somewhere better as soon as practical. Meanwhile I'll keep the dehumidifier chugging away!

Rob.

[Hidden in reply to robevanz]

You're right Rob, take the least strenuous solutions but moving house isn't to my mind entirely a relaxing job.

I do fear at times that the conditions under this house, the dampness and mould may be actually causing my problems, there are in fact types of house fungals that are deadly.

At my front door the water was leaking in underneath the floor and the entire beam turned into mush, I already replaced all of that, but the architecture is awful.

The info I provided on how to air condition a house without using an air conditioner which chills the air, is something to think of or consider or use when ill with lung problems, after all a constant steady flow of fresh air removal of spent air and also the quality of the air being cleansed, can only be good

[robevanz]

I moved here from a 2nd floor place, all stairs. Will get it right next time I hope!

[Hidden]

I find walking stairs a good form of exercise, after all if you get exercising on a programme at a gym , step-ups are part of many routines.

[Hidden]

Blessed to have a small bungalow now that age is starting to catch up with me.

My exercise can be taken at a time of my own choosing.

kind regards Ethel

[robevanz in reply to Hidden]

That sounds nice! I'll see what the council comes up with, fingers crossed. Rob