Basement: Suddenly Cold and Drafty

[MichealKnight]

House: Huge- but not well built I'm told the builder way back when was going broke and cut corners (1992 build)

6600 SqFt. Stucco house. Windows....how do I put it eloquently-----suck. The house had always been drafty in the winter. (Philly....40's outside).

BasementL Only one small window. And it's been the LEAST drafty place in the house-- I know, I even sleep down here some nights on the floor on a quilt. All of a sudden -- starting about 2 weeks ago, it's so cold and drafty in the basement. Like right now - I'm sitting in the recliner, all is well but in about 15-20 mins I'm gonna feel a cold draft to where it feels I'm sleeping outdoors. I'm wearing 2 sweaters, sweat pants, and a wool winter hat because this is going on all the time. The mystery is - *why* has this been fine for years -- - only very recently, drafty basement. Tonight I'm so upset I'm not sleeping not to mention it's uncomfortable. The only thing I've noticed.... the central heat kicks on. Ok fine. Then the heat kicks off.....but I still hear some sort of noise and I assume that's the furnace or whatever cycling off. It's at that moment I seem to feel the cold COLD breeze but I can't tell where it's coming from.

Upstairs is a 'mud room' - laundry room. One can enter the house from there. The door there sucks and the mud room is always cold. I started to wonder if somehow that one secluded mud room upstairs - somehow the cold air is traveling down here....BUT again, the mud room was always cold....this basement problem only started 2 weeks ago.

I'm going to call an "energy auditor" contractor - supposedly they identify leaks all over the house, and then possibly steal and insulate.

Only 2 vents down here....when heat is on, a weak stream of warm air comes out. When heat is off - I checked, no cold air coming from vents so it's not from there.

BUT - any ideas on the basement? If someone knows about houses -- is it relevant that after years of no issues, only recently the basement got drafty? Thanks of reading.

EDIT: I turned *OFF* the heat on the main thermostat of the house 10 mins ago. Now in the basement. the furnace - is making some kind of sound as if it's on. AND I do feel some cold air blowing where I sit in the basement. Hopefully that's a clue?

One more tidbit: The cold draft is noticeably worse in some spots of the basement -- - but in other parts - negligible. Like right now I' moved my quilt to a totally different part of the basement floor and instantly - I took off my winter hat and sweater. This is all so perplexing.

I'm fine to call a heater guy....but I dont want them to come out, charge me, and think I'm nutty. was hoping to have some idea what this is.

 

[Cortina]

I would start by gathering some facts and data. Measure and record the temps in various rooms every hour. "Feeling cold" or drafty is not a measurement. Again - get info from actual hot air temps in various places.


As the saying goes ... if you can't / don't measure it ... you can't manage it !
Needless to say , you need to know what the outside temp is actually doing too.


Good luck !

 

[Winemaker]

Check door sweep/thresh hold if you have stairs. Cold air sinks, hot air rises. That little void can allow a lot of air to move. Check your upstairs cool air returns if you have a forced air system, if one has been blocked/closed/restricted the fan will pull air from some where, maybe the basement. If you are using a small heater or your dryer is located in basement, check your exhaust vents. They may be pushing 5ft^3 but are closed down to 4ft^3.
Also, check the perimeter of carpet rooms. The carpet may be hiding small gaps between floor and baseboard, allowing air to be pulled under the baseboard. When we first purchased our home in 1992, it had an off white carpet thru out. After a few years, I noticed a discoloration, due to the carpet acting as a filter in certain rooms. DW always ran the sweeper, but that damn 1/4" couldn't be swept unless she used the wand attachment.
Hang a few tissue ribbons on ceiling to see which way the draft is moving.

 

[target2019]

HVAC sounds different? That's it. Check the perimeter of the house. Look above ceiling for duct problems.

 

[street]

Your box seal where your floor joists sit on the plate make sure those have insulation stuffed into every 2 foot. I have seen where in a new home they do not insulate those and the draft coming in bad. If you have a false celling or if you can check that would be another place to start.

 

[njhowie]

Walk around the perimeter of the basement and concentrate on the ceiling where it meets the wall, and locations where you have a door on the main level. Verify that everything is sealed up and that is not where the draft is coming in from.

In our basement, maybe 5 or 10 years ago, I happen to be looking up and noticed a crack where I could see light coming in! It was under the area where the frame for the back door was. I took a can of the spray foam stuff and filled in every nook and cranny around there. Made a big difference.

 

[Jerry1]

HVAC sounds different? That's it. Check the perimeter of the house. Look above ceiling for duct problems.

I would just call an HVAC guy. If the furnace isn’t working properly, there could be other problems like carbon monoxide leaking. It’s worth the trouble, even if nothing is wrong, to get it checked and ruled out as a potential cause.

Then, I’d go ahead with the energy audit. Where I live, the natural gas supplier will do an audit for free.

These are simple, low/no cost ways to start the process of making your house more comfortable and more energy efficient.

 

[ERD50]

I would just call an HVAC guy. If the furnace isn’t working properly, there could be other problems like carbon monoxide leaking. It’s worth the trouble, even if nothing is wrong, to get it checked and ruled out as a potential cause.

Then, I’d go ahead with the energy audit. Where I live, the natural gas supplier will do an audit for free.

These are simple, low/no cost ways to start the process of making your house more comfortable and more energy efficient.

+1 Diagnosing over a forum with this sort of info is just a shot in the dark. We have no idea other than this minimal description of how your home is set up. Multiple furnaces?

It could be any number of things, maybe the flaps on an exhaust fan (dryer, stove, or bath fan) are open letting cold air in. But if you noticed the HVAC sound change, get that looked at, it's a sign.

You need "boots on the ground", someone who can see what's going on.

-ERD50

 

[Lewis Clark]

Then, I’d go ahead with the energy audit. Where I live, the natural gas supplier will do an audit for free.

Some power companies will aso do free energy audits. When my power company did an energy audit many years ago they even gave out free energy-efficient light bulbs.

 

[target2019]

I would just call an HVAC guy. If the furnace isn’t working properly, there could be other problems like carbon monoxide leaking. It’s worth the trouble, even if nothing is wrong, to get it checked and ruled out as a potential cause.

Then, I’d go ahead with the energy audit. Where I live, the natural gas supplier will do an audit for free.

These are simple, low/no cost ways to start the process of making your house more comfortable and more energy efficient.

I would check everything, and as mentioned first, get HVAC in to look around.

Since OP mentioned poor construction, that really is a concern, so check the perimeter. Foundation, and so on. There could be wall penetrations like spigots and supply air that are some of the source. Crawl space?

The thing is, you need to keep an eye on many things around your home. Someone mentioned the rim joist insulation. Ha, it may be missing like in my house. That's an easy fix.

 

[ERD50]

I... Someone mentioned the rim joist insulation. Ha, it may be missing like in my house. That's an easy fix.

But not likely to cause a big change. It would be like that from the start.

I suppose it's possible there was a really, really leaky spot, and the insulation blew loose.

This is why he needs EYES and BOOTS on the ground, someone with experience and knowing what to look for will find it.

-ERD50

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

Probably not your issue but I got a new thermostat a few weeks ago and played around with it trying to figure how the settings. Instruction manuals these days are just crap, we're supposed to figure out everything ourselves. Anyway I woke up about 3am freezing and could hear the heater but it was a different noise. I finally dragged myself out of bed the second night when it happened and I had managed to program the fan to run for 2 hours in the middle of the night, heating off/fan on. I reset everything and programmed it properly and that fixed the problem.
I'd also get a couple of different estimates and see if they all agree with what the problem seems to be. With a house that size, a hungry salesman might see $ signs when he's doing his estimate.

 

[RE2Boys]

Check the clothes dryer vent to see if has come loos, or came apart. Happened to me once and essentially had a 4 inch hole to the outside. Also check the duct work to see if any had vibrated loose.

 

[Qs Laptop]

The mystery is - *why* has this been fine for years -- - only very recently, drafty basement. The only thing I've noticed.... the central heat kicks on. Ok fine. Then the heat kicks off.....but I still hear some sort of noise and I assume that's the furnace or whatever cycling off. It's at that moment I seem to feel the cold COLD breeze but I can't tell where it's coming from.

Only 2 vents down here....when heat is on, a weak stream of warm air comes out. When heat is off - I checked, no cold air coming from vents so it's not from there.

EDIT: I turned *OFF* the heat on the main thermostat of the house 10 mins ago. Now in the basement. the furnace - is making some kind of sound as if it's on. AND I do feel some cold air blowing where I sit in the basement. Hopefully that's a clue?

One more tidbit: The cold draft is noticeably worse in some spots of the basement -- - but in other parts - negligible. Like right now I' moved my quilt to a totally different part of the basement floor and instantly - I took off my winter hat and sweater. This is all so perplexing.

I'm fine to call a heater guy....but I dont want them to come out, charge me, and think I'm nutty. was hoping to have some idea what this is.

When the furnace is on and warm air is blowing out the vents in the basement does the volume of air coming out seem normal?

I'm with the consensus opinion--get an HVAC company out there and take a look.

A cheap do-it-yourself diagnosis of the origin of the drafts would be to get some incense sticks, light one up, then hold the ash end of the burning stick near places you suspect the drafts are coming into the basement. Find out the areas in the basement where the smoke from the stick is affected by drafts. At the least, you should be able to find the source of the leaks. Then call the HVAC people.

 

[OldShooter]

Amazon has a slick little temp data logger for $20. You can put it in various places around the house and see how the temp changes over a day or two. It will give you a PDF log and graph to look at or a CSV data dump you can put into Excel. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CGZS57G6

I also just got this one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BRXK89DK which is $30 but also offers a screen display of current air temp. I have not tried it yet, but I do like having the screen display.

Both of these are quite sophisticated for the price, with lots of available settings including sample rate. I think their primary market is to travel with perishable food or drug shipments and tattle on the carriers if storage temperatures have gotten out of range. Hence the price has to be low.

I also have a couple of these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZRFQN35 at 9$ each. Simple thermometer but shows high/low and current temp.

(I am trying to find a furnace thermostat setting that will keep our lake home from freezing but minimize the LP gas heating cost. Hence, a lot of monitoring in various locations and several gadgets to play with. )

 

[GrayHare]

Caulking dries over time, so some may have cracked and fallen away. Check the places where utility and HVAC lines enter your house. Is there full caulking around those lines? If there's now a gap, wind will make use of it.

 

[MichealKnight]

Thanks

Thanks everyone for the replies, I have read and reread and am acting on some of the suggestion Ie ordering the tool and making HVAC appointment.

TODAY......

The coldness in the basement is unmistakeable. It's really noticeably colder - way more than it's ever been .

One exhaust fan in bathroom - I keep checking - no cold air.

One window: Slightly leaky but it's been that way forever.

Furnace room. Not cold. Storage room. Slightly cool.

It is perplexing to me - where the heck this cold air is coming from. By walking around you'd think I'd feel it. I'd almost thing to see a huge gaping hole in the wall that can be seen from a mile away - that's how obviously cold it is down here.

HVAC guy coming in a few days.

But geez - truly dont know what the problem is and therefore have no idea what kind of workman or professional to bring in.

 

[MichealKnight]

Energy Auditor so far: (3) well reviewed companies. Also prominently feature energy audits on website and Google search. All say they are better than the power company because the power company just walks thru the house whereas they use blower motors, infrared, etc etc etc. All three write back and tell me "we don't do that anymore" lol.

 

[OldShooter]

... One exhaust fan in bathroom - I keep checking - no cold air. ... It is perplexing to me - where the heck this cold air is coming from. By walking around you'd think I'd feel it. I'd almost thing to see a huge gaping hole in the wall that can be seen from a mile away - that's how obviously cold it is down here. ...

Well, remember that what goes out must come in. For example, if that bathroom fan duct is a path for rising/exiting warm air, then that air must be replaced. Maybe the replacement (cold) air is infiltrating via many small leaks, making localization impossible. In Olden Times I once lived in a college dorm with concrete block walls separating the rooms. The blocks were sifty enough that people could blow cigarette smoke through them.

The warm air leak(s) could easily be from the living areas or the attic, nothing to do with the basement at all.

 

[MichealKnight]

.....

+1 Diagnosing over a forum with this sort of info is just a shot in the dark. We have no idea other than this minimal description of how your home is set up. Multiple furnaces?

It could be any number of things, maybe the flaps on an exhaust fan (dryer, stove, or bath fan) are open letting cold air in. But if you noticed the HVAC sound change, get that looked at, it's a sign.

You need "boots on the ground", someone who can see what's going on.

-ERD50

The one thing I really am perplexed by..... IF this is the stove. Bath fan. The furnace. Whatever the culprit is -- - where would the cold air come to basement from? I don't feel anything by the exhaust fan. Or from the vents. Or cold air from furnace. But this level of cold - is no accident.

 

[Music Lover]

I live in an area with a very cold winter climate (-35 at times). IMO it shouldn't be that hard to track a cold draft.

Use a smoke pencil or a piece of tissue paper and follow the draft to the source.

 

[OldShooter]

Related thought: Where does the combustion air for the furnace come from? In both our houses it is outside air supplied to the furnace via plastic pipe coupled to the sealed combustion chamber. Before we got high efficiency furnaces the combustion air just came randomly from the basement air so, again, the furnace's need for combustion air could be being satisfied by generalized cold air infiltration/hard to localize.

 

[spencnor]

EDIT: I turned *OFF* the heat on the main thermostat of the house 10 mins ago. Now in the basement. the furnace - is making some kind of sound as if it's on. AND I do feel some cold air blowing where I sit in the basement. Hopefully that's a clue?

Thermostats generally have a manual fan ON setting, which keeps the fan running continuously. Therefore, the fan runs even when there is a no heat call for the furnace. Check your thermostat to verify the fan is not manually set to ON as opposed to AUTO.

 

[Winemaker]

Buy a stick or two of incense, light one, and walk around basement. You'll find the source of inflow and outflow. In the coal mine we used a smoke tube, same results.

 

[MichealKnight]

Possible clue

Ok so I have tissues hanging on the ceiling. At times - when the heat/Ac is not running I do see a very slight movement in the tissues. Hard to deduce direction - but - it is slight movement.


ALSO... I've not checked upstairs but in basement: Right now, HVAC is not running. But in the basement vents there's a tiny, repeat tiny trickle of cool air. I wet my finger - and I can feel it get cold if I put it in front of the 'dormant' vent. Also taped a tissue to the vent and a very faint movement.

So there's (3) vents in a basement that is 1000 sq feet.

When I sit down to see a movie and feel the breeze - I can;'t help but wonder how 3 vents - with a tiny trickle of air can cause that strong a breeze in such a large room. BUT right now, thus far it's the only place I can feel any cold air coming out.

Appreciate any thoughts.

1/3 - *supposedly* I have a guy that specializes in air leaks and energy saving come out. He spends the day here, finds leaks and does sealing, weather stripping on same day. He says he's passionate about saving energy - and likes getting paid for it.

1/4 the HVAC dudes come out.