The only thing worse than finding moisture in your new home, is hearing from your homebuyer that they have unexplained moisture in their new homes. Often, I receive e-mails or calls about moisture in a new home. Typically the questions revolve around three potential situations. New building practices have led to more opportunities for moisture to collect within the home. Let’s discuss a scenario where moisture can occur and the best building practices to avoid any potential problems.
Let’s tackle the simplest one first. From time to time, we get calls regarding moisture on the floor near the furnace. There are often two reasons for this. Boilers and High-Efficiency Condensing Furnaces have drain lines. Sometimes these drain lines get moved away from the floor drain and the water overflow can collect in undesirable areas. Check this first, or perhaps the drain lines have come away from either unit.
Some customers question why water is coming from their furnace. This is a good question! The reason is; High efficiency furnaces employ sealed combustion and there is trace amounts of water in natural gas. This water ‘condenses’ out of the burned fuel and needs to be drained.
Note: If water has pooled around the base of your furnace, once you have resolved the drain line issue, be sure to dry the area around the base to prevent any potential corrosion issues.
Generations mounts our hard drain lines to the wall to avoid tripping hazards, and an accidental dislocation of the drain line.