Finishing basements and combustion air

[jar546]

I seem to be noticing a lot of problems where an existing home is renovated and the basement is broken into sections for renovation purposes reducing the cubic footage below what is needed. There are plenty of older boilers and furnaces that are not high efficiency units that are direct vented. What see you in your area may I ask?

 

[peach]

Re: Finishing basements and combustion air

older boilers are usually found in older, leaky homes.. assume for a moment that everyone who remodels their basement gets a permit (yeah, that could happen), the plan reviewer needs to ask for the information and not just stamp the plans.

 

[JBI]

Re: Finishing basements and combustion air

peach -

Are you suggesting that Code officials actually do their job? :shock:

The audacity of some people!

Jeff - The lady makes a valid point. We can't fix what we don't know about, BUT... we can certainly require the information for the ones that actually apply for a permit. I can't count the number of times I had to explain to contractors (homeowners too, but contractors?) the importance of knowing this type of information. Applications for additions that only identify 'existing house exterior wall' without any indication of what is on the other side of the wall (i.e., a bedroom with only one window and window being eliminated by the addition!).

 

[jar546]

Re: Finishing basements and combustion air

That is the problem as I see it too as far as plan review. The other side of the coin is that a lot of finished basements, if not most in my area are done without a permit. Next thing I know there are renovations that are not easy to hide that require a permit which allows me access to a basement to the main electrical panel and I find these conditions all the time, including egress issues. Of course I am always told that they bought the house like that or it was done 20 years ago. When I do private inspections, I see it all the time.

 

[Papio Bldg Dept]

The page three sample is what we require in our jurisdiction. Even having this as an example, nine times out of ten, we still have to ask whether it is direct vent, hi-lo, or louvered. It is an education process, considering most contractors don't own a building code book, let alone reference them.

http://www.egovlink.com/public_documents300/papillion/published_documents/Building%20Department/Residential%20Permit%20Folder/Basement%20Finish%20and%20Remodels%20Specifics.pdf

 

[steveray]

http://www.houseofcraig.net/combustion_air_calc.html

That is a link I use for it , and I pass it out to the customers to let them see for themselves.....also have a basement handout...

http://www.tolland.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Creating-Habitable-Space-in-Basements.pdf