heat direct from crawl space

slivovice

My daughter has rented a house in the Denver area that has a gas furnace in the crawl space. Ducts carry warm air to the second floor, but the floor vents on the first floor have no ducts. The heated air just comes up directly from the crawl space. If you lift up the vent gratings, there is nothing below, just a black void. It seems to me that this must violate the building code since air from a crawl space is not very healthy. She has been coughing a lot and would like to get out of her lease.

Larry Weingarten

Hi, I'd verify that there really is no ductwork. If you shine a light into the black void, might it show dirt? Are there odors of crawlspace coming into the living space? I'd take a photo of that dirt for the record and then ask someone at the health department if this is a problem from their perspective. I would not yet give them the address. If they think it's substandard, I'd ask the landlord to agree to terminate the lease, mentioning the health department's thoughts and the health problems. If the landlord refuses, then prepare for a bigger fight.

Yours, Larry

Big Ed_4

I would advise find your Daughter a better Appartment ....

bburd

I remember that experiments were done with that, in the 1970s I think. It kept the floors nice and warm, and the crawlspace dry; but I believe they covered the dirt floor with plastic sheeting or similar. There would have to be a vapor / odor barrier.

hot_rod

Not to alarm you.

You can buy DIY radon test kits, or have a pro do an analysis. Not to mention mold, legionella bacteria, rodent byproducts, etc.
Real estate contracts here in Utah require radon test.

A CO detector would on my list ASAP, another common cause of headaches.