I am a fairly new builder and am about to start my largest Spec house yet. One of the features I want to add to make it a bit different is a cedar closet. All I have read indicates that the closet should be air tight. This I can do but I am concerned about the ventilation of the space. The closet will be on the second (top) floor. Two of the walls will be exterior walls and the ceiling will adjoin the attic. If I make the room air tight, I am concerned about how hot it might get. This house will be in <!—-><!—-> <!—->Charlotte<!—->, <!—->NC <!—-><!—-> where the summers get quite hot. If I vent the closet into the air conditioned space, I am concerned that I have lost the potential benefit of the sealed room and the smell will permeate the whole house.
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I recognize that cedar may not have any real moth repellent properties, but by making it air tight, I have eliminated the main source of moth infestations. The cedar aspect is more for marketing than anything.
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Any advice on the venting is welcome.
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Thank you.
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Doug M
Replies
Why would the fact that the closet is lined with cedar make it behave any differently than any other closet any place else in the house??
Ive never seen an a/c'd closet unless it was a walk-in, and then I sure would not be lining it with cedar.
I don't get it. Why do you want to vent something that you have already learned is supposed to be tight?
You are contradicting yourself.
Why not call a company that specializes in closets and ask.
But you already have the industry info, and you wish to disregard it for some reason.
Eric
I Love A Hand That Meets My Own,
With A Hold That Causes Some Sensation.
[email protected]
Edited 2/21/2005 6:15 pm ET by Eric Paulson
Eric,
Thank you for your help.
The closet will be 8 x 10 and yes, all the other walk-in closets will have A/C vents.
I'll take your advice and ask someone else.
Doug M.
I have noticed a fair number of interior woodworkers who have developed allergies to cedar. It has started with me in the last year or so when running cedar through the saw, my breathing becomes constricted and shallow. I've run thousands of feet of cedar through tablesaws and routers over the years. It never used to bother me. I suppose the tighter houses we're building might have something to do with recent prolonged exposures. I don't have a technical study to point to, just my own observations. Could a walk-in closet in unfinished cedar eventually affect a homeowner?
I would be uncomfortable with a fully unfinished cedar closet considering the tightness of homes today. Ventilation might be an option. Sealing most of the cedar (varnish etc...) except for and enclosed space,( a closet within a closet if you will) may be another.
The oils within the cedar that give the aroma eventually dry and crystalize on the suface of the boards when left in exposed areas. Cedar trunks, because of their airtightness, do not have a drying effect on the cedar oils and remain smelling like cedar for decades.
Be Constructive
Gord
St.Margaret's Bay NS
Many (if not most) people will grow in and out of allergies over their life time. In some cases exposure will CAUSE an allergy to develop, but in others exposure will cause an immunity to develop. I don't think anyone knows too much about why this is, as the immune system is still very mysterious.
A science show on the radio explained one theory of the immune response. The lungs produce an acid much like the stomach does to repel infection. With repeated exposure, the body's response time to these attacks becomes quicker and more agressive in some people. If enough of these acids are produced in the lungs the acid itself can affect breathing.
Well I have an autoimmune disorder of the small nerve fibers. They can barely keep me comfortable, let alone stop it. So I have little faith in most answers. I figure there is a lot more about bodies that we DON'T know than we do.
Aye, B.
Sounds like you may have a little more insight than most considering your conditition.The more I see, the less I know.
You're lucky you got the autoimmune.
I'm still on manual. ;~)_Be Constructive
Gord
St.Margaret's Bay NS
"usually" we become a bit more sensitive to the allergen before developing the immunity. Just like allergy shots.
But ... at least for my area ... south west PA ... these last coupla years have been the worst years on record for allergy's and pollen.
seems each year is a new record high.
my wife who suffered much worse then I did just finished her 5 year course of shots ... I was "lucky" enough to "not need shots" ... which forced our Doc to admit ... means I have the luxury of suffering slightly less ... but for the rest of my life!
and ... he said ... a sensitivity to one ... say tree pollen ... can help trigger a sensitivity to another ... say a certain wood species. Almost like system overload.
Jeff Buck Construction
Artistry in Carpentry
Pgh, PA
>>All I have read indicates that the closet should be air tight.
I read somnewhere (FHB?) that they don't really do anything other than smell nice for awhile.
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Sojourners: Christians for Justice and Peace
a long time ago, i had a german friend who explained that yes, cedar closets are effective in repelling moths. they might enter and survive but they dislike it enough to not lay their eggs in anything there (which is where the real trouble is). and she did say they need to be kept closed "Snug".
i got the impression that cedar closets were more common over there than here (US) nowadays. possibly an answer can be found pursuing european links...
is this a walk-in closet? i have looked at a few old houses (ca early 1900's) in the south that had built-in cedar wardrobes standing in the center of the attic (over 2 stories; veery hot in summer). they looked like any old wardrobe. if you're building a walk-in, maybe your homeowner should reconsider and have a smaller portion of it closed off in cedar, like a built-in wardrobe within the closet area, with the vent in the main closet
i'm no expert. hope someone gives you the right answer.
What are you expecting to store in this walk-in closet?
Just asking since a friend of mine made a cedar walk-in closet in his daughter's new room. He thought she would love it. A month later he was varnishing it. When I asked him why, he said his daughter didn't want to go to school smelling like cedar, but what do teenage Daughters know about being cool...
Edited 2/23/2005 5:41 pm ET by hammer-n
I would insulate extremely well, but not ventilate.
If you ventilate, you may as well not install the cedar.
If properly insulated, I don't think this space is going to get as hot as you think. We did one in an attic 10 years ago with good success, no complaints. I was in the space in the summer and it was quite warm but certainly not unbearable.
carpenter in transition
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