Vent

Abstract

A flood flaps vent for sealing a building crawlspace includes: (a) a vent box including open opposite front and rear ends forming a vent passageway in the vent box, the vent box including a top box portion and an opposite bottom box portion; (b) flexible flood flap hingably mounted to the vent box near the rear end of the vent box and constructed and arranged to permit the flexible flood flap to flex within the vent passageway to open the passageway; and (c) a grille that may be hingably mounted, the grille having openings therein for air and water flow through the grille, and positioned over the open front end of the vent box; the flood flap occluding the rear end of the vent box when it is in an at rest, home position. This simplified abstract is not intended to limit, and should not be interpreted as limiting, the scope of the claims.

Description

[0001]This application is a continuation in part of application Ser. No. 13 / 385,399 filed Feb. 17, 2012, in which Applicant claims priority.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates to a crawlspace vent with flood flaps that permit flood waters to pass in and out of a sealed crawlspace under a building in the event of a flood, yet inhibit air flow through the sealed crawlspace the rest of the time.BACKGROUND[0003]Many builders and homeowners in the last decade are realizing the advantages of sealing the crawlspace under their new construction, or converting the crawlspace under an existing building to a sealed crawlspace. With dehumidifiers operating in the crawlspace, usually under the control of a humidistat, such advantages include reduced humidity and a relatively constant temperature in the crawlspace, which result in lower heating and cooling bills for the building, reduced mold, fungus, and mildew under the building, and fewer problems from small animals enter...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009]Advantages of the flood flaps vent of the present invention include the following: 1) allows building crawlspaces of buildings in flood plains to be air sealed yet comply with state and federal codes for crawlspace flood venting; 2) allows the homeowner to control humidity while minimizing the threat of loss of integrity of the building walls in the event of a flood; 3) the grille assembly on the front of the flood flaps vent presents an aesthetically pleasing appearance to passers by, helps deter vandalism, and retards...

Problems solved by technology

Conventional air vents are disadvantageous with a sealed crawlspace, because dehumidifiers under the building will not work as well with an influx of humid outside air entering the crawlspace through conventional air vents.

It has therefore been impossible to seal a crawlspace in a building on a flood plain heretofore while complying with governm...

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