Tag: humidity

Controlling Bathroom Humidity

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Controlling Bathroom HumidityThere’s nothing quite like a nice hot shower.  After a long day, a hot shower is a good way to relax and get cleaned up.  Hot showers are also a great way to start your day if you’re an early riser.  Trouble is, hot water, especially during a long shower, is going to create a lot of suspended moisture that will settle into every surface, nook, and corner in your bathroom.  If your mirror is fogged after a shower, you know that every surface in the bathroom is as well.  Condensed water, especial in the channels for a shower door or the corners of your bathroom, is a breeding ground for mold if left unchecked.  Here’s how to keep your bathroom clean and sparkling.

Mop Up After Showers and Baths

Use a towel to absorb water and dry off floors, walls, and tubs.  This is especially true after a shower and when bathrooms are not actually in use.  If you’re facing a humid week due to heavy rains or fog, keep an eye on your bathroom for condensation or black spots beginning to form near especially wet corners.  If mold does start to appear, use warm, soapy water to clean the area, then towel and air dry to clean the surface.

Use a Dehumidifier

If conditions are too humid, either from ambient air or due to a hot shower, then it’s time to break out a dehumidifier.  This is self-explanatory, since dehumidifiers take water-vapor out of the air and condense that water internally.  Running a dehumidifier during your shower will prevent condensation from forming on walls and surfaces.  But you should consider that humid air is warmer.  Running a dehumidifier while showering will mean stepping out into the cold.  If that doesn’t bother you, it’s better than drying the bathroom after every shower.

Forced Air Ventilation

Extractor fans or bathroom ventilators as the simplest and best way to dry a bathroom after a shower.  Every bathroom should have an exhaust fan (or at least a window) already.  Running the fan during your shower will help cycle air out of the room, drawing dryer air from other rooms.  By circulating the air out, it prevents saturation which means that colder surfaces (walls, sinks, etc) won’t cause condensation to form as easily.

Run your exhaust fan while showering to maximize the effect.  But, if you enjoy the warmth provided from a steam-filled bathroom, then turn on and run the fan for at least half an hour after your shower is over.  The circulating air will dry out the bathroom and clean up any condensation you missed with the towel.

Leave towels hanging to dry in the bathroom while air is being cycled, but don’t store towels in the bathroom after the fan has stopped and you’ve closed the door.  Wet laundry carries enough spores to spawn a colony of mold, and the warm and wet environment is perfect for them if the laundry is left there for too long.

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How and Why to Control Home Humidity

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How and Why to Control Home HumidityIf you’ve read any of our other articles on home protection, mold remediation, and water damage you’ll know that high humidity is mold’s best friend.  Mold, mildew, and fungus all require heavy humidity from rain, standing water, or just steam from a shower or cooking to start replicating and spreading throughout your home.  Water damage can even originate from a high-humidity environment as temperature differences force water to condense on surfaces and stain or erode the surface.

But regulating the humidity in your home is a little more important than just preventing water and mold damage.  Climate, energy efficiency, and health are all affected by the internal humidity of your home.  If you don’t have a smart thermostat that includes one, purchasing a hygrometer to measure relative humidity is a useful tool, especially during the rainy season.,

Temperature and Humidity

Did you know that the weather feels warmer or cooler based on humidity?  The drier the air is, the cooler the room feels.  How cold a room feels can be up to 5 degrees of difference simply by adjusting the relative humidity of the room.

One of the many systems the human body uses to regulate heat is by cooling off through sweat.  Everything on earth is coated with a thin layer of moisture.  Fans help to cool us off by circulating air across skin.  As fresh air moves into contact with a surface, water is evaporated off of that surface using heat energy to shift into the air.  As it does this, heat is taken from the surface.  When the air is dry and humidity is low, water evaporates easily, migrating into the air.  When the air is already saturated with water, and humidity is high, there’s no way for water to evaporate.  In a high humidity environment, everything feels warm and muggy because evaporation is prevented.

This is part of why high humidity makes it so easy for mold and mildew to grow on surfaces.  Water won’t evaporate and there’s plenty of water-rich real estate for mold to move into.  At the same time, now you know why circulating air with a fan helps to mitigate mold and mildew: by aiding evaporation.

In short, keep the air dry in the summer to avoid mold-growth, decrease the relative temperature in your home, and save on cooling costs.

Ideal Humidity

Buying a hygrometer, dehumidifier, and a humidifier are all useful tactics for controlling the humidity of your home.  But what’s the ideal humidity level?  45% is best.  Decreasing humidity will save you money on cooling costs and make it unlikely that you’ll have a problem with mold, but reducing humidity too far will have a negative impact on you as well.  Low humidity will mean added heating costs in the winter and will lead to dry skin, lips, and a possible sore throat when you wake up in the morning.

Pushing humidity to far above 45%, while it will improve heating costs in the winter, increases the risk of mold and mildew growth.  So be cautious when adjusting humidity throughout your home.

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Tips for Preventing Mildew

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Tips for Preventing MildewBoth mold and mildew are fungal growths that coat surfaces with a nasty, spore-spewing substance when the humidity and temperature reach the correct levels.  But where mold tends to be black or green and spongy, mildew is often a white, powdery substance that coats multiple objects.  And, unlike the commonly-held belief, mildew doesn’t just rest on organic substances like paper and fabric either.  Glass, tile, and plastics can all become growing spots for mildew, which can allow it to spread to more easily damaged or porous substances.

Primary Locations

So where are you going to be likely to find mildew?  Anywhere you’d likely find mold growing.  Dark corners where high humidity is prevalent.  Mildew grows quickly when the environment is right, which means closed off laundry hampers, basement corners, and cabinets near water sources or leaky plumbing are all prime suspects for mildew.

Any room that suffers from high humidity, either during storms or during use – think basements during a storm or a bathroom during a hot shower – is a hotspot for mildew.  Surfaces that are hidden from the light are perfect as well.  Vinyl wallcoverings and flooring that’s hidden beneath appliances should be checked every quarter to make sure that no mildew has begun growing in these spaces.

Any areas of the home that are poorly ventilated can be a cause for concern as well. Ventilation makes it difficult for mold and mildew to grow because it helps to keep surfaces dry via evaporation.  Once mildew has already begun to grow, a ventilated area (without dehumidification) will only serve to spread spores faster.

Prevention and Control

So now you know where to find mildew, what can you do about preventing its growth in the first place? Unsurprisingly, many of the practices you need to follow for preventing water and mold damage apply here.

Fix Moisture Problems – Leaks, drips, and excess condensation are all sources for mildew.

Increase Air Circulation – Moving air helps to control temperature and dry out surfaces, making things difficult for mildew to develop.  This includes during or after showers or while cooking.  Use the vent fans to circulate humid air away from surfaces and keep humidity levels down.

Remove Wet Items – This isn’t just from water leaks and damage.  Any wet items need to be replaced or dried quickly. That includes laundry in your hamper.  Don’t let them sit and don’t leave water pooling anywhere.

Use a Dehumidifier – Humidity control is key.  If you aren’t planning on running your air conditioner regularly (strange as that may be during the summer), buy a dehumidifier for humid rooms to deal with the excess and keep things at or below 45% humidity.

Keep Your Home Clean – Strange as it may sound, cleaning up your home and general house maintenance are key to preventing mold.  Replacing air filters and dusting help to mitigate dust and mold spores.  General cleaning and maintenance will also force you to check trouble spots and keep them clear of any contaminants or current growth while the infestations are small.

Throw Away the Unsalvageable – Don’t keep moldy items.  If mildew has completely taken over something, it’s often best to simple toss it and replace it.  Porous items such as wood, insulation, or sheetrock should all be replaced quickly.  Favorite clothes and even some heirloom items are often not worth the cost of cleaning.  Irreplaceable memories should be sent for restoration if you really need to keep them.  But never let moldy items just sit around in the hope that drying out the air will fix the problem.

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Mold and your Air Conditioner

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Mold and your Air ConditionerUnknown to most homeowners, your air conditioner is caught in a complicated love-hate relationship with the mold in your home.  It’s a strange fate since your central cooling unit can be both a mold fighter and a source for mold growth at the same time.

Humidity Control

Your air conditioner is a simple de-humidifier.  It’s not directly intended but, due to how refrigeration works, your air conditioner actively dries out the air when it’s running properly.  As the temperature changes around the unit, vents, and evaporator coils, water condenses on their surfaces.  Mold thrives in humidity when it’s great than 45% (if you have a smart thermostat, it should list the average humidity inside your home) and air conditioners will often reduce the humidity inside your home to 45% or less.

Of course, dry air is not all it’s cracked up to be.  Excessively dry homes can leave you with cracked skin, a sore throat in the morning, and will make it harder to stay warm in the winter.  Likewise, keeping the air dry during the summer has the added benefit of making it easier to cool down.  So dry air, mixed with a fan, will decrease how much mold is in your home and help you to keep cool (both are excellent for the DFW Metroplex).

If the humidity in your home isn’t exactly what you’d like (aim for 45%), try using a humidifier or de-humidifier to reach the desired temperature.  This is especially true for rainy seasons like we’ve been experiencing recently.  When it’s cool enough outside to avoid using the air conditioner, it’s usually due to rainstorms.  The high humidity is a breeding ground for mold and mildew.  A dehumidifier is a cheaper alternative to running your AC.  So use a dehumidifier when it’s cool outside instead of cranking up the AC to keep your air dry.

Condensation

While your air conditioner does a good job at controlling the climate, it does have one drawback.  Central cooling pulls water out of the air during the cooling process.  That water has to go somewhere and it usually ends up on the condenser coils and evaporator.  Once water has collected, it drips away into a spill drain or drain pan.  This water is usually led to the outside or evaporates quickly enough that it isn’t a problem.  High humidity in the home, a malfunctioning AC unit, or a clogged condensate drain line can lead to water that leaks out and spills into your home.  Once this water has leaked out, it can damage walls, insulation, and flooring.  As an added ‘bonus,’ the water both inside and out of the drain line can be a safe-haven for mold growth.  If you notice water pooling around your AC unit, we recommend calling a repair man and inspecting the unit and walls for mold growth.

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