5 Simple Ways to Reduce the Humidity in Your Home

With summer in full swing it’s important for you to know how to reduce the humidity in your home. The last thing you want to do is walk into your home on a humid day and not be comfortable or feel a refreshing temperature change. When humidity levels rise, our bodies cool off by perspiring. When there is a lot of moisture in the air we cannot perspire (sweat), leaving us uncomfortable. With lower temperatures comes lower humidity and conditions are more receptive to the evaporation of our perspiration, which makes us feel much more comfortable.

Below we have provided five simple ways for you to reduce the humidity in your home for a more comfortable summer.

1. Boost your home ventilation

Cooking and showering are just two examples of how moisture can build up in your home. Removing that moisture can be done simply and effectively through the use of exhaust fans, which most newer homes are built with. Once you are done cooking or showering, be sure to run your exhaust fans for at least 5 minutes to prevent the buildup of moisture in your home.

It’s important to note that although they can be extremely helpful, running these fans for too long can actually bring in more humidity than it gets rid of. It is also important to make sure that these fans are exhausting directly outside, and not into the home itself or your attic. If they are exhausting into the home or your attic, we highly recommend that you contact a contractor that can change the exhaust piping so that they go directly outside. It’s also important to check your attic to make sure that it is properly ventilated. If it is not properly ventilated, the moisture that it accumulates can find its way into other rooms in your home.

It is also imperative to make sure that your clothes dryer vent is also exhausting outside the home. If the airflow from your exhaust fans or dryer aren’t released outside the home, then the humid air will continue to circulate throughout your home.

2. Make sure your AC is equipped

Removing humidity and moisture from your home is the most important thing your air conditioning unit does during the summer cooling season, but it can become harder if it is being overworked.

AC systems work best if you have stayed up-to-date with your air conditioning maintenance, including replacing your air filter on a regular basis. Check with your HVAC service provider to see how often that needs to be done, as it will vary depending upon the type of air filter you use. If you haven’t had your system serviced regularly or done needed repairs, then it might not be doing its job properly. It is important that you have maintenance done on your air conditioning system annually.

Just as important to minimizing the humidity levels in your home is how you operate your system. Start by making sure that you turn the system on earlier in the day before humidity has a chance to build up in your home. It is always easier and more efficient to maintain temperature and humidity levels in your home, then to lower them. It is also recommended that if you have an electrically efficient blower motor (commonly referred to as an ECM motor) in your system, that you turn the thermostat fan switch to the ‘ON’ position and let it run continually. This will keep the air moving in your home and help to prevent the buildup of heat and humidity.

3. Control moisture sources in basements and crawl spaces

Crawl spaces and basements are notorious for being the most humid parts of your home. Outdoor air can come in through crawl space vents and the relative humidity increases when it enters your home. Moisture can come through the foundation of your home as well and end up in your basement, which can spread to other rooms of your home. Although it is nearly impossible to get rid of moisture in your basement completely, it is important to find the problem early so you can solve it.

To solve these problems you can:

• Fill in cracks in the foundation of your home
• Improve ventilation with an air conditioning system
• Remove moisture sources from the basement
• Consider the installation of a dehumidifier (see below)

4. Add a dehumidifier

This seems like a very simple solution, but less than 20% of homes in the United States have a dehumidifier. A dehumidifier consists of: a fan, a compressor, compressor coils, a re-heater, and a reservoir. First, the fan collects air from the surrounding area and pulls it into the dehumidifier. As the air passes through, it comes into contact with the dehumidifiers cooled coils. These coils use condensation to remove moisture from the air. The moisture remains on the coils and is collected in the dehumidifier reservoir. The dehumidifier will then exhaust the filtered air back into the room, making it less humid than before.

You can find dehumidifiers in different sizes.  Whole-home dehumidifiers are much more effective and convenient than portable units however and require professional installation.

5.) Natural options

Living without an AC unit? Don’t want to buy a new dehumidifier or pay to fix your AC unit? There are alternative options for reducing the amount of humidity in your home. For example, taking shorter showers can result in less moisture in your home and by opening windows, you can quickly improve airflow to help eliminate the buildup of moisture.
When the outside moisture is much lower than the moisture in your home then opening windows can reduce the condensation on your walls and windows.

Contact an HVAC Professional

In order to successfully control the humidity in your home, you must know the root of the problem and the most effective way to solve it. Whether that means you buy a new dehumidifier, come up with a solution to improve your ventilation problems, or fix your existing AC unit, it is important to solve the problem as soon as possible. Contact us for any of your installation or repair needs.