Controlling House Humidity To Prevent Mold

Humidity and moisture are two of the main factors that contribute to mold growth inside of a home, but some of the tricks to avoid them may not be so obvious. There are plenty of things that you can do to solve the moisture problem in your home, although some of them might cost you a little bit of money.

One thing that you can do is to install exhaust fans in as many rooms of the house as you can afford. Installing these in bathrooms and kitchens is the most important thing to start with, but installing them in other rooms can help with other kinds of damage, as well. They not only reduce water and mold damage to ceilings and upper walls, but they can also help to reduce the discoloration of these areas due to those who smoke inside the home.

A dehumidifier installed in a basement can help with the high humidity level down there. You should make sure that there are no ongoing leaks in that area first, though.

The humidity in the most frequented areas of your house should be kept around the mid-comfort range. If the humidity is too high or two low, the people who live with you will be uncomfortable. If the humidity is too high, mold can start to grow and if it is too low, things like nosebleeds can result from the air being too dry.

You should keep the humidity of your home somewhere around 45%, if possible. If the home or building has been wet for quite a while, it could take some time to completely dry this area out. You can use a fan to help speed up this process by moving the air around. If you cannot get the humidity to go down in an area such as a basement, you need to assume that there is still a significant source of moisture there that needs to be taken care of first.

Another way to prevent high humidity in the basement if you do your laundry down there is to never hang laundry up to dry there. If you have to hang laundry up to dry, do it outside.

You can also help prevent mold growth by insulating cold water pipes that are exposed in the basement. This helps keep condensation from building up on them and dripping to the floor as a result of humidity.


Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
flood water damage restoration chicago and
mold remediation companies across the united states.