What causes high humidity in a house? It’s safe to say that there are few things more important to one’s home than making sure that you feel comfortable within it. After all, a home is a massive investment. This has always been the case, but now with mortgages skyrocketing and wages stagnating, the choice to buy a home is all the more monumental. As such, when you buy a home, you want to make sure that it really feels comfortable. That simply won’t be the case if you have to deal with high degrees of humidity in your home. Whether you prefer dry or humid heat, having an overly-humid home is a sweaty nightmare, and one that can not only leave you dreading paying for that home in the first place, but if it’s due to a structural problem, can actually lessen your home’s overall property value.
Even beyond the raw financial side of things, there are plenty of medical incentives to avoid having your home become too humid. For example, excessive humidity and moisture can be hugely problematic for those who suffer from conditions which can be exacerbated by those factors.
In addition to that element of personal health, there’s also the added nuance of psychology. It’s a well-worn adage that the difference between a “house” and a “home” is the degree to which you feel welcome and at ease in the latter as opposed to the former. You never want to find yourself in a position where your home is stuffily uncomfortable. Not only can that make for a medically problematic experience, but it can have a real effect on your psyche.
For all of these reasons, it is important that your home be kept at a good, comfortable temperature. Too often overlooked, however, is the humidity level of your home. For as important as it is to make sure that your home is well heated, well ventilated, and free of moisture or draftiness, you also want to be sure that your home isn’t too dry or too humid. The latter in particular can be a nightmare for those looking to reduce the degree of moisture in their home for health reasons. What’s more, if you already don’t like humid weather, you’re hardly going to want to come home to the hot, sticky, oppressive environment fostered by high humidity in the home.
There are many different causes of high humidity, each of which can be combated in its own way. Here are 10 of the most consistently problematic and pernicious causes of high humidity within homes, as well as what you can do to eliminate this problem.
10 Causes Of High Humidity In A House
Steam from Showers
We all love a good hot shower in the morning. It’s absolutely comfortable, cathartic, and, thus, warms and soothes your frazzled nerves as much as it warms your shivering body on a cold winter’s day. At the same time, however, all that steam from hot showers that helps make them the lovely little cocoons of warmth that they are don’t simply dissipate when you turn off the shower. Instead, they hover and linger about your home. Even once they do disperse, the moisture from these showers can cling to the ceilings and walls, adding to your home’s moisture, as well as humidity problem. This, in turn, can cause further problems with respect to a buildup of moisture in the home – namely, the prospect of a buildup of mold. For as annoying as humidity problems can be on their own, the last thing that you want is to have it joined by mold growing in nasty foul-smelling décor-destroying patches all over your bathroom and beyond. As such, you’ll want to be careful to take steps to treat your bathroom with materials that can help reduce the degree to which moisture clings or seeps into the wood, tiling, and other aspects. You will also want to make sure that you have good protective coatings for combating mold in place.
Gas and Propane Heating Systems
Once again, you naturally want to do whatever you can to make sure that your home is adequately heated during those long winter months. Different types of fireplaces, as well as other gas and propane heating systems, are a fantastic way to do just that. Whether you opt for a built-in system or one that is free standing, or one that’s more traditional in style and construction or else one that’s a bit more on the modern side, it’s a fantastic home upgrade to have. That said, if you leave these running unchecked, you might well run the risk of overheating your home and, thus, having a humidity problem.
Steam from Kettles
The same problem, in miniature, can manifest with respect to your tea kettle and kitchen. When you boil the water to prepare your tea, that steam naturally gets released via the spout, which can lead to it clinging to your kitchen and creating a humid, moist, mold-ridden nightmare for everything from your kitchen walls to your cupboards.
Drying Your Laundry Indoors
Most of us don’t tend to think of drying one’s laundry as a means of contributing to a home’s humidity problem. That can certainly be the case, however, because once again we have an instance where heat, moisture, and sometimes steam are being released into the air as the result of an action. That being said, as with using a tea kettle or taking a hot shower, doing your laundry is an everyday task, and not one you’ll be keen to give up simply for the sake of cutting down on your home’s humidity. It is, thus, in your interest to find smarter ways of accomplishing this – namely, by having a proper home ventilation system in place.
Poor or Improper Ventilation
Which brings us, in turn, to problems with these ventilation systems. As shown above, having a good one can be crucial for limiting the amount of humidity in your home. If your home’s ventilation system is blocked, its fans are broken, or other problems abound, however, you can quickly find your home becoming a moist, humid mess.
Issues with Dampness in or Near Your Home
That being said, it isn’t always faulty ventilation to blame for a buildup of moisture within the home. If your home has a perpetual problem with high humidity and moisture levels, it may be down to the very construction of your home itself. For example, if your home is built from materials which can not only become wet easily, but also trap that dampness for a long time, you have a problem on your hands.
Renovation Issues
As such, if you are trying to renovate your home, you’ll want to address this problem. This means making sure that you are using building materials that have dried properly and are less likely to absorb and trap moisture. You’ll also want to be sure to address any outstanding issues with ventilation your home might have. Take this opportunity to beautify your home, as well as add to its humidity resistance.
Coastal Issues
Humidity is formed when water begins to evaporate, particularly in warmer areas and in areas which contain large bodies of water. As such, it should come as no surprise that coastal cities in warmer areas of the world can have a harder time with humidity than other areas.
Naturally High Humidity Climates
In that same vein, it is fair to say that there are just some places which are more humid than others. If this is the case, you are bound to have a more uphill battle than you might otherwise have. As such, you’re going to want to be sure to take extra precautions to make sure that the humidity outside doesn’t work its way inside. It’s fair to note that there are limits to which this can be effective. If you live in ever-humid Miami, for example, or somewhere in the Caribbean, there’s only so much you can realistically hope to limit the humidity on your own. Aside from your own efforts, such as those mentioned above, how humid things are in and near your home is simply going to depend on the climate, season, and even the weather on a given day.
Regions with High Amounts of Rainfall
Last but not least, it’s worth considering that, as with coastal and naturally high humidity areas, if you live in an area that experiences high amounts of rainfall, obviously that’s going to create lots of moisture and, yes, a potential for humidity within your home. You, thus, want to make use of all of the precautions listed above to combat that fact.
As demonstrated, there is no one single cause of high humidity within the home, nor is there one singular way in which it can be eliminated. Instead, you’ll want to take a series of measures to make sure that you guard against both high humidity and the problems it can cause. This means having something which, hopefully, you now possess – an increased awareness of the issue itself. Knowing about high humidity in advance can give you the foresight to devise means to limit it within your home.
