How to Get Rid of Humidity

If you weren’t already feeling the heat, additional humidity in your home can make it feel even hotter. This is because humidity prevents our bodies from being able to cool quickly, since our sweat can’t evaporate as effectively as it would in drier climates. This isn’t always a problem in Colorado, but during the summer when your windows and doors are closed all day humidity can start to build up. You’ll also notice it after a period of rain as moisture begins to evaporate back into the air.

Besides being uncomfortable, excess moisture in your home can lead to damage and helps to encourage the growth of mold and mildew. This lowers the quality of your air and can lead to you feeling sick or congested.

To help with moisture levels indoors, we’ve pulled together a few tips on how to get rid of humidity in your home.

Ventilate

Prevent humid air from lingering around by ventilating your home. This can be done by opening your windows or by turning on vent fans in rooms with higher humidity. This includes areas like your bathroom or kitchen. In the bathroom you may have a ceiling vent installed that you can run while showering or even after to help pull humid air out. In the kitchen, the vent above your stovetop or even built into your microwave can help move air around and decrease humidity in your home’s common areas.

Take Shorter and Colder Showers

While a hot, steamy shower feels great – especially in the winter – all of that steam eventually has to go somewhere. And when you open the bathroom door, it sweeps through your home raising the humidity levels. To prevent this, either take shorter showers, as to produce less steam, or cool down the temperatures of the water. Cooler showers won’t create as much steam and are even better for your health, especially your skin!

Dry Your Clothes Outside

Hanging your clothes up to dry inside can have a similar effect to turning on a humidifier. Wet clothes dry as moisture is evaporated into the surrounding air and the surrounding air just so happens to be the inside of your home. If possible, hang dry your clothes outside or at least somewhere that is well ventilated. Alternatively, you can put your clothes in the dryer and run it at lower temperatures to prevent damaging them.

Place Plants Outside

All plants give off some level of moisture into the air. This is because plants open their stomata, which are small pores on the underside of their leaves, to absorb carbon dioxide. When this happens trace amounts of moisture are released. Moisture will also be contained in the soil since any water the plants don’t absorb can evaporate back into the air.

If you have plants in your home, this moisture can accumulate and will raise the humidity levels in your home. To prevent this, only have a few plants in your home or even move them outside. Also consider the size of your plants as those with larger leaves will be able to give off more moisture.

Replace A/C Filter

While replacing your air conditioners filter is always a good idea, installing a new one will also help with the humidity in your home. These air filters are designed to remove contaminants from the air, but also to allow air to flow efficiently throughout your home. If your air filter is clogged, air can not flow through it effectively, allowing moisture to accumulate due to improper ventilation.

With most air filters costing no more than $20, this is a quick and cheap way to help decrease the humidity in your home.

Turn on the A/C

Hot air is more likely to be humid than cold air due to waters propensity to condensate at lower temperatures. Rather than evaporating into the air like it does in warm weather, water will condense and collect in colder temperatures, leaving the air less humid.

To take advantage of this effect in your home, turn on your air conditioner. You’ll have cooler air in your home and the air conditioning system will help to pull any condensation out of the air.

Invest in a Dehumidifier

If you’re still having trouble getting the humidity out of your home, it might be time to invest in a dehumidifier. A dehumidifier works by pulling in air, passing it over cooled coils, then collecting the moisture as it condenses inside the machine. Depending on the size of your home or how many rooms you need it to be used in, there are multiple options including portable dehumidifiers for easy mobility throughout your house. For specific questions on dehumidifiers and what you might need for your home, contact us.