When we get into the middle of Michigan’s hot summer season, humidity levels can skyrocket. This can leave you feeling extremely uncomfortable. Instead of turning down the temperature on your thermostat to help accommodate for the hotness you feel, there are many other things you can do to better control your indoor humidity.
Use Exhaust Fans
One of the easiest methods to help minimize indoor humidity is to use your exhaust fans. You should have an exhaust fan in the range hood above your stove that you can turn on whenever you’re cooking. This will divert steam, oils, and other contaminants involved with cooking directly to the outdoors instead of allowing them to back up in your home.
The same thing goes for your bathrooms. Anytime you’re taking a shower, you should be turning on the exhaust fan to divert that hot steam and soap scum directly out of your home. If you fail to use your exhaust fans, you’re essentially allowing all that hot humid air to remain suspended in your home.
Seal Up Air Leaks
A key to maintaining good indoor humidity is properly sealing your home from the outdoors. Over time, as your home settles into the ground, you can develop air leaks on your exterior walls. These will be most prominent around door and window frames but can also show up around wall outlets and light receptacles.
Anywhere there is an air leak, humid air from outside your home can easily come indoors. It’s best to seal off these leaks with weather stripping, spray foam, or even caulking.
Boost Air Circulation
One commonly overlooked method to help better control indoor humidity is air circulation. The more air circulating in your home, the more rapidly moisture will be able to evaporate from your body and cool you down. We suggest installing ceiling fans in all the main rooms of your home to provide a nice gentle breeze. If you don’t have room for a ceiling fan or you have very low ceilings, consider using floor fans or even box fans just to create more air movement in your home.
Use Moisture-Absorbing Compounds
There are many different products out there that are specifically designed to passively absorb excess moisture in your home. Items like moisture-absorbing bags and even baking soda can help absorb excess moisture in locations like your closets, basements, and even small rooms. These are very affordable options that can help put a dent in reducing your indoor humidity level.
Use a Whole-Home Dehumidifier
Many people are familiar with portable dehumidifiers that you simply plug into your wall outlet. These work to remove excess humidity from the air and require you to pour the water out of their tank every so often. A whole-home dehumidification system uses the same technology to pull excess moisture from the air.
However, instead of just treating the air in one room of your home, these whole-home systems can treat the air throughout your entire home. They get installed at your return ducting so they can treat all the air that travels through your ducting. These are very low maintenance, as they don’t require you to dump out any water.
Instead, they have a drain line directly connected to a drain in your home or to the outdoors to remove the water that it’s pulling out of the air. The beauty of whole-home dehumidifiers is you can simply set your thermostat to whatever indoor humidity level you want and it will take care of telling your dehumidifier when to turn on and off accordingly.
Minimize Steam-Generating Activities
Throughout the summer months when humidity levels are high, it can be highly advantageous to minimize any steam-generating activities you perform inside your home. For example, consider cooking outdoors instead of cooking on your stove. Instead of taking a hot shower, opt for putting it on the colder side. Instead of drying your clothes indoors, consider hang drying them outside.
Schedule AC Maintenance
One simple thing you can do to help improve the humidity in your home is schedule routine AC maintenance service. By ensuring that your air conditioning system is operating at its peak efficiency level, you can rest assured that it’s removing as much humidity as possible from your indoor air. If you fail to get this maintenance service, your air conditioner may be functioning at only a small amount of its full capacity, leading to excessively high indoor humidity.
Declutter Your Space
It’s typical for spaces like closets, basements, and other storage areas to become cluttered. Unfortunately, the more debris you have in a location, the more moisture it will trap. Taking some time to declutter these key areas will allow for more open space that better optimizes airflow throughout your home. This will go a long way in helping to prevent unwanted toxic mold and mildew growth.
Use the Sun
While avoiding direct sunlight on the very hottest of the summer days is great for maintaining your indoor temperature, you don’t want to forget about using the sun to minimize indoor humidity. On days that aren’t overly hot, consider opening up your blinds or curtains to allow direct sunlight to penetrate rooms that have a high moisture level. This will naturally dry out the moisture and even work to inhibit mold growth.
Ensure Your Dryer Is Vented Properly
One commonly overlooked problem that can contribute to high indoor humidity is improperly vented dryers. When your dryer is removing moisture from your clothes, it’s sending hot steam through its vent pipe. If this vent ends up in your attic or inside your home due to an indoor vent, it can increase the humidity level.
It’s best to ensure that your dryer gets vented directly to the outdoors to prevent any excess moisture from accumulating inside your home. Additionally, ensure you’re cleaning your dryer vent on a routine basis to prevent any buildup of debris inside the vent pipe.
Be Mindful of Rug Placement
Rugs and carpets are well known to trap excess moisture. You should avoid using them in any wet rooms of your home like your basement, bathroom, and even your kitchen. Instead, opt to simply use bare floors or washable mats that will easily dry out.
Importance of Controlling Indoor Humidity
Apart from keeping your home feeling comfortable so that you’re not turning down your thermostat and overworking your air conditioner, there are many other reasons to successfully control the humidity level in your home. When humidity levels get above 50%, they can encourage mold and mildew growth that can be toxic to your health. Furthermore, high humidity can cause wood to swell up. This can lead to cracking and disfigurement of your furniture, flooring, trim, cabinets, and other wood features throughout your home.
Expert Whole-Home Dehumidification System
Matheson Heating, Air & Plumbing offers expert whole-home dehumidification system installation for the Commerce, MI area. We can also assist with all your indoor air quality and cooling system needs. Simply call us today to book a consultation with one of our experienced AC professionals.