You’ve moved into your beautifully-designed bachelor pad. You’ve just had an amazing first summer at your new place. But winter is settling in. As you look around your house, you start to notice water where there shouldn’t be any. Water is pooling at the bottom of windows. Damp is manifesting around the skirting board in your living room. What’s going on?
Problems with humidity and moisture in your home need to be solved as soon as possible.
What are the risks of high interior moisture?
High interior moisture creates lots of damp around your house. This damages paint and plaster. It also provides a nice probiotic area in which bad bacteria can thrive. Mold and mildew are common problems with high interior moisture. The dampness levels can also damage framing and structures like the roof.
The risks here should be obvious. Damage to the integral structure of your home introduces the risk of parts collapsing. Mold launches pathogenic bacteria into the air which can cause disease and respiratory problems. Mold remediation needs to occur as soon as possible if your home is affected.
Why is it happening?
Oddly enough, the newer your home is, the more likely you are to have this problem. Put simply, there’s too much of a difference between the air in your home and the air outside it. Older homes tended to leak air more than newer ones. This was bad for heat insulation, of course. But it also helped keep interior and exterior air at levels of density and heat closer to equal.
The biggest contributor to the problem is people. It’s your breath that’s adding the most moisture to the environment. We’re guessing that getting rid of the people in the house isn’t a viable option, so we’ll skip that one. There are other things you do apart from breathing that increases moisture levels. Cooking, washing, and cleaning will do it.
The problem will usually manifest when the vapour comes into contact with cool surfaces. The prime candidates here are your windows, where you probably first noticed problems.
What can I do about it?
You need to ensure that moisture can escape your home properly. This involves increasing the ventilation in your home and identifying sources of surplus moisture. Check your home for leaks. Leaks are a sign that the system that is supposed to draw water from your house isn’t working properly. You also need to look into bathroom extractor fans. If you already have one, ensure it’s working correctly. Your bathroom is where most moisture is created, and that will spread throughout the house. An extractor fan gets that moisture out of the room. Let it run for a while longer after you shower.
If you have any indoor plants or aquariums, you might want to consider reducing these in number. If you’re hanging your laundry to dry inside your house, you might want to consider changing this habit. If this isn’t a possibility, make sure the windows are all open or get a dehumidifier.
Moisture problems are more likely to manifest visibly in colder weather. However, it will have been an issue all year. You should be taking steps to remove moisture in summer, as well. Even i the problem isn’t as immediately obvious, the first steps of moisture damage are occurring.
