How to remove humidity in a house?

How to remove humidity in a room? The humidity is too high in the bedroom? There is a lot of condensation on the windows? Is mold forming in certain rooms of the house?

That is why it is important to reduce the humidity in the apartment. Today I am offering you 10 tips and tricks for removing humidity in a house.

1. The right humidity level in the house is important

It is very important to have the right level of humidity in a house, and this, in each of the rooms.

Too high a humidity level can be harmful not only to the health of the occupants but also to the materials and the very structure of the house.

In fact, humidity can easily reduce your quality of life since not only does it destroy homes by promoting mold growth and fungus but it can also cause dermatitis and respiratory diseases.

What is the humidity level in my home?

If you don’t know the humidity level in your home how do you know if it’s too high? Here is a small device that allows you to know the humidity level:

2. Remove humidity with a dehumidifier

If you are looking for a quick, effective and immediate trick to lower the humidity in a house, the dehumidifier is the solution.

There are small portable dehumidifiers that you can move from room to room. But if you really want to reduce the humidity throughout the house, it is better to choose an efficient dehumidifier.

Below is a dehumidifier model similar to what I have at home to remove moisture in my basement in the fall:

3. Ventilate the house to remove humidity

Aeration and ventilation is very important to remove humidity and renew the air in all rooms of the house.

Indeed, the least expensive and certainly the oldest way of all to reduce the humidity of a house consists in airing it by opening the windows for 10 minutes.

It’s what our grandmothers did when they opened the windows of their houses after doing the laundry or other household chores.

Ventilate the house in summer and winter!

So in summer and winter, consider opening a window a few centimeters in each room to remove excess humidity. But that’s not all, airing the house also allows you to:

• Eliminate bad odors in the house
• Eliminate the pollution caused by cigarettes (smoking house)
• Eliminate other types of household pollutants
• Freshen up the air in the house

4. Dry your clothes outside or in the washing machine

Do you dry your laundry directly on a rack (laundry rack) in the house after machine washing?

If so, it’s really not ideal for humidity. Already the washing machine increases the humidity in the laundry room now imagine hanging out the damp laundry in the house.

Do not dry clothes indoors!

You should really avoid drying clothes inside the house, even if it’s in the basement, since it increases the humidity level in all the rooms of the house, even in your bedroom.

Instead, use a clothesline to dry your clothes outside or the dryer to dry your clothes indoors.

Dry your laundry indoors!

If you really want to dry your clothes inside, you have to take certain precautions so as not to increase the level of humidity in the house too much.

Here is a guide that explains how to dry your laundry in the house: how to dry clothes indoors?

5. Operate the extractor hood

When you boil water, cook pasta or vegetables, do not hesitate to use the fan of the extractor hood in order to quickly evacuate the humidity in the kitchen.

It may seem simple, but in the winter when all the windows are closed, simply using the stove without using the extractor fan can increase the humidity level throughout the house.

Take the example of my home, a few minutes without operating the hood is enough to see fog appear on the kitchen windows.

Open the kitchen window a few centimeters.

Also, if you have a window in the kitchen you can also open it, even in winter. This simple ventilation will eliminate the humidity but also the smell of cooking.

6. Remove humidity in the bathroom

If you have a humidity problem in the bathroom, the first instinct should be to open the window! Unfortunately not all bathrooms have a window, so what can be done to ventilate and reduce the humidity in this room?

Install a bathroom CMV!

It is absolutely necessary to have a VMC in a bathroom or even in a laundry room. As this room is the most humid in the house, it is important to check if the ventilation is working properly. And if it’s an old house, consider buying and installing a VMC.

An aerator for the bathroom: If you don’t have a fan, you can install a window ventilator or a wall ventilator to help ventilate the bathroom.

Leave the bathroom door open!

If you don’t have mechanical ventilation or a window in the bathroom then you can leave the door open when you shower or bathe.

For other anti-humidity tips for this room of the house, here is an article to discover: How to remove humidity in a bathroom?

7. Check the dryer vent hose

If you use the clothes dryer to dry your clothes, it is very important to ensure that the exhaust pipe evacuates the air and humidity outside the house.

In old houses, the dryer pipe sometimes drains directly into the walls or into the attic, which causes an increase in the humidity level inside the house in addition to causing the appearance of mold.

Be careful with a condenser dryer!

Of course, if you use a condenser dryer in the apartment, you will of course need to have a good ventilation system in the room because the humidity level is likely to increase rapidly. You can also run a dehumidifier in the laundry room when using this type of dryer.

8. A moisture absorber for the home

Another solution to eliminate humidity or rather control the relative humidity in a room is the humidity absorber. There are several models of humidity absorbers, some in the form of a bag and others in the form of a box.

For a small room in the house, a closet or others, here is a compact absorber and dehumidifier:

9. Salt: an anti-humidity trick to try

Rather than spending money on getting rid of the humidity, how about trying a little salt-based trick from Grandma?

Here’s how to make this homemade dehumidifier with salt:

1. Cut a plastic bottle in half (a 2 liter bottle for example).
2. Use a small cloth and secure securely with a rubber band or rope
3. Turn over the part of the bottle with the neck and place on the other part
4. Add 1/2 cup of coarse salt and place the dehumidifier in the desired location

Here is an image of the steps to make this dehumidifier:

Of course, this small salt-based home dehumidifier works for small spaces such as closets, pantry, under the stairs, etc. For more efficiency you can instead buy a humidity absorber as proposed above.

10. Some work to remove moisture

If your humidity problems are rather due to poor workmanship in the building, remedy this problem by making the necessary corrections.

Here are some tips and work to do to reduce humidity in a house:

• Check and change leaky windows that promote window condensation.
• Seal the cracks in the foundation and the concrete slab in the basement using the hydrojection process since the cracks lead to water infiltration in the house which of course will increase the humidity level in the house.
• Check the condition of your home’s ventilation and ventilation system. If necessary, repair or install a new ventilation system or air exchanger.
• Check the dryer outlet to make sure air is exhausting outside.

Often expensive work!

As renovation work is often necessary and unfortunately very expensive, it is better to go there as a priority and according to your budget. If you can do small home jobs on your own, it can be a solution to considerably reduce costs.

Insulation of windows and doors is a job that you can easily adjust by yourself. This may be one of the causes of this humidity problem in the house.

The air exchanger is a real asset if you have a lot of humidity everywhere in the house. Come and discover more tips here: How to remove humidity in a cellar?

FAQ and Frequently Asked Questions about humidity in a house