Everyday Habits That Increase Moisture Inside Your Home
Do you know that there are certain daily activities or small habits that can add to the amount of moisture present in your house? Yes, some of those little things you easily overlook can actually increase humid air or add to the moisture within your living space.
Before we get into the details, there’s one little misconception we need to correct. Now, whenever people hear conversations about an increase in “moisture” in a home, they usually think it is something very serious like a leaking roof or flooding on the floor as a result of heavy rainfall, but that’s not often the case. Most times, a large part of the moisture found inside a house do not come from big problems, instead, they’re birthed by normal daily routines or things that you least expect to cause a problem. So, for instance, when you wake up in the morning, we all know it’s normal that you take a warm shower before heading out for the day’s activities. But guess what? That’s one of the major daily contributors of moisture in your home. A hot bath fills your bathroom with warm air and if the air stays in there for a long time, it can add to humidity in the entire house and even contribute to a moist environment that mold needs to thrive.
Apart from a warm shower, cooking and drying of clothes in the house, there’s one other shocking daily habit that also contributes to the moisture level in a home and that is the process of breathing in and out. Yes, your breath adds moisture to the air.
At first, all of these moisture contributors may not look like a big deal because you’re not seeing the immediate impact, but after some time they start to build up or accumulate and you might begin to notice that the air inside your home is holding more moisture than it normally should. It’s important to note that these factors do not add moisture in a dramatic way or in a manner that’ll make you alarmed. Rather, what you’ll experience is a quiet, slow and steady buildup that becomes a normal part of the environment you live in every day. This is why most homeowners are not always able to connect their daily habits to moisture problems.
So before you even start thinking about calling a professional for a water damage restoration service, it’s advisable to learn and understand this simple idea which is; moisture doesn’t always come from problems, sometimes, it comes from routine.
Why Indoor Moisture Matters More Than You Think
Do you know that it’s totally fine to have a little amount of moisture in the air inside your house? Now you know! Moisture in the air is not actually a bad thing. In fact, moisture makes the air feel comfortable instead of being too dry. However, when the amount of moisture in the air becomes excessive, it can become a problem for your home.
Comfort and Air Quality
One major reason why you need to be concerned about the amount of moisture in indoor air is that it can determine how comfortable a room will be. Now, when you’re indoors and the air is dry, you’ll notice that sweat dries off quickly from your skin and this will make your body feel a bit cool. However, if there’s too much moisture in the air, you may not feel as comfortable as you used to feel when you’re indoors. Although you might not be able to tell what’s happening, you’ll just notice that your entire body is feeling uneasy and discomforted as if something is slightly off. Sometimes it might feel as if the air is heavy while at other times your room might just feel warmer than it actually is. So this is what is happening; when there’s plenty of moisture in the air, the air will not be able to soak up moisture from your skin. This will automatically make you start feeling hot. And even if the room doesn’t feel hot, it’ll feel stuffy.
Long-Term Effects
If you allow the humid air to remain in the house for a long time, you’ll start noticing more obvious signs. The humid air that was slightly stuffy before may now become an obvious musty smell – a sign that the house has been damp for too long and mold is already growing somewhere in the house. And that’s not all, your walls and ceilings may start developing small stains which will grow into large patches if left unattended. These patches might grow to bubbling paints and end up peeling off from the walls and ceilings.
As a homeowner, it’s important to note that excess moisture doesn’t cause a problem instantly, instead, it builds up slowly and starts causing damage quietly until you’re able to see the obvious signs. So, you might think that those small daily habits that add moisture to the air are not harmful until you start seeing obvious signs of problems. Moisture always accumulates quietly and it changes indoor conditions without your knowledge. And once it builds up, it doesn’t just go away on its own.
Habit 1: Cooking Without Ventilation
The first daily habit we’ll talk about is cooking – some women’s favorite chore. Whether you love cooking or not, it’s something that you can’t do without. In fact, in many homes it’s something they do every single day and this makes it an inevitable routine. I guess you’re wondering by now; so what’s wrong with cooking? Well, nothing feels wrong until it actually becomes wrong and that’s the case when it comes to cooking. This house chore can affect the condition of your home especially when there’s no ventilation in your kitchen. Let’s see how cooking adds moisture to your home.
Steam from Boiling and Frying: Do you remember that white “smoke” that you see when you’re boiling water? Well, that smoke is called steam and it is simply moisture escaping from the pot and trying to find a new home in the air. If your windows are closed as you prepare that big pot of pasta, the steam leaving the pot will not have anywhere else to go than to linger in the kitchen space and get soaked into the air. Now, when the air becomes saturated with moisture and it can no longer take it anymore, the moisture looks for cold surfaces where it can settle on. This is the reason why you might notice tiny water droplets on your kitchen’s window whenever there’s no adequate ventilation.
The same thing happens when you’re frying or even cooking soup.
If you cook for 30 minutes to an hour and you do this at least twice a day, then it means a lot of steam will be released into the home. Now imagine homes where they cook for longer hours and it’s done everyday, what do you think would happen? Well, all the moisture will build up slowly and settle down in hidden places where it will encourage mold growth.
Some modern homes are designed with extractor fans in the kitchen. If your kitchen windows are closed and the extractor fan installed there isn’t working, the steam or warm air will linger in the kitchen and after sometime it’ll spread to nearby rooms and settle on walls and ceilings. But when you open the windows or ensure that the extractor fans are running, the warm air will no longer stay indoors; instead it’ll be channeled outside and your kitchen will have less humid air.
With the above, we can easily conclude that the moisture problem is not just from the cooking chore itself but it is as a result of cooking without letting steam escape.
Habit 2: Long and Hot Showers
If you want to look neat and smell nice before heading for work or you want to feel refreshed after a tough day at work, then a long and warm shower is all you need. Having a hot shower usually makes people feel relaxed whether it is done in the morning or at night. In fact, it’s one of those simple comforts that people enjoy daily. But do you know that this same habit that brings comfort can also become a problem in your home. Bathing every single day for long hours and using a hot shower can create one of the highest amounts of moisture inside the home. Let’s see how it happens.
Bathroom Steam Build-Up
When you enter your bathroom and run the hot water, you’ll notice a large amount of white smoke (which we called steam earlier on) circulating and moving around the bathroom.
As you turn on the water, you may start to see the steam rising in the mirrors. This steam doesn’t just stay on a spot, it moves all over the bathroom and gradually starts soaking into surfaces. The mirrors and windows that were looking clear when you entered the bathroom will now start appearing foggy. Your walls and ceilings are also not spared from the moisture invasions as they both soak up moisture and start feeling damp.
It’s important to note that the longer you stay in the bathroom while the shower is running the higher the amount of moisture that’ll be released into the space. So if you and your household usually have a quick shower, it might not cause too much of an issue. However, if you all have a long shower every single day, the amount of moisture that’ll be in circulation will be overwhelming.
Poor Bathroom Ventilation Issues
In most homes, bathrooms are usually built with very small windows and if these windows are not open throughout the day, there won’t be adequate ventilation in the space. Since many homeowners leave their bathroom doors and windows shut, the steam from a hot shower would remain trapped in the bathroom and slowly settle on any surface it finds. Another thing that could increase ventilation is an extractor fan. If you don’t use your extractor fan or it’s not working properly because it’s faulty, then ventilation will be poor and moisture will linger in the space and stick to walls, ceilings and corners. And since you have to take your bath every day then those surfaces would not get the chance to fully dry. The end result is usually a damp wall or ceiling that damages paints or allows mold to grow.
So what can you do about this? Your best bet is to ensure the windows are always open whether you’re indoors or not. Another thing you can do is run the extractor fan some minutes before you take your bath and leave it running for at least 30 minutes after bathing to prevent mold, mildew and peeling paint.
Habit 3: Drying Clothes Indoors
Many homeowners sometimes dry their clothes indoors either because there’s no outdoor space to do so in their compound or the weather is not favorable for them to leave the clothes outdoors. But, do you know that drying clothes indoors can add to the moisture level in the space of your house? Let’s see how this happens.
Evaporation from Wet Fabrics: When you wash and rinse your clothes, it’s normal to have them wet or soaked. If you dry these wet clothes indoors, the water that the clothes were holding do not just disappear, instead, it turns into moisture and floats around in the air. Now, assuming you dry more clothes indoors at once, what you’ll end up having is a surprisingly high amount of moisture released into the air. What if you have to do the same task of washing and drying indoors several times in a week. Well, that’s going to increase the moisture going into your indoor air. The surprising thing is that you may not see it happening but it is building up quietly and slowly increasing the humidity in the room.
This moisture problem may not be noticed in most homes especially if the room where you’re drying the clothes is big and well ventilated. However, if the room is very small or the windows are tightly sealed and there’s no room for enough airflow, the moisture will have no choice than to linger in the air. It’ll stay in the room and start spreading to nearby areas gradually. Before you know it your walls, ceilings and even furniture have started absorbing moisture and showing signs of dampness.
One of the first things you’ll notice when the air in the room is saturated with moisture from previous clothes drying is that it’ll start taking longer for your clothes to dry. You might also notice that the air in the room is slightly heavier. If the problem is allowed for a long time or you repeatedly dry clothes indoors without ventilation it can lead to bigger issues like damp patches or musty smells and at this point mold might have already started growing quietly in the room.
So should you put an end to the habit of drying clothes indoors? Well, it might not be easy to do that especially when it rains everyday. What you have to do is change the way you dry the clothes. Make sure your windows are open, the clothes are well spaced and you dry the clothes in a place that’s well ventilated. All of these would help reduce the amount of moisture that stays trapped inside the room.
Habit 4: Keeping Windows Closed All the Time
Keeping windows closed has its good side and downside. One of the positives is that a closed window helps to keep dust out of your house and maintain the indoor temperature. Another is that it helps reduce noise. Now, when it comes to discussions around moisture in a home, the downsides are more.
One major downside of a closed window is that it allows air to remain trapped inside and this increases humidity or moisture level in the air. During normal everyday activities like cooking and showering, moisture is released into the home and this moisture will not have a way to escape if the windows are closed all day long. What happens in this situation is that fresh air will not come in and damp air will also have nowhere to go. The condition in the room will gradually get worse as you continue your routine habits because no air is going in and none is going out. Instead, the moisture increases as the air is forced to hold more water from those daily contributors.
As time goes by, you’ll start to notice that the space is feeling stuffy or it’ll just be uncomfortable to stay in.
Problems associated with closed windows are usually more common in modern homes than older homes because modern homes are designed to be highly efficient. Modern homes usually have tightly sealed windows and doors and there’s hardly space for the house to breathe. Older homes on the other hand have tiny gaps that allow natural airflow and give room for moisture or humid air to escape.
Whether you live in older homes with enough breathing spaces or you stay in a more modern home, it’s important to always keep your windows open for most part of the day. Even if you stay in an older house, there still won’t be smooth airflow if you open your window for a short time each day.
Habit 5: Overcrowded Spaces and Furniture Placement
This is the easiest habit that most homeowners overlook because it doesn’t seem to have a direct relationship with moisture. But in reality, furniture arrangement can determine how air moves in an apartment. Let’s see how this happens.
Most modern homes are designed to be small and portable and as a result they do not have enough space for you to place your household fittings. This design usually forces many homeowners to place large furniture against walls. Whenever you place a very large furniture like wardrobes or sofas against walls, there won’t be space for air to circulate freely behind those furniture. In other words, the big furniture blocks the flow of air. So, how does moisture come in?
We’ve agreed earlier that daily activities add a lot of moisture to the air. If this moist air circulates and gets to the space behind your furniture, it’ll settle there because there’s no sufficient airflow there to take the humid air elsewhere. As time goes on, the trapped air would accumulate and be converted to moisture which eventually soaks into the furniture and walls.
Since the areas behind the furniture are out of sight, it becomes very easy for the problem to go unnoticed for a very long time. You might not even realize that anything is going on behind the scene until you move the furniture. It’s at this point that you may notice discolorations or see mold forming in the hidden parts.
To prevent moisture from getting trapped between furniture and walls make sure that you allow enough gaps between the furniture and the wall. Adequate ventilation behind your furniture will prevent stale air from settling and it’d also prevent mold from growing.
Habit 6: Not Using Extractor Fans
Extractor fans are very useful if you want to control humidity or moisture in the air inside your house. These small fans are usually installed in bathrooms and kitchens because the two rooms have the highest moisture activity in every building. So what does the extractor do and how does it work? During heavy moisture activities like cooking or bathing, extractor fans help to pull out moisture quickly before it spreads to other parts of the house.
Some homeowners do not use extractor fans properly. The best way to use this device is to switch it on for some time after you’re done with your chores. In some homes, it’s possible for this device to stop working for a while and the homeowners may not even notice it. Meanwhile, in other homes, the extractor fan may be in good shape but the homeowners always forget to make use of it. In any case, if you fail to turn on the extractor fan, moisture will stay inside and settle on any surface it finds accommodating. Repeated build-up of moisture will definitely lead to condensation and the moisture may give rise to damp patches all over the house.
Simple Habit Changes That Make a Big Difference
To reduce the moisture presence in your space, you don’t need major changes. All you need to do is make small adjustments in your daily habits and you’ll see a big difference in the movement of air and moisture out of your home. Here are some basic things that can allow moisture escape instead of staying trapped inside your house.
Open Windows and Use Extractor Fans: One of the easiest things you can do is to improve airflow by opening your windows wide for most part of the day. This allows fresh air to come in and pushes damp air out. Another simple device that can improve airflow within a space is an extractor fan. Turning on the extractor fans while cooking or showering can help you remove moisture before it spreads to those hidden parts of the house.
Reduce Duration of Moisture Activities: When it comes to kitchen activities, you might not really have control over the number of hours or minutes that cooking will take. However, when it comes to having a hot shower, you can reduce the time your shower stays on. Also, it’s advisable to dry your clothes in well ventilated spaces so that moisture does not sit in the home.
You don’t need to stop your daily routine because there’s too much moisture from the activities, all you need to do is try to manage what happens after those activities. Moist air just needs a way of escape, provide this and your home will remain dry and comfortable.
Conclusion
When you carefully look at habits like cooking, drying clothes and showering, you’ll realize that each of them doesn’t seem like a problem; they’re all normal parts of your daily life. However, when they happen repeatedly without proper ventilation, they can become a problem. If you manage the situation, your home will be free from humid air. But if you fail to put these habits under check, they’ll cause moisture problems like musty smell, colored patches and mold growth.
