How to get rid of humidity in the apartment

The microclimate in the apartment has a significant impact on the health and well-being of its inhabitants. Weakness, loss of working capacity, increased susceptibility to viral and colds, skin diseases, allergies - this is what dampness in the apartment can threaten. Also from high humidity wooden and leather products, books deteriorate, decoration quickly deteriorates, therefore, to preserve health and homeliness it is absolutely necessary to combat dampness.

How to find out that the humidity in the apartment is above normal?

You can find out about the increased humidity in the room by the following signs:

1. Misting of glass surfaces (windows, glass doors, mirrors).
2. Wet spots on the walls of the apartment, mold fungus.
3. Wet towels, linens, clothes in the closets.
4. The smell of dampness and mustiness.

Causes of high humidity in the apartment

To properly combat dampness in an apartment, it is important to find out the reasons for its appearance. These include:

1. The presence of moisture sources.
2. Incorrect insulation.
3. Inadequate heating.
4. Ventilation problems.

We will analyze in order these causes and methods for their elimination.

The presence of sources of additional moisture

They can serve:

• Leaking plumbing or pipes. The solution is to check, repair or replace everything that is possible.
• Flowers Tropical plants that require frequent watering should be removed from the apartment, preferring unpretentious species that will not evaporate a lot of moisture.
• Aquariums in the apartment. If the moisture problem is serious, you will have to abandon this hobby and clean the aquarium.

• Plenty of water on the lower floor. It can be a basement, a pool, etc. It’s difficult to do something here; appeals to the housing office with a request to establish a microclimate of the basement are ineffective, from the pool all the more not get rid of, it remains only to change the place of residence or put a powerful dehumidifier in the apartment air.
• Unscrupulous neighbors from above that periodically flood your apartment or have leaking taps. The last factor makes your pipes “sweat” and “cry”. The resulting condensate increases the humidity in the apartment. You can get rid of the problem by calling a locksmith from the housing and communal services, in extreme cases, you can resort to the help of polyurethane covers, wrapping them in a wet pipe.

Humidity due to improper insulation

If all of the previous reasons are excluded and you are firmly convinced that the increased humidity in the apartment arose due to poor-quality insulation, then you help legislation and engineering reports with thermal engineering calculation of the walls of the room to determine the required thickness and material insulation. Depending on the situation, you may need:

• sealing joints between plates;
• internal insulation of the apartment;
• wall insulation outside the building.

You can find out where moisture comes into the apartment with a piece of glass. Attach it to the wall for a few minutes. If the side that was pressed against the wall became wet, dampness gets into the apartment from the street due to structural defects in the building.

Insufficient heating

If you have an apartment with individual heating, then the problem of high humidity is solved simply. In winter, you yourself can regulate the heat supply, reducing or increasing it as necessary, but without sudden changes that will aggravate the situation. In wet and humid weather, you need to turn on the heating to dry.

What to do if with centralized heating the apartment is not warm enough and because of this the humidity rises?

• Cold pipes can be the result of a lack of heat from boiler rooms or the initiative of neighbors who decide to remove bypasses. The solution is to contact the utilities.
• Installed decorative grilles on radiators by a quarter reduce heat transfer. It is better to completely abandon them.
• Ink on batteries can also reduce heat transfer by 10%, to avoid this, it is necessary to remove the previous layer before painting.

Ventilation

Basically, ventilation in the apartment is provided due to the presence of ventilation shafts. Ventilation holes and ventilation ducts leading to the common shafts are located in places with high humidity: in the bathroom and in the kitchen. If you checked the ventilation and found that the draft is weak or absent, one of the following reasons applies:

• The channel may be clogged with garbage. You can get rid of clogging by cleansing.
• Someone from the neighbors during the redevelopment or improper installation of the hood in the kitchen blocked the exhaust shaft. Solving the problem can take a lot of time and effort, if the neighbors do not make contact, do not fight with them, it is better to immediately contact the public utilities, and then to the court.

There are several more ways to solve the problem of high humidity in the apartment due to poor ventilation:

1. Installing a forced ventilation system. Its disadvantages include some financial costs associated with the purchase of a fan and an increase in energy consumption, as well as noise. Plus - a solution to the problem once and for all.
2. Installation of a recuperator - a special device that draws out moist air and provides an influx of fresh. An expensive thing, but the humidity in the apartment is guaranteed to reduce.

General recommendations

In addition to individual methods of eliminating humidity in the apartment, characteristic of each individual case, there are general ones.

1. Regular ventilation of the room. It has long been known that humidity is afraid of fresh air.
2. Buying a dehumidifier. The more powerful the equipment, the greater the effect of its operation, the faster it will be possible to get rid of high humidity.

The best option is a dehumidifier with a humidity sensor that responds to the percentage of moisture in the room air. Automatic mode will help to avoid overdrying and save energy.

Repair in apartments with high humidity has its own characteristics. It is necessary:

1. Use natural materials that do not create a greenhouse effect and regulate the humidity level in the room, and avoid vinyl wallpaper, PVC panels and other vapor-proof materials.
2. Waterproofing.
3. Add antifungal components to the mixtures used, conduct anti-mold treatment.