High indoor humidity in your apartment — the amount of water vapor in the air — can intensify allergens, keep you from getting proper sleep, cause mold, mildew, rust and rot in building materials and just make your apartment an uncomfortable place to be.
There are a number of solutions to a humidity problem, or at least things you can do to help mitigate it. But why might there be so much humidity in your apartment in the first place?
Why is my apartment so humid?
An increase in humidity occurs when moisture comes into your apartment and can’t get out. Moisture trapped in your apartment will cause the air to become wetter and the humidity to rise, making it feel hot and sticky. There are several reasons why your apartment is so humid.
- Poor ventilation: Water in the air will tend to stay there if there’s nothing to circulate your air back outside. If your air conditioner — even without special humidity controls — is not working properly or if you have no air conditioner at all, that air won’t be recirculated to remove moisture.
- Your activity: Everyday activities like showering, cooking, washing the dishes, running the washing machine and cleaning rooms without windows can increase the moisture in the air and make it feel more humid. The more people in an apartment, the higher the humidity will be from body heat, and even innocuous activities like sweating or breathing hard from exercise can raise humidity levels.
- Leaks: Moisture might also be entering your apartment from the outside. Leaks, cracks and windows that don’t completely seal can bring exterior moisture inside. Even the smallest breaks in the seal like cracked pipes, missing shingles or loose fittings can let humid air inside.
- Rising damp: It’s a very rare occurrence, but a condition called “rising damp” can happen when excess moisture in the ground rises up through small holes and into your apartment, even up to a second or third floor.
What you can do about excess humidity
While newer apartments may have a type of humidity-control system, there are simple steps you can take on your own to lower humidity if you don’t have the luxury of central air. The next time the humidity in your apartment starts getting to you, use these easy tips to remedy the situation:
1. Install an air conditioner
If you want to take care of heat and humidity problems in one fell swoop, consider installing a window or wall-mounted air conditioner unit. While they can be a little pricey — even the cheap ones cost around $200 — if you plan on living in an apartment without air conditioning for some time, it may be a good investment.
Just be prepared for your electric bill to go up as well. A/C units also require maintenance to keep them running efficiently and working to reduce that humidity, so be sure to clean the vents and replace filters regularly to maintain good airflow.
2. Open windows
Areas of your home where you use lots of water and heat like the bathroom or kitchen are prone to retaining moisture. That’s why your mirror fogs up after you take a hot shower.
If you have a window in your bathroom, open it the next time you take a shower in order to prevent the resulting humidity from becoming trapped in your apartment. If your bathroom is equipped with some sort of fan or ventilation system, be sure to turn it on each time you hop in the shower or run hot water for a bath so that wet air can be removed from the room.
3. Use a dehumidifier
Another way to regulate indoor humidity is by using a dehumidifier. It’s best to use this device when the humidity in your home is more than 50 percent (anywhere between 30 and 50 percent is considered normal). Dehumidifiers remove moisture from the air into a receptacle well but they don’t cool it down, so don’t confuse dehumidifiers with air conditioners. You can generally find portable units for sale at hardware or department stores and they can even run in the bedroom relatively quietly while you sleep.
4. Reduce moisture
To prevent humidity from becoming a problem in your apartment in the first place, you can take simple steps to reduce the amount of moisture that you allow into the air. Wash dishes manually in the sink and turn off the water while you’re not rinsing rather than running the dishwasher which creates all that steam.
When you’re cooking or boiling water, cover the pots and use your kitchen exhaust fans. Or, take cooler, shorter showers in the summer, which can also help reduce your energy bill.
5. Use fans
Whether picking up a good oscillating stand-up fan from Amazon or installing real ceiling fans, fans are a great way to move stale warm air around the room and push humid air out to other rooms with lower humidity.
The increased airflow will remove moisture from the air by evaporating it with circulation. Sleep with the fan on in a humid bedroom or let a fan run in the kitchen or laundry during or after cooking and cleaning.
6. Reduce the number of indoor plants
Indoor houseplants, by their nature, absorb water and then release vapor into the air, raising the humidity in your apartment. If you have a lot of plants, you’re going to have a lot of moisture. There are a number of solutions.
Get rid of a bunch of your plants by gifting them to friends. Reduce the amount of water you’re giving them and stop overwatering. Cover the exposed soil with a plastic vapor barrier. Or, simply place them in a better-ventilated room or outdoors on a patio or porch. Alternatively, you could trade in your vapory plants for Boston ferns, which actually remove moisture from the air!
Along the same lines, firewood also releases water vapor into the air, so if you’re fortunate enough to have an apartment with a fireplace, you might want to keep your firewood outdoors to reduce humidity.
7. Clean your rugs
Rugs and carpets collect moisture, especially when it’s humid, creating even more humidity. If your area rugs start smelling moldy or feeling damp, get them dry cleaned. If you find the same thing with installed carpets, let your landlord know you think they need to be professionally cleaned or replaced. Not only will you reduce humidity with clean or new carpets, but you’ll also reduce dust mites who love to live in damp carpets.
8. Replace your windows
If your landlord is willing, replacing drafty or worn out windows and doors will help eliminate cold moisture buildup that can increase humidity, as well as assist with circulation, keep hot air out and prevent your A/C from running too hard.
An added benefit is you’ll most certainly see your electric bill go down. Similarly, ask for an audit of your pipes and have any that are old or leaky replaced as they can introduce more water into the air in your apartment.
9. Dry your clothes outside
If you don’t have an in-unit dryer (and/or are not machine drying your delicates) and are drying your clothes indoors by hanging them on a rack, on the back of a chair or over the shower curtain bar, you can reduce humidity by moving them outside if you’re able.
Utilizing a clothesline outside on a porch, patio or backyard will help stop water from wet clothes evaporating into the air in your apartment. And you get the added bonus of that clothesline-fresh smell in your clothes!
10. DIY a humidifier
There are a couple of do-it-yourself ideas for making your own natural apartment humidifier. Believe it or not, charcoal can remove water from the air in your apartment. Buy a bag of cheap, coconut shell charcoal barbecue briquettes and place a pile in a basket or a can and put it out of the way in a corner of a regularly humid room. This will absorb water vapor from the air for two or three months.
You can also place a bucket of rock salt (like for melting snow) in a pail or flowerpot in a corner. Rock salt is a hygroscopic material that absorbs water molecules and will reduce indoor humidity.
Everyday fixes for humidity in your apartment
Whether it’s causing frizzy hair or keeping you from sleeping, excessive humidity in your apartment can be annoying, or even dangerous if it causes mold or rust. Not every apartment has the luxury of coming with a humidity-controlling air conditioner or an air conditioner at all.
Thankfully, there are a number of alternatives to air conditioners for reducing humidity in your apartment. Or, you could flip through the Rent. listings and find yourself a brand new place — with central air.
