How to reduce humidity and dampness in the apartment?

The microclimate in the apartment has a significant impact on the health and well-being of its inhabitants. Weakness, loss of efficiency, increased susceptibility to viral and colds, skin diseases, allergies - this is what dampness in an apartment can threaten. In addition, from high humidity wooden and leather products, books deteriorate, decoration quickly becomes unusable, therefore, in order to maintain health and home comfort, it is absolutely necessary to deal with dampness.

How to know that the humidity in the apartment is above the norm?

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

1. Fogging of glass surfaces (windows, glass doors, mirrors).
2. Wet spots on the walls of the apartment, fungus, mold.
3. Wet towels, bed linen, clothes in 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 causes of its occurrence. These include:

1. The presence of sources of moisture.
2. Wrong insulation.
3. Insufficient heating.
4. Ventilation problems.

Let's take a look at these causes and how to eliminate them.

The presence of sources of additional moisture

They can serve as:

• Leaking plumbing or pipes. The solution is to check, repair or replace everything you can.
• Flowers. Tropical plants that require frequent watering should be removed from the apartment, giving preference to unpretentious species that will not evaporate much moisture.
• Aquariums in the apartment. If the humidity problem is serious, you will have to give up this hobby and clean the aquarium.

• Plenty of water downstairs. It can be a basement, a swimming pool, etc. It is difficult to do something here, appeals to the housing office with a request to improve the microclimate of the basement are ineffective, you can’t get rid of the pool, all that remains is to change your place of residence or install a powerful dehumidifier in the apartment.
• Unscrupulous upstairs neighbors who periodically heat up your apartment or have leaking faucets. The last factor makes your pipes “sweat” and “cry”. The resulting condensation 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 using polyurethane casings by wrapping them around a wet pipe.

Humidity due to improper insulation

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

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

You can find out where the moisture comes from in the apartment using a piece of glass. Put it on the wall for a few minutes. If the side that was pressed against the wall becomes wet, dampness enters 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 easily solved. In winter, you yourself can regulate the heat supply, reducing or increasing it as needed, 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 the central heating in the apartment is not warm enough and because of this the humidity rises?

• Cold pipes can be the result of undersupply of heat by boiler houses or the initiative of neighbors who decide to remove bypasses.The solution is to contact the utilities.
• Installed decorative grilles on radiators reduce heat transfer by a quarter. Better to avoid them altogether.
• Battery paint 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 openings and ventilation ducts leading to 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 takes place:

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

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

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

General recommendations

In addition to individual methods for eliminating humidity in an apartment, characteristic for each individual case, there are also 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 technique, the greater the effect of its work, the faster it will be possible to get rid of high humidity.

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

Repair in apartments with high humidity has its own characteristics. Necessary:

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