Why Humid­i­ty in Your Base­ment is an Issue

Aug 4, 2022 • By Matthew Stock.

Not all base­ment damp­ness comes from seep­age. Have you ever gone in your base­ment and noticed sweat on your win­dows, a musty odor, or recur­ring spring damp­ness? These signs do not always mean seep­age but could mean the humid­i­ty is too high! You are prob­a­bly ask­ing why humid­i­ty in your base­ment an issue?

Why Base­ment Humid­i­ty Is an Issue 

The opti­mal indoor humid­i­ty range, accord­ing to the Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion Agency, should be kept below 60 per­cent – ide­al­ly between 30 per­cent and 50 per­cent, if pos­si­ble. Over­ly damp and humid air in your base­ment is not just uncom­fort­able, it also can cre­ate prob­lems for the home. Sweat on the win­dows rolls down and pools at the base of the win­dow, some­times flow­ing off and down the dry­wall, or ruin­ing wood win­dowsill fin­ish­es. Musty odors mean mold or mildew is grow­ing due to con­den­sa­tion or seep­age. This is a prob­lem because the air that cir­cu­lates in your home starts in your base­ment. If you have mold and mildew grow­ing in your base­ment, you are breath­ing in those spores even if you are upstairs. This can lead to res­pi­ra­to­ry issues! High humid­i­ty also cre­ates a cozy home for pests and insects like sil­ver­fish and dust mites. 

How To Fix High Base­ment Humidity 

The best way to fix high humid­i­ty lev­els is to install a dehu­mid­i­fi­er. A dehu­mid­i­fi­er is an appli­ance that takes mois­ture out of the air in your home! Not only will a dehu­mid­i­fi­er help with win­dow con­den­sa­tion, mold growth and pest con­trol, but it will also help fil­ter out envi­ron­men­tal aller­gens and can help con­trol asthma. 

Ben­e­fits Of a Dehumidifier 

The main ben­e­fits of a dehu­mid­i­fi­er are a health­i­er home and a health­i­er you! By hav­ing a dehu­mid­i­fi­er, you are cre­at­ing health­i­er air to breathe and reduc­ing the oppor­tu­ni­ty for mold and mildew to grow. Hav­ing a dehu­mid­i­fi­er also reduces dust which can trig­ger aller­gens and can help low­er ener­gy costs. While a cen­tral air-con­di­tion­ing sys­tem will remove humid­i­ty from the air, with­out a dehu­mid­i­fi­er installed, your unit will be work­ing over­time to do so, caus­ing more wear and tear on your sys­tem and a high­er bill at the end of the month! 

U.S. Water­proof­ing installs com­mer­cial strength dehu­mid­i­fi­ca­tion and air purifi­ca­tion sys­tems in res­i­den­tial homes. Our Apri­lAire sys­tems boast auto­mat­ic dig­i­tal con­trol pan­els and wash­able 8 MERV air fil­ters that trap dust mites, pollen, and oth­er con­t­a­m­i­nants. Our units are Ener­gy Star effi­cient and save elec­tric­i­ty. They also remove up to 9 gal­lons of mois­ture dai­ly with a 3,000 sq. ft cov­er­age and have a 5 year ​‘bumper to bumper’ warranty! 

We offer a free con­sul­ta­tion to help iden­ti­fy any signs of seep­age or humid­i­ty you are expe­ri­enc­ing in your home. 

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