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Does a Dehumidifier Get Rid of Damp? What To Know

Does a Dehumidifier Get Rid of Damp? What To Know

Dampness is a deceptive villain when it comes to your home’s upkeep.

Wood finishes, furnishings, and even drywall can deteriorate if left in damp conditions for long enough, leaving your home vulnerable to all sorts of issues such as rot and mold. Dampness can still wreak utter havoc on the structure of your house and destroy its value over time.

Most climates cause dampness in homes, seasonally if not all year round. Areas that get a lot of rain and humidity — even for just a few short weeks out of the year — tend to see many homes suffering from a slew of problems that can be traced back to structural dampness.

Read on for a guide on dehumidifying your home to keep it safe from chronic harm.

Will a Dehumidifier Get Rid of Damp?

When it comes to whether or not a dehumidifier is an effective guard against dampness, the short answer is yes. True to their name, Dehumidifiers strip humidity from the air in a confined space.

That said, if you’re looking into the complete extent of their function and abilities, the answer is a little more complicated and demands a more extensive understanding of how dampness functions as a natural occurrence in homes.

Mainly, dehumidifiers are more useful when used as a preventative measure against damage over time rather than fixing the result of a sudden moisture-related incident. In other words, they do a good job keeping moisture out of your walls and floorboards throughout a humid summer, but not quite as good at mopping up the damage from flooding or a burst pipe.

Which Types of Damp Can a Dehumidifier Help With?

Without getting overly scientific about it, it’s helpful to separate the different types of dampness and moisture into two main categories.

The first is condensation, or the moisture that gathers in the air and can be seen pooling into tiny beads upon encountering the cool, smooth surfaces of glass mirrors or windows. These moisture beads are the product of water vapors turning into liquid due to either a change in temperature or the air reaching a point of oversaturation.

For this type of dampness, a dehumidifier can be extremely helpful, as it only has to deal with removing moisture from the air.

Dehumidifiers are not designed to sop up liquids, only vapors. For a dehumidifier to help with significant, sustained dampness in liquid form, it first has to go through the process of vaporizing.

That said, dehumidifiers can still be suitable supplemental measures for repairing damage from flooding. As you go through your repairs, the dehumidifier will prevent the dramatic increase of moisture from overstaying its welcome and plaguing your home with an overall state of unhealthy dampness.

5 Benefits of a Dehumidifier

1. Reducing Humidity

This one might seem a little obvious. That said, it’s still worth noting that dehumidifiers are highly effective at reducing humidity in the air.

Even more notably, the exact amount of humidity removable lies mainly within your control as the device operator. Most dehumidifiers will have different settings, allowing you to specify what percentage of humidity at which you’d like to keep your room’s moisture levels.

Most doctors and home repair experts suggest not setting your dehumidifier below 50% for an extended period for health reasons.

If you’re looking for a more tangible description of what reducing the humidity levels by a certain degree does, consider this statistic: most users with a normal humidity level running around 85%, who then crank it down to 60% with their machine, report collecting an average of 2 gallons of water every 24 hours.

2. Stopping Mold Growth

Black Mold On Gray Wall

One of the primary reasons homeowners seek out dehumidifiers is to attack any pesky mold, or mildew growth threatened to overtake their space.

Both mold and mildew thrive in perpetually damp conditions and tend to be commonplace occurrences in bathrooms, kitchens, and basements due to repeated exposure to steam, etc.

They love to set up shop in all manner of hidden crevices, such as between ceramic tiles, in ceiling fans, amongst the fibers of infrequently-washed fabrics, and along the tops of walls.

Not only are mold and mildew unsightly additions to your interior, but they also pose major health risks. Repeatedly breathing in mold and mildew spores can cause serious and long-term damage to your respiratory system, as well as your skin, eyes, and neurological well-being.

Long story short, it’s best to do everything possible to stop unwanted mold and mildew from sprouting up. Since it feeds off chronic humidity, a dehumidifier is a great weapon against mold in the early stages.

3. Removing Smells

Aside from causing significant damage to both you and your house’s structural integrity, mold and mildew are nasty intruders for reasons more related to immediate comfort. To put it simply, they cause your home to smell terrible.

Even if you can’t see mold and mildew on the surface or lurking sneakily in the usual places, an unpleasant musty smell immediately indicates that you have a growth problem on your hands.

On the flip side, the disappearance of any musty scents can be a sign that you are waging a successful battle against the mold and mildew in your home.

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Conclusion

While dehumidifiers aren’t an absolute solution to every moisture problem in your home, they sure can do a lot to prevent long-term damage related to having overall damp air, either from natural or flood-related issues.

To maximize the effectiveness of a dehumidifier, it’s helpful to know more about the type and extent of dampness with which you are grappling.

However, once armed with that knowledge, investing in a good dehumidifier can mean the difference between a healthy and safe home and one that is not.

If still concerned that a dehumidifier might not tackle the specific moisture issue in your home, give the professionals at All Dry USA a call. We have years of experience conquering mold, damp, and more!

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