What are Other Ways I Can Reduce Moisture in My Home?

To reduce moisture in your home without using a dehumidifier, the first step is to address the sources that create moisture. For instance, kitchens, bathrooms, and laundry rooms are areas where most of the humidity is added to the indoor air. Next, prevent external moisture from entering your home by sealing cracks and gaps. 

Once you've controlled the sources of humidity, the next step is to remove excess moisture from the indoor air. While using a whole home dehumidifier is the most effective and quickest solution, there are other ways to achieve this. You can improve ventilation, run exhaust fans, or use moisture-absorbing materials. 

Let’s explore in detail what you can do to reduce excess moisture in areas like bathrooms, kitchens, laundry rooms, basements, and crawlspaces.

What are Other Ways I Can Reduce Moisture in My Home?

Here are different ways you can reduce moisture in your home without using a dehumidifier:

1. Improve Ventilation

Proper ventilation is one of the most effective ways to reduce moisture in home or any enclosed space. Poor ventilation traps humidity inside your home, while moisture continues to build up from various sources that include your everyday activities.

To improve ventilation, here are some steps you can take: 

• Use exhaust fans in areas prone to excess moisture, such as bathrooms, kitchens, and basements.
• Open windows and doors to let fresh air in and humid air out. This is probably the simplest and most cost-effective way to keep your house ventilated. It becomes even more effective if you create cross-ventilation by opening windows and doors opposite to each other at the same time. 
• Install trickle vents if your climate doesn’t allow you to open windows and doors. This way, you can ensure fresh air circulation in your rooms without needing to leave windows and doors open.

2. Fill Gaps and Cracks

Moisture and water droplets can easily slip into your house through the small openings, gaps, and cracks, particularly in your basements, doors, and windows. Filling these holes can significantly improve the overall humidity level of your home without using a heavy duty dehumidifier.

Therefore, look for cracks and gaps in your home foundation and fill them with caulk or weatherproof sealant. Also, check your doors and windows. If there are any gaps, seal them with weatherstripping. Make sure you seal all the gaps and cracks through which outside moisture can enter your home.

3. Limit Activities That Cause Moisture

Activities in the kitchen, like cooking and washing dishes, continuously add humidity to the air. To reduce this, try to limit cooking activities, and when you need to cook, use a lid on pots and pans to minimize moisture release. 

Washrooms are another major source of humidity. Avoid using warm water excessively, as the more you use warm water, the more moisture enters your indoor air. Try to take cooler showers more often. Besides, avoid using your dryer indoors without proper ventilation. Whenever possible, dry your laundry outdoors, as drying it inside introduces a lot of moisture into your home.

4. Insulate Cold Surfaces

Water droplets tend to condense on cold surfaces inside your home, such as walls and windows. You need to address this issue promptly. Otherwise, it not only disturbs humidity levels but also causes structural damage over time. To prevent condensation on windows and doors, you can double-glaze them or use thermal curtains. 

Besides, it is important to insulate pipes, particularly in basements. Pipes in basements tend to get cold fast and create harsh conditions over time. And you’ll need a large dehumidifier to fix that. So, you should insulate pipes using things like foam pipe sleeves. It is even better if you insulate your basement walls if required.

5. Fix the Gutter System

Sometimes, the exterior water around the base of your house can contribute to your indoor humidity levels. As you know, the gutter system is designed to direct wastewater away from your home. But if it’s clogged or damaged, the water might pool around your home’s foundation, and it might seep into your basement or crawlspace. Ultimately, this leads to high humidity inside your home. 

Therefore, you need to address this problem promptly. Make sure your gutters are clean and functioning properly. Look for any debris and remove anything that’s obstructing the water flow. Also, ensure that the downspouts are directing water at least a few feet away from your home’s foundation so that it can’t return. You can make your indoor environment a lot more comfortable by fixing the gutter system.

6. Use Moisture Absorbers

Another important way to reduce humidity in a room naturally is to use moisture absorbers. Materials such as salt, silica gel, and baking soda can effectively absorb moisture naturally from small spaces. You can just fill a bowl with salt or baking soda, then place it near the area in your home where you need to reduce humidity. The baking soda or salt gets harder as it absorbs moisture. When they get too hard, discard them and refill the bowl with fresh salt or baking soda. 

Moreover, some houseplants can absorb moisture. You can use such plants to reduce humidity in the house without a dehumidifier. Some of the most effective plants for this purpose include peace lily, spider plant, and Boston fern. These eco-friendly plants not only control your indoor humidity but also improve the air quality.

7. Replace Your HVAC Filters

Your existing heating and cooling system needs to be in proper order to control your indoor humidity levels. A home HVAC system is an integrated unit designed to make your indoor environment comfortable. It heats or cools the indoor air, ventilates, and purifies simultaneously. 

If the filters are dirty or clogged, they restrict airflow. Therefore, this makes it harder for the HVAC system to heat or cool your home. Since your air conditioner isn’t functioning properly and managing humidity, the indoor humidity increases. You need to clean or replace the HVAC filters regularly based on the manufacturer’s recommendations.

8. Improve Internal Air Circulation

It’s also important to improve internal air circulation to reduce overall humidity levels. You need to let internal doors and windows open for a certain amount of time so that moisture can distribute throughout the home. Otherwise, if excess moisture stays in enclosed spaces for a longer period, it can cause potential problems, including mold growth and structural damage. 

You can improve air circulation by opening doors frequently and running fans, particularly in bathrooms, kitchens, basements, and crawl spaces. Keep in mind that if you ignore proper ventilation and air circulation in these areas, you may need proper remediation or professional help. If the conditions in your basement have already become severe, you can consider using a portable dehumidifier for fast humidity treatment.

Read this to learn more about how you can dehumidify a room properly. 

Conclusion

How to reduce humidity in a room naturally without using a professional dehumidifier? There are various ways to reduce moisture from your indoor air. One of the most important things you need to do is reduce activities that add moisture to the air such as overwatering houseplants, drying laundry inside, taking hot showers, and improper cooking activities.

Moisture can also enter your house from the outside. Seal the gaps and proper insulation where needed can significantly reduce the humidity level. Also, check your home pipes for leaks and seal them effectively. Doing all the things we discussed helps you keep your indoor humidity in control.

If you want the most suitable dehumidifying solution for your home, you can explore our website or contact our support team right away. At Aloraircommerical, our representative will help you find the best dehumidifier at the best price on the market.