How to get rid of high humidity and dampness in the apartment. How to get rid of dampness, humidity and their unpleasant consequences in an apartment or house

Tsugunov Anton Valerievich

Reading time: 4 minutes

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, wooden and leather products, books deteriorate, finishes quickly become unusable, therefore, in order to maintain health and home comfort dampness is essential.

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

ABOUT high humidity indoors can be recognized by the following signs:

Fogging of glass surfaces (windows, glass doors, mirrors).
Wet spots on the walls of the apartment,.
Wet towels, bed linen, clothes in closets.
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:

The presence of sources of moisture.
Wrong insulation.
Insufficient heating.
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 undemanding species, which will not evaporate a lot of 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, all the more so you can’t get rid of the pool, all that remains is to change your place of residence or put 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 last resort you can resort to using polyurethane casings by wrapping them around a wet pipe.

HELPFUL INFORMATION: What is optimal humidity air in the apartment?

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 will help you. thermotechnical calculation walls of the room to determine required thickness and insulation material. 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 individual heating, then the problem of high humidity is solved simply. 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 holes 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 it.
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.

HELPFUL INFORMATION: How to choose a humidifier for an apartment: battery humidifiers

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

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.
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.

In addition to individual methods for eliminating humidity in an apartment, characteristic for each individual case, there are also general ones.

Regular ventilation of the room. It has long been known that humidity is afraid of fresh air.
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.

Since a dwelling with an overestimated moisture rate is not a favorable place for a person to live, it becomes more relevant how to remove humidity in an apartment.

The modern lifestyle of almost all people contributes to an increase in the level of humidity inside the room in which they live.

To understand this, it is enough to give a simple example: earlier people took a bath about once every 5-7 days.

Today, daily showering is the norm for the common man.

Some of the people play sports or go to the gym, as a result of which they constantly sweat.

In addition to the developed habit, take a shower every day or, you still have to wash clothes, and some even take care of pets.

The main sources of humidity in the room include:

human respiratory process
daily bathing procedures
laundry care, including drying, washing and ironing
influence of the external atmosphere
cooking in the kitchen

In any case, all these everyday moments cannot be avoided, so you will have to deal with excessive humidity in.

Possible effects of dampness

The most favorable place for the reproduction of microflora is a room with a high indicator of air humidity. It could be a bathroom or a basement. Humidity in the room often contributes to the appearance chronic disease the person who lives here.

Most often, children suffer, because the child's body is not yet formed, and the immune system is not fully strengthened. Old people also suffer from living in such premises, since the protective and other functions of the body weaken with age.

Residents of houses that are made of brick most often complain about the problem of high humidity in the room. In turn, the inhabitants of the panel, complain about the lack of the required level of moisture inside. Dry air also negatively affects human health, as a result of which it can get sick.

If the room has a high level of humidity, you should immediately address the problem, since replacing several household items is much cheaper than spending money on treatment.

In addition to the possible harm to human health, an increased level of humidity creates an uncomfortable state of being inside.

Often, due to an overestimated indicator of dampness, inside a dwelling or any other room, bad smell and feeling cool. In a humid room, food quickly deteriorates, including even vegetables and fruits.

In such rooms, mold and harmful microflora often form. Dampness is one of the most unpleasant phenomena that can spoil the whole comfort of living or being inside a building. If this problem is detected, it is worth immediately taking measures corresponding to the elimination of dampness.

Causes of dampness in the apartment

Before you begin the process of fixing the problem, it is worth identifying the main cause of the accumulation of damp air inside.

The main reasons for the accumulation of dampness inside the building include:

Lack of room ventilation. Even if ventilation is present, its performance and quality of operation should be checked.
Moisture may appear due to the heating of the apartment by neighbors from above. Often this problem difficult to identify, since a neighbor who lives above an apartment with high humidity may not be aware of the breakdown of his plumbing. It is always necessary to check whether this is the main cause of orphanhood in the home.
If there are open seams between the walls in the building, moisture can also appear inside the building.
If the basement high-rise building flooded, then the moisture will rise up, as a result of which it will create dampness. Before you remove the moisture in the apartment on the first floor, you should make sure that the flooded basement is the main source of moisture.
Incorrect positioning of kitchen appliances can affect the appearance of dampness.

To fix the problem, you always need to find the source of dampness. The easiest way to detect an increased level of moisture is to lean a mirror or piece of glass against the surface.

If after a few minutes water drops appear on the surface of the glass or mirror, then there is an increased level of dampness in a separate room or the whole room. If the glass turns out to be clean, you should not rejoice ahead of time, since moisture can be stored exclusively in the walls of the building.

How to get rid of moisture

As mentioned above, if a problem is detected, it should be immediately eliminated, since the influence of a humid environment can adversely affect the human body.

The most common methods for removing humidity in a room include:

Installation of an air dryer, which can be purchased at any supermarket electronic and household appliances. The price of a dehumidifier directly depends on its model and capacity. In any case, to fix the problem, you must purchase a similar unit. When buying, it is worth considering the fact that the higher the power rating of the device, the faster the dampness in a particular building will be eliminated. On the market for such products, devices with built-in dampness control sensors are offered. If the moisture indicator on the dehumidifier sensor drops, the device automatically changes the heating temperature. Thus, the device will not dry out the air, but will keep a stable rate of temperature and humidity inside the room or building. notice, that similar models use more electricity than standard, simple dehumidifiers that do not have a control sensor.
Mounting the radiator, if it is not. If there are radiators in the building, then it is worth using them. A damp room needs to be warmed up from time to time. When radiators emit heat, all of the unfavorable microflora, including fungi, may disappear, and the apartment will dry out well. Based on the advice of experts, the room should not be warmed up much, but often.

How to prevent excessive moisture

Houseplants absorb moisture. That is why it is worth acquiring plants, if there are none already. Flowers on the windowsill, in addition to their aesthetic function, perfectly absorb the dampness that is in the building.

Indoor flowers or other plants minimize any chance of increased moisture levels. Eg, tropical plants absorb a huge amount of water, therefore, putting such a plant in the bathroom or bedroom would be the right decision.

Cacti are the most "powerful" plants in terms of absorption capacity.

Unfortunately, due to the fact that these plants are not very decorative, many do not want to put them at home either.

When choosing a plant for a room, kitchen or bathroom, you should first study the characteristics of various plants.

If the above problem is identified, the main source of the emitted moisture should be urgently identified. And only after a problem is discovered, the owner of the house should choose the ideal way for him personally to regulate the microclimate and, accordingly, reduce the level of moisture inside the building.

How to get rid of dampness in an apartment or house - in the video:

High humidity in the apartment is a serious problem. Over time, from high humidity, mold appears on walls, windows, furniture and even clothes. Not only do walls lose their appearance and things become unusable, dampness is also very harmful for human health. A long stay in a damp room over time leads to a decrease in immunity, exacerbation of allergic reactions and other health problems, including chronic and oncological ones.

Reasons for high humidity

There are many reasons for high humidity.

One of the reasons is the poor walls of the building from the foundation. This reason is connected with violations of technology during construction. As a result, the foundation transfers moisture to the walls, the walls evaporate it into the rooms. The result is high humidity in the apartment, and it doesn’t matter if the house is new or old. In this case, it is very difficult to eliminate the source of high humidity, because. such defects in construction are almost irreparable.

Other possible reason- salt. If a house is being built in the winter, salt is often added to the concrete so that frost does not prevent the concrete from gaining strength. Walls in which there is concrete with salt will themselves be damp, and the wallpaper will be wet. And nothing can be done about it. But this is not scary, i.e. after a few years the walls will dry well and the dampness will disappear.

But most common cause high humidity in the apartment are problems natural ventilation. It often happens that in new apartment humidity was optimal, but after, for example, replacing windows with modern sealed ones, dampness appears. The reason for this is that airtight windows disrupt proper air circulation, and now moist air does not leave the room, condenses on walls, windows and provokes mold.

But even if everything is in order in the house with waterproofing and ventilation, this does not mean that the dampness problem will never arise. In a rainy summer, when there is a lot of humidity outside for a long time, dampness may well pass into the rooms.

An aquarium can also be a source of high humidity. Aquariums, by the way, are recommended to be placed in rooms with low humidity, because they actively evaporate water and saturate the air with it. And if the humidity in the house is high, then the aquarium will only aggravate the situation.

Constant drying of washed laundry in rooms also exacerbates the situation with humidity.

The location of the windows of the apartment also affects the humidity. If the windows are on the sunny side, then the humidity is lower, if in the shade, then the humidity is higher.

- Heating is also one of the factors of humidity. If the heating in the apartment is poor, the batteries heat poorly, then this also contributes to an increase in humidity. - Leaking roof - if this is the case, then no methods of dealing with moisture will help until the roof is repaired.

There is another source of humidity that is inherent in any apartment - water is released into the air when people breathe. Moreover, we are not talking about milliliters per day, but about whole liters (from the whole family).

Ways to reduce humidity

There are several ways to deal with high humidity in the apartment.

Firstly, it is necessary to open windows more often and ventilate the rooms. This is true not only for getting rid of dampness, but also for maintaining health, because. fresh air is always helpful. If the heating is not central, i.e. a boiler is installed, it is useful to turn on the heating more strongly and open the windows. This method dries the rooms well.

Secondly, the ventilation system should be checked. It happens that the ventilation shaft becomes clogged, air exchange stops and humidity begins to rise. In this case, the shaft must be cleaned. It happens that the mine is poorly designed and there is almost no air exchange. In this case, you can build forced ventilation. Those. Install a fan in the duct.

Third you can use a dehumidifier. An air dryer or dehumidifier is a device similar to appearance on electric heater. The meaning of his work is that he sucks the air from the room, passes it through his filters, cleans and drains it. The output is air of the required degree of humidity, cleaned of dust. This option is the most expensive, but it saves even if other methods do not help.

By the way, even the most ordinary air conditioner, set to cooling mode, reduces the humidity of the air. This happens due to the fact that moist air, in contact with the cooled surface, condenses and is discharged through the tube outside the room.

How to measure humidity in an apartment

Increased humidity in the room can be determined not only by indirect evidence, such as wet walls or mold on the wallpaper, but also with the help of a specialized control and measuring device called a hygrometer (the full name is "psychrometric hygrometer"). Household hygrometers are inexpensive. They can be hung in rooms and control the level of humidity. For reference: humidity levels from 40% to 60% are acceptable.

Dampness in the house is unbearable - there are ways to eliminate it!

The smell of dampness in the apartment can not only spoil the mood, but also harm your health. In the fight against this scourge, both an integrated approach and an accurate understanding of which methods can be used are important at the same time. In this article, I will tell you in more detail how to get rid of the smell in the apartment and prevent its further occurrence.

Causes of an unpleasant odor

Before you get rid of dampness in the house, you need to clearly understand what its source is. There may be several reasons:

You were recently flooded by neighbors from above. This is one of the most common reasons for the smell of damp in the apartment, getting rid of which will not be so easy. A similar situation can arise if you live on the upper floors of a house whose roof is in need of repair for a long time.

Do you live in an old Khrushchev on the ground floor? Most likely, the unpleasant spreads from the basement of the house and penetrates into your apartment through cracks in the coating.
Perhaps the smell of mold was the result of poor insulation. water pipes where condensation constantly forms. Carefully check all communications for the need for additional insulation.

The smell of dampness in the house can appear due to poor ventilation. It is quite possible that she simply cannot cope with the steam coming from the kitchen and bathroom. As a result, the condensate settles in the corners of the rooms and provokes the formation of mold.
In rare cases, dampness and mold can form due to excessive floriculture. If you have a whole greenhouse formed in your house, watering which you forget about airing, do not be surprised at the appearance of an unpleasant aroma.
Have you noticed that your bath towel smells damp? The problem may arise due to the abundance of moisture in the bathroom, where you take a shower or dry bed linen.

Dealing with dampness

The method by which you will get rid of the smell of mold depends on the cause of its occurrence. So the first thing you have to do is figure out what caused the problem. Below I will talk in more detail about how to deal with adversity.

After the flood

The most common situation is that negligent neighbors flooded you. If the flood was severe, then most likely you will have to resort to repairs. In this case, the first thing you need to do is dry the house thoroughly, eliminate traces of mold on the walls and ceiling. During the repair process, use a primer with special antibacterial additives.

If the flooding turned out to be not so much catastrophic, the instructions for action are as follows:

First of all, check the humidity level in the apartment. If it is elevated, install a heater or dehumidifier in the house, they help get rid of moisture.
Buy a special aerosol odor absorber.
Dry every item of clothing, shoes and carpet. From upholstered furniture an unpleasant odor can also come out, so drying it is definitely worth doing.

Wipe all surfaces with vinegar - it will perfectly cope with both mold and unpleasant odors.

In bathroom

The main reason unpleasant dampness in the bathroom - bad exhaust. You can solve the problem in one of the following ways:

Install a more powerful exhaust fan.
Implement repair work and carry out a new hood.
Put a heated towel rail in the bathroom.

To get the smell of mold out of your bathroom, resort to the help of bleach - it in itself is a great helper in the fight against this muck. At the same time, the price of such a tool is available to everyone. Treat with bleach or bleach detergent all surfaces, pay special attention to the joints between tiles.

A steam cleaner works no less effectively, which can be used to clean any surface in the apartment.

In the basement

A damp basement in a house is not an easy problem. Get ready for the fact that you have to do a titanic work.

First, inspect all pipes in basement. If they leak, they need to be replaced.
Check wall and ceiling waterproofing. If necessary, you can use the services of a repair company. If you decide to do everything yourself, then use special solutions and mixtures to help prevent moisture from penetrating. Follow the instructions on the package exactly, otherwise your plaster will not be of much use..

In the closet

Getting rid of the smell of damp in the closet is much easier than in the basement. For this it will be enough:

Remove all clothes from the closet and dry them. Hang heavy winter things in the sun and keep them there for two or three days; for light things, a few hours is enough.
Wash the cabinet with a solution of vinegar or a small amount of bleach. After that, be sure to leave the doors open for a while, and all the windows in the room open.

Clothes with mold on them should be dry-cleaned immediately.
Wash bed linen, dry in the sun and iron with an iron through a damp cloth.

Healthy Recipes

In this section, I will supplement the tips, and you will understand exactly how to get rid of excess moisture in the apartment. I will suggest a few effective recipes to create detergent:

As I said before, bleach is enemy number 1 for harmful fungus. Dilute 1 part of chlorine bleach in 10 parts of water and wipe all contaminated areas with the resulting solution.

Since the component is very toxic and has a strong odor, cleaning should be done with gloves and a respirator.

High humidity leads to the formation of fungus, which will help to cope with undiluted hydrogen peroxide. Apply it to any blackheads on the walls and ceiling, then rinse thoroughly and pat dry. This recipe is not suitable for painted surfaces, because peroxide can eat away colors..

Regular table vinegar will help remove the smell. Use a spray bottle to spray it on the affected areas. Wait just a couple of hours, then rinse these places with plain water.

As preventive measures repeat the procedure after 10 days. Be sure to ventilate the room well to get rid of the characteristic odor.

Don't know what to do about mold? Use soda! Dilute a teaspoon of baking soda in 200 ml of water, soak a soft sponge in the solution and wipe problem areas with it. Then treat surfaces with water.

After that, re-wipe the walls and ceiling with soda solution. Remember, you can’t wash off the soda a second time - it will prevent the appearance of mold..

In the corners where dampness is observed, place small containers of salt. Crushed activated charcoal tablets help just as well, which must be changed every week.

Instead of total

I told you how to get rid of humidity in the apartment, most effective ways. I hope with these tips you will be able to solve the problem in no time. And in order to never resort to extreme measures, try to dry things on the balcony or on the street, and constantly ventilate the apartment.

Many more useful information on the topic, you can learn from the video in this article, and for clarification of incomprehensible points, write in the comments. I think your fight against bad breath will be short and effective.

For a comfortable stay in an apartment or house, a healthy microclimate is necessary. It directly depends on the humidity indicators. If they are too low or high, it will whole line problems. Especially often, apartment residents and owners of premises (commercial, warehouse or other) are faced with high humidity. As a result, the walls are covered with mold, which spoils even durable materials.

Also excess moisture causes condensation to form on the ceiling. An unpleasant smell appears in the house, various microbes multiply. They, in turn, can cause allergic reactions in people in the room. The decrease in humidity must be taken seriously, because ignoring this indicator will affect people's health and the condition of the house. How to reduce the humidity in the room, we will discuss below.

First you need to find out the reason for the appearance of excess moisture. It can take root both inside the house and depend on home conditions, and outside, and be a consequence of street temperature and humidity indicators. The most common internal causes of high humidity include:

Poorly organized ventilation - if the owner of the house installed it on his own, it is recommended to call the wizard to check the correct connection and operation of the equipment.
Frequent drying of washed laundry - in some apartments with old layouts, the bath is not separated from the kitchen. In such cases, dampness from things spreads throughout all rooms. But even if the bath is located apart, some apartment owners often leave the door to the bathroom open. And again, the moisture evaporates outside the same room.
The location of the windows on the north side - less sun penetrates into the room and, as a result, the humidity of the microclimate increases.
The presence of an aquarium - water evaporates from it, soaking into the walls and ceiling of the house.
A large number of residents - do not forget that moisture evaporates when people breathe. If there are a lot of them in the apartment, and the room itself is small, there is a high probability of a microclimate failure.

There are also external conditions that affect the level of humidity in the room. Among them it is worth noting:

Climatic features of the region - in some cities year-round there is high humidity.
During rain, snowfall and thaw, there is a general increase in the moisture content in the air.
An important point is the presence of salt in concrete - if the house was built in winter, then there is a possibility that the builders added salt to the concrete. This method is used to increase the strength of the material. However, salt has a big drawback - the walls become damp because of it. Over the years, this passes, but the first 3-5 years of high humidity cannot be avoided.
Errors during construction - this includes poor-quality waterproofing of walls from the foundation and a flimsy, often leaking roof. Such defects are almost impossible to correct, since flaws were made during the construction of the building. You can only mitigate the problem by choosing additional equipment for dehumidifying the air.