a ?? about moisture in the home

[olehippy]

Normally at this time of the year we are enjoying having the a/c turned off, an occasional fire and just pleasant weather. But this year its is incredibly rainy and damp.

During our normal rainy season the a/c is on and that takes care of any humidity and dampness in the home.

Right now it is so damp in my home that the carpet (less than 2 years old) is beginning to buckle. The fruit I dehydrated to hang on my Christmas tree is re-hydrating itself (its was bone dry & crisp on Sunday & today it is sticky/tacky to the touch). My hair will not dry completely and if put it up it will smell sour later in the evening. Towels stay damp and will not dry out. Well you get the picture.

Other than turning on my a/c, which will have to be set to around 70 F in order for it to even turn on is there anything I can do? Do those canisters of Damp Rid stuff work? I imagine I would need quite a few of them (house is around 1800 sq ft).

I really do not want to run my a/c unless necessary. I keep it at 78-80 F during the summer months. I would dread to see a bill with it having to be on 70 F or so now. We only use wood to heat with when it is cool and a fire right now is out of the question as we would roast (I'm in Florida).

Any ideas?

[cfabe]

You could buy a dehumidifier, which will pull out the moisture without cooling the house... it will heat it slightly, actually. They don't use much power at all, in the range of 500 watts.

[painterswife]

We run a dehumidifier in our house. Cost about 150.00 and worth every penny.

It is amazing how much water it sucks out of the air every day.

[Ole Man Legrand]

I agree with the DEHUMIDIFIER. I had one in the basement and it would remove 6 gallons of water from the air in 24 hours. Jay

[grannygardner]

We have a dehumidifier and are amazed at the amount of water it pulls out of the air. There are different sizes depending on the size of your home. I would think that would be the way to solve your problem.

[olehippy]

Thanks. I guess I look into getting a dehumidifier.

[uncle Will in In.]

Build a hot fire, and turn on the AC. Between the two of them, they should dry your house out in a whip stich.

[RoseGarden]

Problem with the building a fire suggestion is that as soon as the fire goes out, the humidity will start to go up again. A dehumidifier is the best thing to buy to remedy the problem. Mine goes 24/7 in all but the driest weather here. Mine is one I got at Sears and it takes about 2 gal. water out of the air per 24 hours, although you can buy ones that remove more. I saw dehumidifiers at Lowe's the other day, too.

[Farmer Willy]

Why do you have so much humidity in your house to begin with? You mentioned having a lot of rain, is the rain getting into the house/basement/crawlspace?

[tamsam]

From exprenice Fla is humid to the point that you almost have to dry your clothes before you put them on even though they were dried 3 hours ago. Get the dehumidifier or put up with the damp. Good luck Sam