Bathrooms are the most damp areas in your house. For that reason, they're likely to suffer from condensation more than any other room in your home.
Excessive steam and humidity in the bathroom cause mold and mildew problems which can transcend to other parts of the house, leading to poor indoor air quality. Continuous build-up of moisture can also cause doors to warp, paints and wallpaper to peel or crack, ruin gypsum wallboard, and erode fixtures.
Luckily, you can make some adjustments that can dramatically help prevent condensation in your bathroom.
Here are 3 tips to reduce excess humidity, prevent mold and mildew infestation in your bathroom and maintain healthier indoor air quality.
1. Proper Ventilation
This is the simplest and the most overlooked way of preventing condensation and eliminating mold infestation in the bathroom.
Open your bathroom window to allow air to circulate, especially when you’re running a bath, having a shower and after showering. It is also essential to keep the window and doors in other rooms open to allow cross ventilation. However, don’t leave your bathroom door open as it will only spread the water vapor to other rooms in your house which could cause condensation problems in those areas.
You should also consider replacing single-glazed windows with double-glazed windows as they tend to be warmer and less likely to attract condensation.
2. Invest in an Exhaust Fan
Today’s homes are built to be as airtight as possible to improve air movement, reduce energy wastage and the risk of long-term damage to building components. However, an airtight home means there is no proper ventilation of pollutants from the house.
Homeowners can avoid build-up of moisture in the poorly ventilated bathrooms by installing exhaust fans. These equipment are designed to add ventilation, improve airflow, and reduce excess humidity.
Bathroom exhaust fans are sized and rated by the amount of air they can move in cubic feet per minute (CFMs). Small fans with less CFM rating are less powerful and only ideal for small rooms. On the other hand, bath fans with higher CFM are more powerful and work better in large bathrooms.
Other factors you should consider when you decide to use a bath fan are installation position, noise level, energy efficiency and other features that help make operating the fan more convenient and efficient (humidity sensor, light, built-in heater, and motion sensors.).
3. Use a Dehumidifier
Dehumidifiers are other equipment that you can use to prevent condensation in your bathroom. The advantage of dehumidifiers is that they are portable and can be transported from one room to another. So, you can use them if you want to control humidity in multiple areas of your home.
Dehumidifiers work by taking moisture from the air and collecting it as water. So, if you use them in your bathroom, you should get a significant drop in condensation.
Dehumidifiers come in different sizes and shapes, so it is crucial that you have a clear idea of the amount of moisture you want to remove from the bathroom. If your bathroom is large and excessively humid, you can choose a 70-pint dehumidifier. However, if your bathroom is small in size and doesn’t get too humid, choose the 30-pint option.
Keep in mind, other factors such as ventilation affects humidity levels in your bathroom.Always use a hygrometer to measure your indoor humidity so you can be sure of the size of dehumidifier to select.
