Derek Cole answers a listener's question about high humidity in a home. He explains that moisture usually comes from the crawl space and recommends sealing it, then installing a commercial-grade dehumidifier rather than a consumer unit to fix the problem instead of just treating the symptom.
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Hey, on this episode, we get angry. You ask your comfort and energy questions and they get answered. This is the Ask Derrick Cole show. Hey, this is Derek Cole. Welcome to episode 80, 90, 90 of the Ask Derrick Cole show. Wow, I was way. Are you gonna have like a 90? Yeah. See, I'm not gonna edit this one. Keep it all in.
And you, you need to have, how you call it, like when you have shows and the hundred episodes.
Have a big party.
Yeah, I guess.
Yay. 100.
Well, anyway, go ahead, Sparkle. I'm sure the dollar store has some st. What do I do about the humidity in my house?
You need to check your crawl space to see where the humidity is coming from. Chances are, because air travels from bottom to top, that is coming from the crawl space, the ground, into the home. So you need to check that out. See if you have a moisture crawl or moisture damage in the crawl space and a moisture problem in the crawl space. We have solutions to fix that problem. It's called clean space. You can actually seal your crawl space, install a dehumidifier, and you're good to go. But it's pretty common in this area to have a moisture problem in the crawl space. Just because we live in a humid, wet environment. It's not like the north, where you can run your fan all the time. In the south, you do not run your fan all the time. You put it on AC and let it run when it needs to.
Do I need just a dehumidifier?
Do not just install a dehumidifier, because that's not the answer. It goes back to a few episodes ago. I want the cure, not the band aid. A dehumidifier is kind of like a band aid. You feel good about it. I'm doing something. Humidity feels a little better. You got a little placebo effect going on. You say, oh, it feels better in here. I got a dehumidifier. It's not. Dehumidifier is not helping you out. So seal the crawl space, get the moisture out, Put a dehumidifier in the crawl space. A commercial grade dehumidifier, not the one you pick up at Lowe's and Walmart. And it's got a little thing to plug it in. That's not going to help you out either. You need to properly address the problem, which is a moisture problem. So putting a dehumidifier in the space, unless your dehumidifier is so powerful it can dehumidify the whole state, which is what you're doing, because the only thing between the dehumidifier and the outside is a couple things of glass and a few walls, Right? Nothing is going to stop the air from coming in. It's kind of like putting it in the wintertime. We talk about humidifiers. It's kind of like putting a humidifier in a room and saying, that solves our problem. No, it doesn't. Just because a dehumidifier is in that room, it doesn't mean the room is magically sealed off and no air from any other source can get in. So, again, it's not going to work. You need to seal the crawl space. You need to put a dehumidifier in. Just a dehumidifier is not the answer. We're going to give you solutions, so we're not going to give you band aids. So that's the way we go about the business. 64 years I've been doing it. Yes, some people like it, some people don't like it, and they go with a cheaper option or a band aid approach. That's fine. I mean, it's their choice. But at least you can't say that we were not real about what's really happening in your house. You could be nice and be like, oh, it's great, and walk away. Or you be honest and upfront and say, hey, this is not solving the problem. If you really want to solve the problem, let me show you how to solve the problem. If you want to put a band aid on it, then let's get a Winnie the Pooh band aid and stick it on there. But let's be real, right? All right. Episode 90 of the Ask Derek Cole Show. Be sure to hashtag your questions.
