4 DIY Tips to Dehumidify Your Florida Home This Summer

Summer is here in Florida, which means temperatures and humidity levels are on a steady rise.

And the last thing you want is high indoor humidity levels. That’s because high humidity in your home leads to:

• Mold growth
• Damage to furniture/home fixtures
• Health problems
• Discomfort

Luckily, you can take some steps to reduce high humidity levels in your home so you don’t face those costly issues.

In this article, we’ll share 4 DIY tips to dehumidify your Florida home:

1. Use ventilation fans
2. Take colder, shorter showers
3. Add a desiccant in humid rooms
4. Invest in a dehumidifier

Let’s go into more details about each of these tips...

Ventilation fans are found in rooms like the bathroom and kitchen—areas that produce a lot of humidity in your home. These fans suck out the humid air and dump it outside so that moisture doesn’t collect in these rooms.

So when you’re cooking or taking a shower, be sure to turn on the ventilation fan. It’s also a good idea to run the fan for 10–15 minutes after those activities so it can remove more humidity.  

Hot showers create more steam, which releases more moisture into the air. And the longer you run your showers, the more humidity you add to the air inside.

So try this: Shower using your normal water temperature for the first half of the show. During the last half, gradually increase the cold water so that your last 2 min. Is lukewarm to cold. Colder showers will help you cut down on your utility bills, plus they even have health benefits (like fighting depression).

A desiccant is simply a substance that absorbs water. The most common type of desiccant is silica gel, which is found in the packaging of new electronics and new shoes to keep those materials dry.

Consider purchasing some larger bags of silica gel and placing it in a cloth bag, then putting that bag in a humid area of your home. Luckily silica is reusable; you can heat it up again in the oven, which will “recharge” its water-absorbing abilities.

A dehumidifier is a machine that will remove humidity from your home’s air.  You can purchase 2 types of dehumidifiers:

• A portable dehumidifier, which is meant to dehumidify small spaces like individual rooms. Portable dehumidifiers are easy to install (you typically just plug them in) and require only a little maintenance, like emptying a small water basin periodically. You can visit your local home improvement store and ask for recommendations on portable dehumidifiers.
• A whole-home dehumidifier, which is more expensive since it can dehumidify all the rooms in your house. Since whole-home dehumidifiers are installed into the ductwork, they will need to be installed by an HVAC professional.

Your air conditioner kills 2 birds with 1 stone: it removes moisture AND cools your home’s warm air at the same time. And since you use your AC every day, it’s the easiest way to reduce indoor humidity.

However, if you neglect your AC (i.e., you don’t have a pro maintain it at least once per year), then it won’t dehumidify your home as well.

Here’s why: Dust and debris enter your AC system all the time, which can eventually “clog” the evaporator coil (the part that’s responsible for cooling and dehumidifying your home’s air). When an evaporator coil is clogged, it can’t remove any moisture from your home’s air, and you’ll run into cooling issues too.

So, to make sure your AC is in good shape and dehumidifying your home’s air, you’ll need to schedule an annual AC maintenance visit. During a maintenance visit, a tech will carefully clean the evaporator coil and other components in your system so that your AC can properly dehumidify and cool your home’s air.

We’ll send over one of our trusted techs to tune up your AC so it can remove as much humidity as possible this summer.

Learn how to save money on tune-ups by visiting our CoolClub Maintenance Plan page.

• Don’t Set Your Thermostat Like This (Unless You Like Living in a Humid Home)

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