Mold grows in our powder rooms if I don’t keep the indoor air dry enough
I couldn’t figure out for the life of me why I had to clean our shower with bleach every other afternoon.
There was a mildew stink coming back within minutes of every shower, even if it followed an intense cleaning session moments before I started shampooing our hair. I went through so much bleach cleaner in one month that I started developing dust sensitivity issues with the chlorine odor in our house. I talked to people at the local hardware store, but few had any definite ideas on how to fix the issue. It took a neighbor of mine who works in residential Heating, Ventilation as well as A/C to pose a possible explanation for our problem. He asked me what the air flow is care about to our powder room from our central air conditioner. When I told him that there is no Heating, Ventilation as well as A/C vent in our powder room, only a roof ventilation fan, he told me to get a small dehumidifier for the powder room. With only minimal air flow coming in through the open doorway, it wasn’t enough to keep the powder room dry. If an indoor space sustains a particular level of moisture, mildew growth is almost unavoidable. At the same time, I was skeptical that a small dehumidifier would make much of a difference on the air quality in our powder room. To our amazement, it dropped the humidity level from 72% to 45%. I took a shower later the same afternoon plus was astonished with how good the powder room odored while I was toweling off. If I can’t get constant flow of conditioned air coming from the central air conditioner, at least I can dry out the powder room to achieve much of the same effect. I don’t mind if I have to spend money more on our electric bill to cover the cost of running a dehumidifier, it’s worth it to keep a sanitary powder room.