As we know all too well, the relative humidity in Kansas and Missouri can get pretty high, during the late spring and summer months. When the weather gets hot and muggy, you may consider getting some form of dehumidification to make your home feel more comfortable. But comfort isn’t the only issue at stake. If your home’s humidity levels are above 50 percent, mold, mildew and other contaminants can thrive, leading to allergies and health issues, as well as structural damage to your home.

Most people can tell they need to dehumidify their homes just by the way the air feels. If it’s clammy or uncomfortable, or you can see evidence of condensation on walls, then you need dehumidification in your home. To find out your home’s precise humidity levels, use a calibrated hygrometer to measure the relative humidity of each room. If you keep your windows closed most of the time, the highest humidity will likely be in the basement. If you keep the windows open, there may be higher humidity on upper floors. Either way, any reading above 50 percent means your home likely needs dehumidification.

If your home has high humidity, the first step should be to have a trusted HVAC professional inspect your cooling system to find out why it’s not adequately removing moisture from the indoor air. A properly operating cooling system should remove much of your indoor humidity, though in some cases, a separate dehumidifier may be required. You’ll need to assess whether an cooling repair or replacement, or a supplemental dehumidifier, is the best route to take.

If you decide to buy a dehumidification system for your home, the two main choices are a whole-house system or one or more portable models. If the humidity problem is localized to a single room or floor level, a portable dehumidifier may be the best way to go, though make sure it’s rated for the cubic footage you need dehumidified. If humidity is high throughout your home, then a whole-house dehumidifier, installed directly to your HVAC system, is the answer.

For more advice on air conditioning issues, contact our experts at Overland Park Heating & Cooling. We’ve been the greater Kansas City area’s source for quality HVAC solutions for nearly three decades.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Overland Park, Kansas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). 

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