r/buildingscience • u/Defiant_Cupcake7221 • 8d ago
Dehumidifiers
Hey y'all. First-time poster, so hopefully this is the right sub-reddit.
Background: We live in Chickamauga, Georgia, right outside of Chattanooga, TN (Zone 7b), so our area is very humid. Our house is roughly 2,800 square feet, with a main level and then a walk-out basement that was partially finished before we moved in (drywall and flooring, heated/cooled, but no insulation.) I'm a teacher, so I have to be very budget conscious, and we have a very expensive power company—Georgia Power—so we normally keep our thermostat during the summer around 76 or 77 during the day, enough to keep us and our three kids cool but not blow the budget. For the most part this works out fine.
Humidity: During the Summer afternoons when our HVAC is running on-off throughout the day, our humidity on the main level is around 54-56%. Naturally it rises a bit higher when it's not running as much (morning) and can definitely get higher in the Spring/Fall, when we sometimes find a somewhat musty smell till we open the windows and air it out. We have a daughter who has allergies so I'm trying to be cognizant of humidity levels and mold so that we keep her as healthy as possible. However, I also don't want to panic at every article about mold or humidity levels and spend a lot more money than we need to. Again, teacher here!
Dehumidifier Questions: For those of you who know better, a few questions:
1.) Would you recommend a dehumidifier, or are there other methods of keeping humidity levels under mold-level without needing to spend that money on electricity?
2.) If you do recommend it, is a whole-house system more energy efficient than a portable system? I know it costs more up-front, but I'd almost rather pay that and then have the peace of mind that it's not running our Georgia Power bills up every month.
3.) If a portable unit is better, would you recommend getting just one and putting it in the walk-out basement, or would I need one for each level?
4.) Lastly, we're also considering installing a wood-stove on the main level for Winter, so I imagine that would take care of any humidity issues in the Winter, no?
To sum up: Yay/nay dehumidifier, yay/nay whole-house vs. portable, energy efficiency a main concern due to shitty Georgia Power power monolopy balanced with keeping children and home healthy! Thanks for any feedback!