4 tips against moisture in the apartment: What tenants should know

You will find the following content in our article:

• Causes of high humidity in the apartment & tips for prevention
• Dampness in the apartment: tenants' obligations to prevent mold
• Mold despite heating & ventilation? How to protect yourself against the landlord!

Causes of high humidity in the apartment & tips for prevention

The humidity in living spaces influences both our general well-being and the preservation of the building fabric. An appropriate level of humidity is essential for a comfortable and healthy indoor climate. However, excessive indoor humidity can not only lead to discomfort, but also cause a variety of problems. Below we show how this undesirable accumulation of moisture occurs.

#1 Ventilate & Air

The main cause of increased humidity in rooms is that moisture accumulates in the air. The reasons for this are activities that produce water vapor, such as cooking, bathing, showering or drying laundry. Moisture also enters the room through the air we breathe when we exhale, and humidity rises. Therefore, damp rooms such as the kitchen and bathroom, but also the bedroom or living room (if you hang laundry here) are particularly affected. Wherever there are a lot of people, the humidity increases. You can find out how the number of people in the room affects the air humidity in our practical test on air humidity.

The solution: regular ventilation, especially after showering or cooking. For effective air exchange, shock ventilation is suitable. Open the windows wide instead of just clicking them open, thus transporting moist air outside and bringing in dry air. In winter, we recommend shock airing for 5 to 10 minutes with the heating off. It is important to consider all rooms when doing this and allow cross ventilation. Open opposite windows to ensure rapid air exchange.

Reading tip: In our separate article "Proper ventilation: The best tips" you will learn how to ventilate properly.

#2 Room temperature & humidity control

Unheated rooms can promote condensation, as cold surfaces allow moisture to condense from the air. Therefore, you should also ensure a constant room temperature in unused rooms such as the bedroom and heat them occasionally as well as ventilate them regularly. It is also important to ensure an appropriate temperature in other rooms to avoid cold bridges.

Damp walls or surfaces often stem from the fact that air circulation is impeded. Lack of spacing between large pieces of furniture such as cabinets or living room landscapes prevents an exchange of air between the piece of furniture and the wall: waterlogging occurs and cannot dry off or can only dry off very slowly.

So that you know how high the temperature and humidity are in the room, an air measurement is helpful. With an air measuring device such as the air-Q, you detect the relevant measured values and receive a warning when these limit values are exceeded. This allows you to ventilate according to demand and save heating energy, because you only exchange the room air when it is actually necessary.

#3 Use of dehumidifiers

Particularly in autumn and winter, humidity increases due to weather conditions and increased precipitation. If necessary, use dehumidifiers to keep the humidity in your home within an acceptable range. This is especially useful in basements or bathrooms, where waterlogging is more common. Ideally, you couple the dehumidifier via smart home system with the air-Q. This way, you can activate the dehumidifier only when the measurement actually requires it and save energy. You can find out which Smart Home standards the air-Q can be integrated into here. 

If you do not want a dehumidifier, you can also put a small bowl with granules that will absorb the moisture and thus remove it from the ambient air. Just be sure to replace or dry it when it becomes saturated. In addition to dehumidifying granules of calcium chlorite, salts and rice or dehumidifier pillows are suitable.

#4 The right choice of houseplant

Some houseplants need extra water. Therefore, water them more often. Although the plants absorb this water, they evaporate it through the leaves. The moisture thus gets back into the room. Therefore, for rooms that have a high humidity per se, we recommend plants that can manage with less watering. Plants such as arching hemp, aloe vera or succulents are ideal here. 

Dampness in the apartment: tenants' obligations to prevent mold

The prevention of mold in rented apartments is not only important for the preservation of the building fabric, but also for the health and well-being of the residents. After all, mold can lead to health problems such as respiratory diseases and allergies and thus significantly impair the quality of living. For this reason, tenants in many countries are required by law to take certain mold prevention measures. As a tenant, you should ensure that you comply with the rules and regulations for mold prevention and control set out in your lease. These are usually:

No excessive moisture source

Unnecessary moisture-generating activities, such as drying laundry without adequate ventilation, should be avoided.

Ventilation

Air humidity should be kept low by regular ventilation.

Damage reporting

As a tenant, you are required to notify the landlord of any potential water damage or mold problems so they can be addressed.

Regular cleaning

Tenants should keep the apartment clean, especially in rooms where there is more moisture, such as bathrooms or kitchens.

Mold despite heating & ventilation? How to protect yourself against the landlord!

Do you comply with the mold prevention obligations and heat and ventilate correctly? If so, the cause of the increased air humidity may also lie in the building structure, for example if new buildings were not sufficiently dried out before occupation or the house only has poor insulation. In these cases, you can use the air-Q air meter to prove that you have fulfilled your obligations. The measuring device constantly records the air analysis, documents it in the web app and provides you with the data in diagrams. In this way, you can prove that you have complied with the temperature specified in the lease agreement for individual rooms and ventilation intervals in your living space.

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