Why are basements an area of many homes where mold issues are a problem?
By definition, basements are a level of the home that is wholly or partially underground. These below grade areas can be exposed to ground water. While our home foundations are made from solid materials, these materials are actually porous and allow moisture to move through them quite easily. Due to the porous nature of concrete poured slabs and poured foundation walls, moisture can seep through it or enter your basement through cracks that may develop over time.
But some homeowners might counter that there has never been a drop of water in their basements. They should not have a mold issue, right? Not so fast. A moisture issue with the potential for mold growth still exists. How?
Even if you never have a drop of liquid water come through the slab or walls, you can still have ground water come through the concrete materials and then evaporate into the air that makes up the indoor environment of the basement in your home.
At times, this evaporation can actually be visually observed by a buildup of what is called “efflorescence” on the walls. This white powdery, crystalline material results when ground water comes through the walls or slab and evaporates into the air leaving dissolved minerals behind on the surface. Efflorescence is sometimes confused by homeowners to be mold because it ‘grows’. But it is non-living and only ‘grows’ in the sense that the amount of minerals continues to build up or collect as the moisture continues to come through.
Even if you never see efflorescence though, you could still have excessive moisture coming into the basement which can be checked by monitoring a hygrometer—a simple device that measures temperature and relative humidity in a space. It is generally recommended to avoid a relative humidity consistently above 60% in your basement which can lead to a mold problem.
That bring us to the solution: while preventing ground water from coming through basement components and evaporating into the indoor environment may be difficult or impractical, you can manage that moisture presence by lowering the humidity in your basement through the operation of a dehumidifier.
We also strongly recommend that the dehumidifier should be able to run unattended— meaning that it should be able to get rid of the water that accumulates in the operation of a standard unit without needing someone to go down to the basement to empty the condensate collection container (aka ‘bucket’). Most can be placed where a simple hose can go into a drain (or free-standing condensate pump) to take the water away. Some models have a built-in condensate pump to get rid of the water produced. This will avoid the situation where a dehumidifier is functional, but turns itself off when the collection container is filled because someone is forgetting to empty it.
These recommendations are based on actual experience. While performing mold inspections of homes we have seen so many occasions where basements have unfortunately been an area for extreme mold growth. You don’t want that in your home. And as this article shows, you can do something to prevent it.
Manage moisture in your basement. Run a dehumidifier.
Moisture management of a “wet” basement could involve additional steps to those in a “dry” basement that we will discuss in the next article: Easy Ways to Prevent Mold in Your Home— 3: Wet Basements
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