I love having a basement… I feel like it’s a real luxury, and I can’t imagine moving into a house separate from one ever again.
I cherish the extra storage space it provides, the utility space that is perfect for doing laundry and completing cabin projects, and I love the naturally cold air that the ground insulates year round, but the only thing that turns me off from our new basement is its tendency to collect too much moisture.
The air down there is typically nice and cool, however sporadically it gets far too humid to deal with. The moisture gets into every surface downstairs, and compromises the items I have stored down there, creating mold and mildew that is strenuous to get rid of, but periodically I can’t even do laundry downstairs because everything ends up reeking of mold and requiring many washes. I contacted my local Heating plus Air Conditioning professional and described my problem, and he was quick to offer me a satisfactory solution, and he commanded that I purchase a few high powered dehumidifiers and place them strategically around the basement to remove the extra moisture from the cool indoor air. He said this is a typical issue with basement air quality, and using the regular Heating plus Air Conditioning unit I can expect to see improvement within only a few mornings. I asked him to point me towards the regular dehumidifying units, and he issued me a quote for several energy efficient models that wouldn’t cut the bank, since I need to operate them 24/7. I’m ready to get drastic about my basement’s air quality.