Fix mold and allergy problems with dehumidifiers, air purifiers and vacuums
My wife and I are both sensitive to allergens.
After moving into our home, we discovered a mold problem with the
basement and a dust and pollen problem upstairs.
After experimenting with several solutions, our house and our
allergies are under control.
Down below, I've noted which solutions worked for us.
[If what worked for us is available on amazon.com
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Eliminating mold
Mold thrives in moist environments like subterranean basements. The threshold for mold growth is around 50%-65% humidity, so if you think you might have mold in your basement, you'll want to get a hygrometer in order to measure humidity. We tried an analog hygrometer first, but it was clunky and inaccurate. We've since found a simple, inexpensive digital hygrometer that works much better:
If you have humidity above 50%, you should get a mold test.
An environmental contractor can do this for you, or you can order a
mold test kit
You just mail the petri dish from the kit into the lab after leaving it exposed to the air, and they tell you what kinds of molds you have. [If you're in a rush to run the test tonight, they sometimes sell these test kits at Home Depot, but they're cheaper online.]
If the mold test comes back negative, but you've got odor or allergy problems, skip ahead to the allergen-control section.
To kill mold, you need to get the humidity below 50%, and around 35% is optimal.
If it's a mold problem in your basement, having a contractor install vapor barriers around the outside of the foundation of the house is probably the best long-term option. (For an average size home, this can cost up to thousands.)
If a vapor barrier isn't an option (due to cost or because the
basement isn't a problem), then you can kill the mold by running a
dehumidifier.
A professional can install an expensive, high-throughput dehumidifier that can cover an entire house.
We opted to try out a
cheaper, intermediate-range Soleus dehumidifier
We went with Soleus because of its reputation for reliability (many other dehumidifiers break within a couple months), but also because this one can pull about 80 pints of water from the air each day if run continuously. (The most energy-efficient thing to do is to just set it to a 35% target humidity of "Dry," and then it will kick on as needed.) This is also one of the few that has an optional drainage port, so you can attach a hose to the side and forget about changing the collection bucket. It's also very portable, which made it easy to move from room to room, testing for the optimal location to reduce overall humidity. (For us, placing it in a dry-walled wash room in the basement was the most effective location.)
If none of the above are an option, then you can:
- Open windows to the outside to equalize humidity.
- Insulate cold, moisture-beaded water pipes.
- Remove paper and wood from affected rooms.
Eliminating allergens and dust
My wife and I had tried air purifiers like ionic breezes and filtered fans, but we only had marginal improvements in our allergy problems, and these devices were too maintenance-intensive. We still woke up each morning with stuffy noses, head congestion, sore throats and dry eyes. Our infant son was also having recurring stye eye infections, and each morning, his nose was clogged shut with dried mucus.
On a recommendation from a friend, we tried a
Rabbit Air high-volume purifier
Rabbit offers several models, but we chose the 582A because it has the highest coverage (780 square feet), it does germicidical filtering and it's very low maintenance. The 582A has three filters: one pre-filter cleaned by a vacuum once a month, one HEPA filter replaced every three years and one carbon filter washed about every three months in a sink.
The difference for us was immediate. After leaving it on overnight, we woke up with clear noses, clear heads and rested eyes. We were so impressed that we bought two more: one for our son's room, and one for the basement. Our son's eye and nose problems disappeared the morning after we started running it in his room, and they haven't returned since. (Another reason we bought this model is that it's so quiet, the baby can sleep with it on.)
We also got a good idea of which rooms in the house were the most polluted. The clean-filter indicator came on for the Rabbit in our bedroom after just two weeks, and when I pulled off the cover, there was about a finger's-width of accumulated dust and pet hair on the pre-filter, and thick coat on the HEPA filter underneath. (After that initial cleaning, it's since needed cleaning only every couple months as recommended by the manufacturer.)
We would definitely recommend this device to anyone with allergy problems.
Vacuums
To make matters worse, my wife and I love dogs.
So, for years, we've been trying high-end vacuum technology trying to
keep up with their shedding.
On this front, two technologies have stood the test of time: the
Roomba robot vacuum
The Roomba works best if the dogs are confined to a single level of the house, or in a condo/apartment. We just set the Roomba to vacuum before leaving the house each day, and then empty its container when we get back. It excels at keeping rooms free of dust and pet hair, and it actually becomes rather intelligent about floor layout after its fourth or fifth journey.
We have a mid-level Roomba, and my parents have a high-end Roomba, but as far as I can tell, the only real difference between them is price. And, apparently, we're not the only ones to have discovered that the Roomba is the mortal enemy of the Chihuahua, which leads to endless amusement during cleanings:
We'd tried Orecks and Hoovers to get at the pet dander stuck in our carpets, but they're worthless compared to the Dyson Animal:
This thing feels more like a V8 engine that could rip the carpet off the floor. For clearing up pet-related allergies, it's in a league of its own.