This horror story goes back to 2004, one of the most notable hurricane seasons in Florida. Almost nobody in the Central Florida area escaped without feeling at least some of the effects. Even if no direct damage occurred to people’s houses, the temperatures were lower than normal, and the humidity was sky-high.
Mr. O was a retired professional athlete who lived in Central Florida when Hurricanes Charley, Frances, and Jeanne sliced through the area. While his home made it through the hurricanes relatively unscathed, he saw unprecedented humidity in his home. His vents were wet all the time, and some mildew started growing on them.
His local HVAC technician was invested in his situation and visited him quite often to perform tests and find the root cause of the problem. (This wasn’t easy in a large home like Mr. O’s.)
Unfortunately for the HVAC tech, whoever designed the house and arranged the furniture didn’t do him any favors; the vents were in some difficult-to-reach places, including above the king bed in the master bedroom. Nevertheless, he did his best to address the humidity issues and take care of the surface-level problems, like condensation and mildew.
One day, when the HVAC tech was over, Mr. O turned the corner and saw—in the corner of his eye—a beast that was ten feet tall! His blood drained from his limbs and curdled, but when he decided to turn back to face the beast, he saw a most unexpected sight—the HVAC tech… standing on his bed to clean the mildew off the vents. Standing on his bed!
Realistically, what else could the tech have done? There was no way for a ladder to help him reach it safely, and MacGyvering a cloth on a stick wouldn’t have done a thorough cleaning job. (At least he was wearing shoe covers, or so that’s what the legend says.)
The only way we could’ve prevented the core issue that started everything was by pulling out all the stops to control humidity in the home from the start. (The king bed also could’ve been placed somewhere else, but I digress.) Here are some ways to control humidity in a home:
- Install an HVAC system that’s properly sized (NOT oversized!)
- Install a supplemental dehumidifier
- Use bathroom and kitchen exhaust fans when showering and cooking
- Make sure the home is sealed tight, especially around windows and recessed lighting fixtures
