How to live with Huntsville's dew points: bathroom habits, what to do about surface mildew, what helps closets and laundry rooms, and when the job is beyond a cleaner.
Many of the cleaning complaints in a Huntsville summer trace back to one number. Normal dew points at the airport sit around 70 degrees in July and 69 in August, and the city's average yearly relative humidity is about 70 percent. Moisture is simply slow to leave a house under those conditions. This guide covers what ordinary cleaning can do about that, and where it stops.
Huntsville has a humid subtropical climate with hot, humid summers and generally mild winters. The muggy stretch starts early and lasts: normal dew points are about 66 degrees in June before peaking in July and August. About 62 days a year reach 90 degrees or more, so air conditioning runs for long stretches. Cool indoor surfaces next to warm, moist air can feel clammy, especially around supply vents and on a bathroom mirror that never quite clears.
Winter does not fully end the problem. Precipitation normals peak in December at 5.87 inches, and the run from December through March stays wetter than late summer and early fall. The yearly total is 54.29 inches. Wet shoes, wet coats and wet dogs bring moisture in from the other direction. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America reports that outdoor and indoor mold concentrations tend to be highest in the Southeast because of its warm, humid climate, so damp is worth taking seriously for health reasons as well as looks.
Bathrooms are where most of the moisture starts, and a few small habits go a long way. None of them cost anything, and all of them work better on a home that was recently cleaned.
A faint gray or black speckle on grout or a window sill is often just surface mildew. Everyday cleaning, along with better drying, usually handles it. Wear gloves, keep the room ventilated and never mix bleach with ammonia or other cleaning products. Test on a hidden spot before using anything strong on painted walls.
Some things are not cleaning jobs. If a wall is soft or stained, a musty smell keeps coming back, or a patch keeps spreading, the cause is likely moisture from a leak or a building problem. A house cleaning is not mold or water damage remediation, and any cleaner should say so plainly. Get a qualified specialist to find the source first. Once repairs are done, a One-Time Deep Clean can take care of the dust and grime in the rest of the house.
Closets and laundry rooms are the quiet trouble spots in a humid house. Keep closet doors ajar when you can, and avoid packing clothes tightly against an outside wall. Move wet laundry along promptly, leave the washer lid or door ajar, and wipe the door gasket. In the kitchen, use the range hood when cooking and keep the sink area dry.
A dehumidifier in a room that stays clammy can make a noticeable difference, and it should be emptied and wiped out regularly. Change air conditioning filters on the schedule that the maker recommends, and wipe the vent covers when they gather dust, because damp dust clings. This matters most in a house from the city's 1960s building boom, about 19 percent of the homes here, where bathroom fans and windows may be older too.
Regular light cleaning does more for a damp-prone home than occasional heavy scrubbing. A bi-weekly Recurring House Clean keeps shower corners, sinks and floors from getting ahead of you during the months when dew points are at their highest. The seasonal calendar shows how the rest of the year fits around that. When it comes to the humid months, the aim is just to keep surfaces dry and clean between visits.
The questions Huntsville homeowners ask most often about this topic, answered plainly.
TotalCare Cleaning will service Huntsville and surrounding areas with background-checked cleaners and is insured up to $1 million. Re-clean guarantee: if we missed something, tell us by the end of the next day and we come back to fix it. Beyond Clean. TotalCare.
