Knoxville summers bring dew points near 68 degrees and the year brings about 52 inches of rain. Here is how to keep bathrooms, closets and grout from turning musty, and what cleaning cannot fix.
Knoxville is not a coastal city, but its summer air feels like one. NOAA's hourly normals for McGhee Tyson Airport put the average dew point near 68 degrees in July and 67 in August, and the year brings close to 52 inches of rain. Moisture is part of every house here from late spring to early fall.
Surface mildew on grout, caulk and shower curtains is a cleaning problem, and this guide covers it. Mold growing inside walls, under floors or after a leak is a repair problem for a specialist, and no cleaning service should claim to remove it.
Dew point is the best plain measure of how muggy the air feels. Below about 55 degrees feels comfortable; in the mid to upper 60s, air feels heavy and damp surfaces stop drying. Knoxville's normals sit at about 64 degrees in June, 68 in July and 67 in August.
Rain adds to it. The airport's normal year brings 51.93 inches, with July the wettest month at 5.25 inches, and measurable rain falls on about 86 days spread across all twelve months. So the wettest month and the muggiest month are the same one, which is why July bathrooms are the hardest to keep fresh.
Moisture collects where warm, wet air meets a cool surface or cannot move. In a Knoxville summer, those spots are predictable.
Knoxville has a deep stock of old houses. More than 5,000 homes were built here between 1895 and 1904, and districts like Fourth and Gill keep hundreds of frame houses from 1875 to 1949. Houses that old were built long before bath exhaust fans and central air were common, so damp air has fewer ways out.
In those houses, airflow is the first fix. Leave closet doors cracked in summer, keep furniture a few inches off exterior walls and run a dehumidifier in any room that smells musty. When cleaning painted surfaces, use mild products and soft cloths, since old paint can flake if scrubbed hard.
Every shower. Run the exhaust fan during and for a while after, squeegee the glass and spread the towel to dry. On moderately hard KUB water, the squeegee also prevents mineral film.
Every week. Wipe grout lines and the tub caulk with a bathroom cleaner, wash bath mats and launder the shower curtain liner or wipe it down. Leave the washer door open after each load.
Every month. Check under sinks for drips, wipe closet shelves on outside walls, and empty and clean the dehumidifier bucket and filter.
A cleaner can remove surface mildew from sealed tile, glass, caulk and painted walls that are sound. A cleaner should not be asked to treat mold inside drywall, under flooring or after a leak or flood, and TotalCare Cleaning will not offer mold or water damage remediation. If a stain returns days after cleaning, or a room smells musty no matter what, call a qualified specialist to find the moisture source.
For the cleaning that does help, a Recurring House Clean keeps grout and fixtures ahead of summer, and a One-Time Deep Clean adds hand washed baseboards, vents wiped in place and shower glass treated for water spots. The recurring cleaning guide explains which frequency fits a humid season.
The questions Knoxville homeowners ask most often about this topic, answered plainly.
TotalCare Cleaning will service Knoxville 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.
