Tackle your home’s humidity issues with weatherization

Weatherization is helping Mainers battle high heating costs by making their homes and businesses less drafty, better insulated, and more energy-efficient. Common weatherization projects include insulating walls, attics, and basements, and investing in air sealing, which reduces the amount of air that leaks in and out of a building. Over the next few weeks, we’ll share some blog posts that will inform Mainers about the potential benefits of making our buildings more energy-efficient. Today’s topic: tackle your home’s humidity issues with weatherization.

With Maine’s cold, dry winters and increasingly hot, humid summers, many Mainers find that some of their living spaces may be too dry during winter months, while other areas, such as basements, may be overly damp. Using a humidifier and dehumidifier, while effective, may only be a short-term solution. That’s why we recommend weatherizing your home. 

One way to control humidity in your home is by air sealing, which is an excellent solution for an overly dry home or building because air leakage is the most common cause of that condition. When cold air enters the house and is heated, its relative humidity drops significantly. One of Efficiency Maine’s qualified Residential Registered Vendors can identify where air might be leaking in your home and recommend some potential remedies that may help maintain a consistent and comfortable level of humidity, as well as save you energy and money. 

A Residential Registered Vendor can also identify moisture sources and recommend ways to mitigate them. This may help you minimize or avoid having to use energy-draining dehumidifiers, and may also tackle the source of the moisture issues. Click here to find a Residential Registered Vendor near you. 

For homes that are too damp or too dry, humidifiers and dehumidifiers treat only the symptoms of the problem rather than tackling the source. Weatherization helps manage moisture by not allowing air—and the moisture in it—to infiltrate the house during humid weather or leak out during dry weather. This helps maintain more comfortable humidity levels in your home, while simultaneously improving home air quality. For more information about how weatherization can improve home air quality, stay tuned for our next blog. 

Efficiency Maine offers rebates and loans for weatherization projects. Rebates are available for insulation projects (up to $5,000 rebate), as well as air sealing with an energy assessment ($500 rebate). Click here to find a contractor near you. Check https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSTGkJupXdQ to view a video on how to weatherize your home. To download our weatherization myths and facts brochure, visit this webpage: https://www.efficiencymaine.com/docs/Weatherization-Myths-and-Facts.pdf.