I live in a rental apartment made of block with very low air circulation
Nana pam
| Posted in General Questions on
There is a wall-mounted ventless gas heater. I have fought mold since the cold weather started. I now have a dehumidifier but I know very little about using it.
The walls were constantly wet, nothing was safe sitting on the floors, or hanging on or near walls. The apartment was fine in the summertime because my AC was in use.
GBA Detail Library
A collection of one thousand construction details organized by climate and house part
Search and download construction details
Replies
See this article: https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/all-about-dehumidifiers
You can try 60% as an initial setting and see if it is comfortable and sufficient to address your moisture issue. It is also possible that your unvented heater is contributing to your moisture problem by introducing moisture during combustion.
[I've just figured out that everyone with the screen name "N/A N/A" is not the same person. There is a new web site glitch that assigns that screen name to all new GBA readers who register.]
The problem you describe indicates that you have high indoor relative humidity (RH) and cold walls and floors.
To warm up your walls and floors, your building needs better insulation and a better heating system.
To lower the indoor RH, you need to disable the ventless gas heater and get a real heating system (or use electric resistance heaters). You also need to leave your bathroom exhaust fan on for 24 hours a day to get some air exchange.
Whether or not these measures can be implemented depends on your landlord's attitude. It's possible that the conditions that your landlord is providing are illegal, but it may be hard to get the legal help you need. In some cases, moving to a different apartment may be the path of least resistance. Good luck.