The best way to fight damp from an entry-level basement is a basement dehumidifier. But you need to take the time to figure out what you really want to do with the space and then figure out how to make it happen. I don’t have a problem with the basement getting air and humidity, per se. I enjoy how dry my basement is, and I’m willing to get out of my basement if it means I can make it a little less damp.
The issue comes when we try to figure out how to deal with our basement. Its very easy to get caught up in the “do I want to keep it damp or do I want to make it dry” debate. The easiest way to make your basement dry is to buy a dehumidifier. However, if you want to make your basement wet, it may be best to buy a dehumidifier with a moisture sensor.
I own a dehumidifier/moisture sensor, which is great for my very damp basement. It will alert me if it’s too dry, and then I can turn the dehumidifier on. However, this would also make my basement wet, which is a bad thing. It’s like that old expression, “It’s too damn cold in the basement to be having sex.
While dehumidifiers are great for keeping your basement dry, they cannot keep your basement wet. Dehumidifiers are simply not designed to keep moisture out of a basement. Therefore, you should always try to buy a dehumidifier with a moisture sensor. I don’t know about you, but if it’s too cold in my basement to be having sex, I can’t be having sex in my basement.
It’s also a mistake to put your dehumidifier in a cabinet where it will heat up and dry the air. This makes your dehumidifier become a humidity sensor, and because water is a liquid at room temperature, your dehumidifier will become wet. This actually happened to me once when I took my dehumidifier upstairs to install it. The water inside the dehumidifier came out when I opened it and the dehumidifier was ruined.
That’s how the dehumidifier should be used. It’s not a humidity sensor. It’s a dehumidifier.
We’re not quite sure why these little things are called dehumidifiers. You probably should leave it in a cabinet with something else, like a humidifier. The water inside the actual dehumidifier is a liquid at room temperature.
The reason dehumidifiers are called dehumidifiers is that they should be used with water. The actual dehumidifier is a vacuum, so it actually collects moisture along with the air. If you have a dehumidifier in the basement and it is not regularly vacuumed, the moisture inside will build up in a large enough amount that it will be uncomfortable to breathe. The dehumidifier should be used with water only.
But we’re not just talking about the dehumidifier. It’s the same principle that allows the basement to be a complete mess and not just a damp, warm room. If you have a basement and it is regularly vacuumed, the moisture inside will be collected and it will eventually build up to a degree that it will be uncomfortable to breathe. And you can bet that if you vacuum regularly, the basement will be pretty clean.
One of the most common basement-dehumidifiers is the ones that come with a hose and a wand. The hose is usually a plastic tube with a long nozzle at the end. One end of the hose is attached to the wand and the other end is attached to a filter. When you move your foot, the wand will suck up any moisture that the hose has collected as it flows through and into your basement.