Underground water is a problem in these hills. It increases the humidity inside enclosed structures.
The last house I lived in had a problem, but the air conditioner removed the moisture in the summer, and the heat kept it at bay in the winter. When I went back a month after we moved out to collect a few things, there was mold growing everywhere, because no heat or AC had been running.
This house has a fortified cinder-block basement in it, but the underground stream running along the north wall of the basement seeps through, and we keep a dehumidifier in the basement. It works overtime, has to be emptied every day or two, and humidity is still a problem in here. Leather goods and metal parts are the worst for collecting it. Just a couple of weeks ago I had to de-mold an old razor strap that belonged to my Dear Old Dad, and recondition the leather. Cleaning guns is a constant thing to keep them from rusting.
The only permanent solution would be to dig a 5 foot deep trench around the foundation and seal the cinder-blocks with something like Thoroseal to keep the ground water from seeping in.
When I was a kid, we had a wood stove for heat, and that was so efficient at removing humidity that we had to keep a pot of water on top of it in the winter time to replace humidity lost, and keep our breathing parts from drying out. I kept a sassafras root in that pot of water so that I had constant sassafras tea, and the house smelled like a bottle of root beer.
A dehumidifier may work for you, in combination with a good air filter to control mold. The dehumidifier pulls the moisture out of the air that the mold needs to grow on, and the air filter filters out the mold spores, to keep it from getting started to begin with. The simplest solution would be to find another house to move to, but out here in the woods (and out THERE in the woods too, I presume) is usually an exercise in humidity wherever you go, so unless you KNOW that the new place has humidity and mold control, you may just be trading one mold factory for another.
Chlorine bleach can kill the mold spores, too, but more just come along to replace them eventually.
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The last house I lived in had a problem, but the air conditioner removed the moisture in the summer, and the heat kept it at bay in the winter. When I went back a month after we moved out to collect a few things, there was mold growing everywhere, because no heat or AC had been running.
This house has a fortified cinder-block basement in it, but the underground stream running along the north wall of the basement seeps through, and we keep a dehumidifier in the basement. It works overtime, has to be emptied every day or two, and humidity is still a problem in here. Leather goods and metal parts are the worst for collecting it. Just a couple of weeks ago I had to de-mold an old razor strap that belonged to my Dear Old Dad, and recondition the leather. Cleaning guns is a constant thing to keep them from rusting.
The only permanent solution would be to dig a 5 foot deep trench around the foundation and seal the cinder-blocks with something like Thoroseal to keep the ground water from seeping in.
When I was a kid, we had a wood stove for heat, and that was so efficient at removing humidity that we had to keep a pot of water on top of it in the winter time to replace humidity lost, and keep our breathing parts from drying out. I kept a sassafras root in that pot of water so that I had constant sassafras tea, and the house smelled like a bottle of root beer.
A dehumidifier may work for you, in combination with a good air filter to control mold. The dehumidifier pulls the moisture out of the air that the mold needs to grow on, and the air filter filters out the mold spores, to keep it from getting started to begin with. The simplest solution would be to find another house to move to, but out here in the woods (and out THERE in the woods too, I presume) is usually an exercise in humidity wherever you go, so unless you KNOW that the new place has humidity and mold control, you may just be trading one mold factory for another.
Chlorine bleach can kill the mold spores, too, but more just come along to replace them eventually.
.
Diogenes was eating bread and lentils for supper. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus, who lived comfortably by flattering the king.
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’