09-04-2009, 09:49 AM
You don't say where you live, which makes a HUGE difference here. Also, how old your house is and what materials it's made from. Once the humidity has taken hold in a house, it's hard to fight it.
I live in lower Puna, get 120-150 inches of rain a year. My house is on a slab and I have louvers starting a foot up from the floor. I have open-beam ceilings ranging from 12 ft. to 16 ft in height.
The smartest thing I ever did was to purchase a free-standing ceramic fireplace. There is more than 10 feet of chimney inside the house.
As a result, I just have the usual household mildew in the bathroom tub that I control with diluted bleach. No other mold problems or dampness inside the house (rust fungus on the trees and sidewalk, even some of the outside woodwork!)
It was my experience before getting the fireplace that carpeting makes dampness problems worse. Tile is beautiful, waterproof, and you can use throw rugs (just be sure to anchor them somehow). I also put in a beautiful hardwood teak tile floor in the living room and it has retained its beauty for 20 years now.
Good luck.
I live in lower Puna, get 120-150 inches of rain a year. My house is on a slab and I have louvers starting a foot up from the floor. I have open-beam ceilings ranging from 12 ft. to 16 ft in height.
The smartest thing I ever did was to purchase a free-standing ceramic fireplace. There is more than 10 feet of chimney inside the house.
As a result, I just have the usual household mildew in the bathroom tub that I control with diluted bleach. No other mold problems or dampness inside the house (rust fungus on the trees and sidewalk, even some of the outside woodwork!)
It was my experience before getting the fireplace that carpeting makes dampness problems worse. Tile is beautiful, waterproof, and you can use throw rugs (just be sure to anchor them somehow). I also put in a beautiful hardwood teak tile floor in the living room and it has retained its beauty for 20 years now.
Good luck.