Winter in Florida
You wake up, it's another day. Shower, eat breakfast, brush your teeth, get dressed, and head out the door for work. The garage door slowly opens and BRRRR the wall of frigid 60 degree air hits you and you realize summer in Florida has ended!
Start up the car, turn on the seat warmer, and oh shoot... your tires are flashing low pressure!
Now in reality, by the end of the day it'll be almost 80 degrees again, and chances are "not summer" won't last more than 2-3 months. But this is the time of year we all live for, is it not?
Having grown up in Colorado and Tennessee, I enjoy much colder weather than we ever get here in Florida, but these days of Florida winter where the nights get into the 60's, maybe even the 50's if we're lucky, and the days stay mostly in the 70's, are heaven. This is what I'd love to live in, year-round.
The first thing that many folks do, indeed I did it my first few years here, is to open all the doors and windows and air out the house. Turn off the AC, and enjoy the fresh air. And that's wonderful. But--it can have a devastating side effect on your home's air quality if you do it for too long!
In the remediation industry, our Florida "winter" is often the time during which we receive the most calls for humidity-bloom mold growth--when mold just suddenly starts growing everywhere on your belongings, especially leather or faux-leather furniture, shoes, handbags, and wood furniture. Why does this happen?
Mold requires moisture to grow. And that moisture can come from the air, not just the water leak under the sink. While the air may feel cool and wonderful, it's still super humid here in Florida. As I write this, Accuweather is telling me that it's a cool 64 degrees outside. But there's also 91% humidity! It doesn't feel like it because the air is so cool, but that moisture is still there.
At that humidity level, mold can begin growing in less than 48 hours! And that's why so many "humidity-blooms" occur during this time of year in Florida.
I'm writing this and thinking--why am I telling people how to fix this? Don't I want them to have mold problems so they'll call me and I can make money? Well, yes... I do like having work to do. But I also like helping people--and the best way to help people is to educate them on how to avoid mold problems in the first place!
Many people don't realize this, but your air conditioning system also serves as a dehumidifier for your home. You know that white PVC pipe that pokes out the side of your house and is constantly dripping water all summer? The pipe that sometimes you need to suck out with a shop-vac in the middle of the summer so your AC will work again (invariably it clogs up at 10pm and your neighbors will all be upset with that shop-vac running, but shoot: who can sleep with no AC in Florida summer nights??!!). That pipe is your condensation drain, and it serves to remove the water that has condensed out of the air onto the coil as the air passes over it and is cooled.
When it's nice outside and you're not running your AC, you're also not dehumidifying the air in your home. So do yourself a favor: enjoy that beautiful weather, pop those windows open and air out your home. But only for a few hours. Close it back up, turn your AC back on, and make sure it runs (with the fan set to "auto" not "on"--more on that in a future blog post!) and save yourself the hassle of a humidity bloom.
But hey, when it happens, give us a call at 866-437-7311! Cleaning up mold growth is what we do best!