Anyone who's spent a July in Wilson County knows what the humidity does. It sits on you the moment you step outside, and it doesn't let up until well after dark. What a lot of people don't think about is that the same moisture is working on the inside of your house too, including the carpets you walk on every day.
Carpet is more affected by humidity than most flooring. It holds moisture out of the air, and when that moisture has nowhere to go, you get the problems we hear about all summer long. Here's how it happens and what you can do to stay ahead of it.
Why humidity is rough on carpet
Carpet fibers and the pad underneath act a little like a sponge. When the air is heavy with moisture, the carpet absorbs some of it. On a normal day that's no big deal, but combine high humidity with any extra source of water and the carpet can hold onto more than it should.
That trapped moisture causes a few things:
- Musty odors. Damp carpet pad develops that stale, basement-like smell. Once it sets in, it's hard to air out.
- Mildew and mold. Give moisture enough time in the dark of a carpet pad and mildew starts to grow. You usually smell it before you ever see it.
- Faster soiling. Slightly damp carpet grabs and holds dirt more easily than dry carpet, so it looks dingy sooner.
Spots that already stay cooler and darker, like a closet, a corner behind furniture, or a room over a crawl space, are the most likely to give you trouble.
What you can do at home
You can't change the weather, but you can take the edge off what it does to your floors.
- Run the AC or a dehumidifier. Keeping indoor humidity in a reasonable range is the single biggest thing you can do. Your air conditioner pulls moisture out of the air as it runs.
- Keep air moving. Ceiling fans and the occasional open window on a dry day help carpets breathe instead of sitting still and damp.
- Deal with spills fast. Any water that hits the carpet in humid weather dries slower than it would in winter, so blot it up right away.
- Don't over-wet the carpet when you clean. This is the big one. A wet cleaning method in the middle of a humid summer can leave your carpet pad damp for a full day, which is exactly the condition mildew loves.
That last point is worth sitting with. A lot of folks make their carpet problem worse by cleaning it the wrong way at the wrong time of year.
Why the cleaning method matters here
Steam cleaning floods the carpet with water, and during a Middle Tennessee summer that's the last thing a soggy-prone carpet pad needs. The water can't evaporate fast enough in humid air, so it lingers and feeds the very problems you were trying to clean away.
This is the whole reason we use a low-moisture process. Our carpet cleaning uses a fraction of the water steam cleaning does, so carpets dry in about an hour even in peak summer. You get a deep clean without leaving moisture behind for mildew to feed on. If you've already got a musty smell or a stain that won't quit, our odor and stain removal service treats it at the source rather than masking it.
Staying ahead of it
Humidity is just part of living here, and your carpets will be fine as long as you manage the moisture and clean them the right way. Keep the air dry, jump on spills, and when it's time for a deep clean, use a method that doesn't leave your floors wet.
Smelling something musty or want to head it off before summer hits? Call Safe-Dry® of Lebanon at 615-994-1780 or contact us to set up a visit.