Question for the hosts who live in very humid geographic locations

[Lilia22]

Hello everyone.

For those who their Airbnb is located in a humid location, (i.e. Villa Lizette is close to the ocean and eastern South Carolina is very humid in the hot months), what do you do regarding mold, mildew, etc.?

I simply ask because a great majority of my guests are from out of state, in particular the northern states which are still half frozen!  Once they get into the villa, they open windows and the patio door.  If it's really humid, the humidity settles in the villa (i.e. when I walked in today there was a lot of humidity in the air). 

My guest privately called my attention to a corner of the bedroom that had mildew... ewwwwww!  I cannot have miss that when previously cleaning, but did notice that the window, by that wall had a lot of condensation.  Of course, I thanked her and apolized at the same time and bleached the darn area.

No matter what the house rules are, we all know that a guest is going to do what they want to do.  I do stated in my house Manual that humidity in the low country ravishes a home, its contents, etc. and to be aware of such.  I ask to please leave the AC on (and close windows/doors - common sense ;o), to get ride of the humidity.  And believe me, I am guilty of when going to the islands wanting to have the nice breeze in my room; but after a while, I close the doors and crank up that AC!

I left a note for my next guests not to open that particular window; let's see how that goes.

It's not the first time I find high levels of condensation on the bedroom windows, but it was the first time I saw a "substantial" area of mildew.  I definitely will talk to the building's management company because that particular wall, in the bedroom, is an exterior wall; so there might be a problem of water infiltration that no one was aware of until today. 

Any suggestions how to get the point across any better than what I have done or tried to, so far? 

Thanks.

[Paul154]

@Lilia22, 

You are speaking to me.  I love going to the tropics and opening the doors for the cross breeze.

It feels so good. 

I also have fear of going to the South and getting  a stinky, clammy closed up house with bad air conditioning running.

I don't know what the answer is. I do is put have automatic humidity sensor in the bathroom. I also remove bottles in the corner of the bath-tub. maybe more fans might help... 

[Lilia22]

Hi Paulo.  Happy Easter.

May be tomorrow someone will give me an idea how to word the humidity destroyer factor my area is surrounded by.  

The villa's bathroom has no issue; to tell you the truth, my mom and I noticed more so in the kitchen (interior one) and now in the bedroom (exterior walls).  Also, it's a building built in 1972; that does not help with the ventilation issues.

[Linda108]

@Lilia22  Make use of the "live like a local" marketing tag line and help guests understand what that means in your area.  I have a shared home listing so I am here, but when I orient my guests to my Southern California desert home, I tell them I am a "water Nazi" and give them water encouraging that they drink water and respect conserving water.  It is a great discussion about how my home is different from their home.  

Maybe you can have lables, "Live like a local...close the window".  While it is important to put this information in your packet for the guest, I find all the information overwhelming and would not object to a reminder.

[Fred13]

@Lilia22 Surely you have thought of it, but instead of AC. we make a great use of ~fans~; in fact we have them all over the place. It is amazing the difference they make in a humid environment. 

[Sarah977]

Yes, live in tropical Mexico and while it's not that bad in the winter months, about half the year is hot and extremely humid. I concur with Fred re the fans- as soon as the weather starts to get muggy, the fans go on. Even if it's hot, the fans keep the air moving so keeps things from getting moldy. I don't have any AC, and altho most foreigners find it unbearable to live here in the summer (wimps!) without it, I am quite fine with the fans. I don't even like AC, except for in the car in the summer.

So windows open for cross-breeze, fans on 24/7 in the humid weather (I leave them all on low unless I am actually in the room, then will turn them up as needed) and just keeping things clean helps a lot. 

Many folks I know here also use dehumidifiers.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Lilia22

Fans and dehumidifiers will definitely help but if it's an insulation issue, getting it fixed properly might not be easy. Good luck~! 

[Lilia22]

@Linda108 @Jessica-and-Henry0 @Sarah977 @Fred13 @Paul154

Hi everyone.

Come to find out, the same issue is going on with other units.  Yesterday, I received an email from the management company, as well as another owner, stating about the mildew issue; it's a vents problem on the roof (that they are working, how fast I don't know), to have it fixed). 

With that said, I do have a fan in the dining room area, (the table right underneath it protects anyone's head); the remainder ceilings are too low (older building, 1972) if I put a fan, i.e. in the bedroom, someone might lose their head ;oP  And if I use a stand up fan, people are not going to turn it one; it's just going to take up place (I think).

May be worth investing on a dehumidifier.  I can always plug it in the living/dining room combo area.  The only problem I see, is guests (with longer reservations) not emptying the water reservoir (which I can always leave a note about it). 

Oh the joys of hosting and making our guests' stay be a six stars review! :O)

[Fred13 · Accepted solution]

@Lilia22 Fans and ventilation is the only way we have found to keep molding at a tiny minimum in our mainland home and at the island.There is also the roof ventilation fans which extract the upper air (hot air rises to the top) and does wonders to create a breeze through the place. They also can be mounted on the walls, taking up zero space. Just a thought.