Don’t visit this…..

………and come home to this!

You are going on vacation for 2, 3, or 4 weeks; maybe all summer!  Of course, you want to save money and energy so you turn off your air conditioner.  Seems like a responsible thing to do; but when you get home there is mold on the walls and furniture.  What happened?!  

How can you prevent mold in your house while on vacation?

Your AC serves two purposes. One, to help you cool…no need for that if no one is home!  But, the other purpose is to keep the humidity down.  If the AC is not running in your home during the hot southern summer temperatures can easily reach 80-90 degrees with 80% humidity; the perfect Petri dish for mold growth! (Gross)

To prevent mold from growing in your house, keep the AC set at a temperature between 75 & 78 degrees.  Why so low?  Because it needs to be low enough to dehumidify the air.  During a cold, wet summer, like the one of 2014, we saw problems even when the AC was set at 78 degrees!  Though during a hot dry summer you could probably set the thermostat at 80 degrees and everything would be okay.

So, your bags are packed and you are walking out the door; what are you going to do?  You are going to turn the AC up but not off!  You will still save a lot of on mold remediation cost and hassle.