My basement flooded a bit last Friday and I pulled up the carpet and pad and used a low fan to help dry it out. It smells a little bit and I thought a dehumidifier would help.
Do you think it would? It's humid down there anyway. I can't wait to move back to Colorado...*sigh*

By Vicki on Thursday, June 8, 2006 - 12:27 pm:

We use one and I would think it would help you greatly!! What does it smell like? I would be concerned about mold. Did you do a good cleaning of it??

By Cat on Thursday, June 8, 2006 - 12:38 pm:

Well I'm in Colorado so NO, we don't have a dehumidifier! lol I grew up in Michigan, though and we had one that acted as both a humidifier in the winter and dehumidifier in the summer. I don't know that it would help the smell though. You may just have to air it out. I'm sure someone who's btdt will have better advise.

When do you plan to come back to CO? Visit or move--let me know.

By Trina~moderator on Thursday, June 8, 2006 - 12:55 pm:

YES, it will help. We have one in our basement that runs constantly from early spring until fall. Without it, the cellar smells musty.

By Tayjar on Thursday, June 8, 2006 - 01:30 pm:

We have one that we run year around. It is in our basement. I can tell the differnce in the smell if we don't run it. It smells damps and musty.

By Babysitbarb on Thursday, June 8, 2006 - 02:41 pm:

Ditto like Tayjar said.
It seems like our basement floods like once a year or so and when it does it helps dry it up quick. Also we have our basement set up as a game\bar area and if anything gets spilt it helps dry it and it has helped on the basement smelly musty

By Kaye on Thursday, June 8, 2006 - 02:52 pm:

Ahh we are back from colorado! I was amazed at how NOT humid it was. My daughters hair was so pleasant Hubby and I talked about job possibilities there..LOL

I think a dehumdifer helps some. The reality is, it can only do so much. We have had one in the past, you can get the room humidity down to under 50 but not much more if it starts high. I would work on putting out boxes of baking soda and leaving fans running at all times.

By Dawnk777 on Thursday, June 8, 2006 - 04:26 pm:

Like Trina, we have a dehumidifier and it runs pretty much constantly from spring to fall! If I turn it down, to hear a phone call and forget to turn it back up again, it gets musty down here in a hurry. With the dehumidifier, it stays quite pleasant down here.

The smell will go away eventually. I love it in the fall, when it cools down again and we can finally turn it off. It sits near my computer, so that we can run a hose to the drain and not have to worry about always emptying the resevoir.

By Cocoabutter on Thursday, June 8, 2006 - 05:33 pm:

In the spring, our basement smells really musty and nasty for a while. I had a dehumidifier last summer, but then it pooped out. (It only lasted 2 summers!) I noticed that if I place 2 fans, one in the stairway on the landing and one in the window at the top of the stairs pointing outward, and do this for a couple of days, it will pull the moist air out of the basement.

By Dawnk777 on Thursday, June 8, 2006 - 08:38 pm:

Wow, Cocoabutter! I can't even remember when we bought our dehumidifier! I think we might have gotten it our first spring, in Sheboygan, 13 years ago! It just keeps on humming.

By Hol on Sunday, June 25, 2006 - 04:53 pm:

We, too, have to run one in our basement from Spring to Fall. Our house is built on rock ledge and there is absolutely no drainage, so most years, we get water in the basement in the Spring. This year, we got it in January! (We also have a sump pump). For that reason, we keep our cellar floor cement, no carpet or anything.
Even when there isn't water down there, the cellar gets really damp in the hot humid weather, so we run it 24/7. It definitely DOES make a difference. It is quite pleasant down there, nice and cool (like air conditioned air) and dry, and smells good. I put a little bleach in the water collection pan to prevent mold.
I have clothes and books stored in plastic totes down there, and without the dehumidifer, the dampness even permeates the plastic.
I'm with you, Dawn. I LOVE the Fall. The cool, crisp air, and low humidity. I turn into a "wilted flower" in the Summer. We had duty stations in Florida and North Carolina in our early married years. While the people couldn't have been nicer, the weather was too hot for me. I stayed in a lot with the AC in the summer. I don't know how you Southern Moms do it. Give me a nice Fall day in Maine or New Hampshire anytime. LOL!