Supermarket giant ASDA is selling a £1 pot that will keep your home free of damp and mould. It could prove particularly useful for people who dry their clothes inside, as experts have warned that doing this can cause mould to grow without you even realising.
Jenny Turner, Property Manager at Insulation Express warned that when drying wet clothes in the house moisture from the clean washing evaporates and settle onto ceilings and walls, making existing mould problems worse.
She told Hull Live : "To minimise the risk of mould developing when drying wet clothes at home, always keep a window open in the room to allow excess moisture in the air to escape. As mould and mildew can quickly build-up on walls and ceilings, a further way to prevent this happening when skipping the tumble drier is to opt for a dehumidifier. An average sized residential humidifier can effectively remove the moisture from the air in your home and collect up to 7 litres of water over a day in a damp environment."
Electric dehumidifiers suck in the air, extract excess moisture which is collected in a water tank and then release the air back into the atmosphere. While it might seem a bit counter-intuitive to buy and run an electric item to improve your air quality and save money on drying, in the longer term it offers savings on needing to tackle mould. The Duux Bora smart dehumidifier is app controlled and can hold up to 20 litres of moisture. It has a night mode and auto timeout, costs 13.2p per hour to run.
But if you'd rather go lower tech there are simpler and cheaper, albeit less long-lasting, options. Dehumidifying pots are available in ASDA, which sells them for £1 each. Alternatively, you can buy packs of four for £3.50 - working out at 87p per pot. Typically these kind of pots only absorb three times their weight in water, so if you're having to dry clothes indoors regularly with the windows shut you're going to need to replace them regularly.
Jenny added: "For a dehumidifying effect without the use of electricity, try a combination of open windows and plastic window dehumidifier pots which can trap and collect moisture in the air. These inexpensive plastic pots can help to eliminate the risk of condensation on windows which can occur from drying wet clothes inside, adding to the damp atmosphere. Another cheap trick to draw moisture away from walls and windows is to place bowls of rock salt on the window sill when drying clothes, as this will help to absorb excess moisture in the air."
