Apartment Concern

[TheProphet]

Alright I just moved into a new apartment this week (one year lease agreement, signed in blood) and I've just discovered a problem.

The place is a heat and humidity magnet ... BIG TIME.

Now the heat in the apartment has not been turned on and I usually like an apartment temp of about 20 celcius. Plus all the curtains were lowered.

I came in late at night and the interior was sitting at 37 degrees celcius (roughly 99 F) with really heavy humidity ... which is damned hillarious as the city normally has 0% humidity and is an extremely dry climate

I had stored the guitars in one of the colder and dryer areas which are out of the sun, but when I opened their cases the guitars were Very warm to the touch (and out of tune) ... which concerns the crap out of me.

My lease agreement forbids me from installing air conditioning, so is there any other way to de-humidify the apartment? I'm picking up fans to see if that will help cool the place down, but I don't think that will help the humidity.

But the last thing I want is to end up with a bunch of humidity logged pretzel necked guitars.

 

[BigAlTheBird]

Re: Apartment Concern

Wow dude, that's intense. You could consider buying a good dehumidifier, which could range from $100-$500 (depending on how good you want it). But considering the worth of your guitars - monetarily and emotionally speaking - I'd say it's worth it.

So what is causing this, do you have any clue?

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Apartment Concern

What city in the northwest territories are you getting those kinda temperatures??? And humidity level???

In response to your question, if you're really worried about them, leave all but your 1 beater/player guitar in their cases, slightly loosen their strings, and only take them out when the weather cools down a lot. This should keep any major damage from happening to them. Where I live here in southern ontario, about twice a year I have to get my main guitar intonated and believe me, there's a huge difference between the winter (super dry and cold) and the summer (massive humidity and heat) here. I keep 1 acoustic and 1 electric out year round (mostly 'cause that's all that I own) but there doesn't seem to be any actual damage to either of them after 4 years of doing this.

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: Apartment Concern

There's a little place in hell for landlords that won't let tenants put in air conditioners.

Personally, if the temp in the place is 100 degrees and it's not that hot out yet then you need to talk to the landlord. Those are really unlivable conditions.

As for the humidity, a good dehumidifier will help, but if the place is like that and the outside isn't, then it has to be occuring from somewhere else....like a major appliance for the building next to your new pad.....which they probably didn't bother to install right or make decent provisions for and now you're essentially living in the same room as it.

...and this is the impetus I had for buying.

 

[LReese]

Re: Apartment Concern

Does the lease forbid all air conditioning or a specific type - like a window unit? A portable unit could be the ticket if the lease permits it. You would need to find a place to vent the hot air from the unit but everything else is contained on the inside of your apartment.

 

[TheProphet]

Re: Apartment Concern

What city in the northwest territories are you getting those kinda temperatures??? And humidity level???

The Knife ... We've had freakishly warm weather for the past year. I'm beginning to suspect that this was just a rare humidity spike and things will settle down in a week or two. Hopefully I was freaking out just a little bit too much in my mind. Who knows

What I will do is pick up a de-humidifier and a couple of fans for the place.

I'll also have a chat with the LL and take a look at the rest of the building as I suspect that much humidity may also be coming from the boiler room.

Worst case scenario if the temperature stays the same I'll go to the building owners and twist their arms a bit.

...and this is the impetus I had for buying.

Unfortunatly the housing (and rental market) here is nuts, for a bad trailer I'm looking at 150-200,000, which with a 25 year mortgage at 6% (generous) plus utilities and food, the monthly cost for me would be well above half of my monthly income (about 70% of my take home pay). You really need a second good income if you're buying here.

Hell I've got an really cheap one bedroom apartment for 1,000 ($910 US) a month (no utilities)

I seriously need a money bunny

 

[Zerberus]

Re: Apartment Concern

Alright I just moved into a new apartment this week (one year lease agreement, signed in blood) and I've just discovered a problem.

The place is a heat and humidity magnet ... BIG TIME.

Now the heat in the apartment has not been turned on and I usually like an apartment temp of about 20 celcius. Plus all the curtains were lowered.

I came in late at night and the interior was sitting at 37 degrees celcius (roughly 99 F) with really heavy humidity ... which is damned hillarious as the city normally has 0% humidity and is an extremely dry climate

I had stored the guitars in one of the colder and dryer areas which are out of the sun, but when I opened their cases the guitars were Very warm to the touch (and out of tune) ... which concerns the crap out of me.

My lease agreement forbids me from installing air conditioning, so is there any other way to de-humidify the apartment? I'm picking up fans to see if that will help cool the place down, but I don't think that will help the humidity.

But the last thing I want is to end up with a bunch of humidity logged pretzel necked guitars.

Welcome to my world.

Dessicant, lots of dessicant, regularly swapped out. They´re little buckets you can put in the corner, Home Depot or similar should have them.

The lowered humidity will also make the heat more bearable, for both you and your guitars

 

[tone4days]

Re: Apartment Concern

Welcome to my world

wow, i always suspected your world as being a dry heat

 

[kmcguitars]

Re: Apartment Concern

I'm having the same problem.:yell: Last year I lived in a house,All my guitars stayed in the bedroom that had AC. Now I'm living in a small 3 BR Apt. All my guitars are in a tiny 10x10 room ,And 3 of em' have done the pretzel routine so far since I've been living here.:blackeye: I can run as many AC's as I want mainly Cuz' I pay the utilities. But, Things are tight. I think trying to explain to my wife that we need to buy a new AC unit for the storage room wouldn't go over to well?:smack: So I keep my truss rod wrenches handy and pray.:13:

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Apartment Concern

wow, i always suspected your world as being a dry heat

:laugh2:

 

[Zerberus]

Re: Apartment Concern

wow, i always suspected your world as being a dry heat

:laugh2:

Actually, that´s one of the luxuries reserved for higher ranking entities than Chuck and myself, more for demigods and full blown devils

 

[J Moose]

Re: Apartment Concern

I came in late at night and the interior was sitting at 37 degrees celcius (roughly 99 F) with really heavy humidity ...

My lease agreement forbids me from installing air conditioning, so is there any other way to de-humidify the apartment?

Are you SURE that you can't install a window AC unit?

With temptures hovering around 90-100 F inside the apartment you probably have grounds to break the lease based on "unlivable conditions" or some such thing. I don't mind heat to a certain degree but anything above 80 F or so is pretty rough to be in for long periods of time, not to mention downright dangerous because you can dehydrate pretty rapidly!

Best to read the lease & check with a real estate lawyer!

Good luck,

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Apartment Concern

When you get fans, figure out an air flow pattern. In other words, get a big box fan and draw air out, force air in from the other side of the apartment, so instead of just blowing air around, you're actually moving fresh air into your place while getting the stale air out.

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Apartment Concern

This is good advice, and makes a world of difference in computer cooling. I'm willing to bet it would work well for you in the NWT. I refuse to believe that the outside temperature ever stays at 37 for very long!

When you get fans, figure out an air flow pattern. In other words, get a big box fan and draw air out, force air in from the other side of the apartment, so instead of just blowing air around, you're actually moving fresh air into your place while getting the stale air out.

 

[Jay 77]

Re: Apartment Concern

The Knife ... We've had freakishly warm weather for the past year. I'm beginning to suspect that this was just a rare humidity spike and things will settle down in a week or two. Hopefully I was freaking out just a little bit too much in my mind. Who knows

What I will do is pick up a de-humidifier and a couple of fans for the place.

I'll also have a chat with the LL and take a look at the rest of the building as I suspect that much humidity may also be coming from the boiler room.

Worst case scenario if the temperature stays the same I'll go to the building owners and twist their arms a bit.



Unfortunatly the housing (and rental market) here is nuts, for a bad trailer I'm looking at 150-200,000, which with a 25 year mortgage at 6% (generous) plus utilities and food, the monthly cost for me would be well above half of my monthly income (about 70% of my take home pay). You really need a second good income if you're buying here.

Hell I've got an really cheap one bedroom apartment for 1,000 ($910 US) a month (no utilities)

I seriously need a money bunny

No, you seriously need to get out of there! And I thought it was ridiculously priced in the GTA.....jeez....

 

[TheProphet]

Re: Apartment Concern

Updates.

The place has cooled down now that temperature have come back to normal, I think the humidity was more of a spike because we had tons of rain recently and then record high temperatures. I'm hoping that's the excuse. I'll take another look at things tonight, but over the weekend the apartment has cooled down a bunch. Plus I got a fairly powerful fan which can vent the whole place really well. I'll see how things are a week from now and decide if I need a humidifier for the place.

As for leaving the territory ... if I stay here for 2 more years I'll have all my student loans forgiven, so I'll be here for 24 months for sure.

But I sure miss living down south