The humidity here is rarely under 90%, and usually over 96% (if not actually raining). It’s quite pleasant, as the temperature only occasionally goes above 80°F and there’s often a gentle breeze blowing off the ocean. We can sleep with the doors and windows open, which HA likes, as the nighttime temperature is usually about 60°F. All in all, I couldn’t ask for nicer weather.
If we should find ourselves hankering for hot and dry, the west side of the island is desert and is about a 40 minute drive away. If we want hot and tropical, that’s just down the mountain a few miles. We can even go to the summit of the mountain (about 16 miles in a straight line, but a somewhat longer drive) and get crisp, high-altitude weather with snow much of the year. But I like it just fine right where we are.
So, apparently, does the mold. When we first moved in, the house was quite musty. Even the upholstery in Timmy the Titan (the truck we bought from the previous owner) gets mold on his upholstery. I know that the former owner had a fire in the wood stove most days just to keep things drier, but I don’t think HA would like that and I’m trying not to burn things.
We’ve taken all the doors off the kitchen cabinets, and the new cabinets (if we can afford them) will have mesh-front doors. We keep the doors and windows open whenever we’re home, and we’re almost always home. We’re just finishing up washing all the walls and ceilings with a vinegar solution. The house is single-wall tongue-and-groove (the 1914 part) or board-and-batten (the 1930’s part) and the boards are smooth and painted with a glossy finish, so the mold comes off easily. The mold doesn’t penetrate as it does with wallboard; in fact the mold is really only growing on the fine layer of dirt on the walls. We’re trying to get repainted before our ship comes in and we fill the place with junktreasures from our mainland lives. When we get the solar installation finished, we’ll be able to run ceiling fans all the time which should really slow the accumulation of mold. So I don’t think it’s going to be an ongoing problem, but right now I’m pretty tired of mopping 9’ ceilings and having vinegar drip into my eyes.
—2p