The Impact of Alexandria’s Humidity on Your Home’s Plumbing

06/15/25

Your indoor plumbing system is extensive, with many components delivering freshwater to your home and removing wastewater. One thing you may not consider regarding the integrity of your plumbing system is the humidity level. However, humidity can affect the health of your plumbing system in multiple ways. Below, we’ll discuss some of these ways and what you can do to help prevent them from causing damage to your home’s plumbing system.

Pipe Corrosion

One of the most common ways humidity can affect your household plumbing is by causing pipe corrosion. Humid environments will promptly accelerate the corrosion of any metal piping you have. Both iron and steel will develop a brownish-red rust while copper will develop a greenish patina. Over time, this corrosion will eventually lead to holes in your piping.

One of the best ways to prevent pipe corrosion is to upgrade any outdated piping in your home to corrosion-resistant pipes. This type of piping is PEX or CPVC, which is made of a more plastic base that isn’t susceptible to rusting. Getting a routine plumbing inspection will help you identify areas of outdated piping so that you know where to get replacements.

Mold Growth

Humidity creates the perfect environment for mold and mildew to grow. You’ll find this microbial growth around your sinks, showers, toilets, and shut-off valves. Mold typically presents with a musty odor and a green or black substance.

Both mold and mildew can be toxic to your respiratory health and cause permanent damage to any building components that they come into contact with. One method for helping to prevent this excess humidity is to use the exhaust fans in your bathrooms and kitchens. Be sure to run these when taking a shower or cooking on the stove to allow for quick venting of hot, humid air.

Degraded Caulking

All of your home’s wet fixtures have caulking to help prevent water leakage. When humidity levels are high, excess moisture will weaken the caulking around fixtures and toilets.

This will cause staining and leaks to develop as the caulking fails to do its job. A practical method for minimizing this problem is to use mildew-resistant caulking. This is much less susceptible to degradation.

Condensation Drops

One way high humidity can affect your plumbing is by causing condensation to form on the surface of your pipes. This will be most prominent on your cold-water pipes during the summer months as you’ll notice water droplets forming on the pipe’s surface.

Unfortunately, when condensation forms, that water can damage the surrounding materials. These could be the building materials in your wall, ceiling, or even your cabinet where the pipe lies. Fiberglass insulation, in particular, can be damaged.

Investing in insulation is one of the most effective methods for reducing condensation formation. A cover over your piping will better control the temperature of the water inside.

Proactive Prevention Steps

One of the most important things you can do to help preserve the integrity of your plumbing system is to get an annual plumbing inspection. This is where one of our plumbers will inspect your system’s different components and let you know if there are any problems.

We’ll be able to catch issues like degraded caulking, piping that lacks insulation, and so much more. This will allow us to optimize your home to better deal with high humidity and minimize its impact on the components of your plumbing system.

Investing in a dehumidification system is another great tactic for dealing with high indoor humidity. A whole-home dehumidifier is the most effective option as it removes excess humidity from all the rooms in your home.

If you don’t want to sustain the high up-front cost of a whole-home dehumidifier, consider investing in a portable one that you put in your basement. It can handle excess moisture where the majority of your household piping is. You may even consider using multiple portable dehumidifiers to handle numerous locations throughout your home.

Reliable Plumbing Repair Service

Caffi Services offers reliable plumbing repair services in Alexandria, VA. We can also help with all your plumbing installation, replacement, and inspection needs. Call our friendly office staff today to book your next service consultation.