Drying out, finally

It's been four full days since we got our dehumidifier. It's been working hard for 8-12 hours each day. Today it seems to have finally stabilized the indoor relative humidity (RH) level around 40-45%. I had it run for 12 straight hours and when I took out the collection bucket to empty it, it was nearly full -- 2.5 gallons of water collected from the air. I can't figure out where it all comes from. I don't think our cooking and bathing add that much to the air, or does it? My guess is that the carpet and walls were pretty damp and that today it's finally gotten to a somewhat equilibrium point.

Today, for the first time the toilet tank is no longer sweating, and the cold water pipe under the sink is no longer dripping condensation. And for the first time tonight, I noticed that the RH didn't shoot up as soon as the unit was turned off, which was the case the previous three days.

What's really puzzling is that the absolute humidity outside is actually less than what it typically has been inside. So when I open the door and let the outside air (where it's usually raining, RH 95%+) in, the inside RH goes down quite a bit. So whatever is causing the indoor humidity has to be coming from within. If anyone else has some other ideas, I'm curious to find out what other possibilities might exist.

This afternoon I submitted an application for part-time employment at an art gallery and framing shop. It looks like four days a week, six hours per day, at least through the holiday season. We're not yet at a desperate condition, but having a bit of incoming funds to help with the rent or groceries would really help out. Elise probably won't be working until the beginning of next year at the earliest, so it looks like I need to bridge the gap until then. If this doesn't come through, I saw a full/part opening at the local, weekly paper for a pre-pub position doing layouts and such.

If I'm not supposed to have a paying job, then I'm okay with it. At this time, I'm just not sure which way I'm supposed to go with it. It would be nice to have a paying job, but the negative is that it adds to my day and subtracts from the time spent in church related work. We'll see what happens, and I'm okay with however things turn out.