Question 1
I bought a portable 50 pint dehumidifier at Lowes. It's very noisy and I'm wondering if there is a dehumidifier that is more efficient and quite and can be installed into the central heat/air system of the house. And if so which is the best one to get.

Question 2
I had solid Cumaru installed on a slab. The vapor barrier is Mapei Planiseal WFM. The floor looks great. It has slight crowning on the board edges probably due to lack of acclimation when the boards were brought into the house. They crowned slightly then the crowning stopped and has been the same for 7 months. If I had the floor sanded flat and re stained do you think the boards would stay flat?
thanks

They do have "whole house dehumidifiers" that are installed into your central heating/cooling system. However, that would be a much more substantial investment. I believe Aprilaire has a nice product. I would suggest trying a top of the line portable dehumidifier from Lowe's first to see if they are quieter before making the big investment.

Regarding the floor, I think you are correct that sanding and refinishing would flatten the boards and eliminate the crowning. However, to ensure they do not crown again I would make sure your humidity issues are under control before refinishing the floors. In addition, I would recommend waiting until the floors have gone through a complete heating and cooling season so you know they are fully acclimatized.

thanks, can I install a whole house dehumidifier myself or should I have the heat/air contractor do it?

I just put a new hvac unit in my personal home. While researching and getting quotes I talked with a few hvac guys about an april air unit. Each one told me they work well but require agood bit of upkeep. The basic concept is a water line is tapped into the trunk line of the hvac where a sprayer is placed to add moisture to the system. I was told the unit would run about 1500.00 installed and had to be sanitized and cleaned every month or the mold and mildew will cause it to fail prematurely. I didnt want to crawl around in my crawl space every month and do that so I opted out. For 1500.00 I can run portables during the three months we actually run our heat to the extent it gets too dry. Just running the ac will dehumidify the space during summer months so it seemed to me that it only would be benificial during winter months.

So first your floor is cupping and now it's crowning huh?

Isn't cupping and crowning the same? The edge of the boards are very slightly raised. That happened right after installation. The condition has not gotten worse. Since I live in Georgia there is high humidity here. I wanted to install a whole house dehumidifier to make sure the humidity inside did not get too high. So I wanted to ask the forum which was the best whole house dehumidifier for the money and if I can install it myself. Sounds like Aprilaire may be a good choice.