Overwhelming indoor humidity is a typical summertime problem for homes. Humidity has long-term effects on your house, your health, and the immediate discomfort it causes. That’s why it’s essential to maintain a comfortable amount of humidity within your home. Your home’s interior is often a climate-controlled zone, where the temperature may be altered at your whim by simply setting the thermostat. In the winter, heat is trapped inside so that everything in there (including you!) can continue to work correctly, while in the summer, the air conditioner keeps things cool inside.
Humidity within the house, however, is often neglected due to environmental or climatic regulations. Between 40 and 60 percent relative humidity is considered the sweet spot for comfort indoors. Too much moisture in the air raises the possibility of mold and wood rot throughout the house if the relative humidity is too high. The warping of floors, cabinets, and other wood furnishings is only one example of the extensive damage that humidity levels may cause within a house below 40 percent. Make it a habit to check the relative humidity in your house regularly. This is especially true for winter so you can take preventive measures. Find out the implications of having a dry home environment.
Understanding What is Humidity
Having a solid grasp of relative humidity can help you identify low humidity in your house and improve the humidity. The relative humidity is the quantity of water vapor in the air in relation to the temperature. The vapor capacity of warm air is greater than that of cold air. This implies that the quantity of water vapor in the air in a room that is 40 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than one that is 50 degrees Fahrenheit colder might be the same in both cases, despite the difference in relative humidity.
The relative humidity, or humidity, is the proportion of the weight of all the liquids in the air that are also vapors. A high relative humidity is an air relative humidity reading more than or equal to 60%. A low relative humidity is defined as an atmospheric humidity level of less than 40 percent. At a humidity level of 50%, for instance, the air only keeps half as much water vapor as it could; at a humidity level of 25%, the air only retains a quarter as much water vapor as it could.
The Impact of Low Humidity on the Household
Low humidity can cause significant damage to a home if nothing is done to raise it to an acceptable percentage. High humidity is typically associated with hazards like wood rot and mold growth. Long-term effects of low humidity in the house may become apparent if the current relative humidity level persists. Check your hardwood floors, wooden furniture, cabinets, drawers, countertops, wallpaper, paint, windows, doors, and even houseplants for shrinking, warping, peeling, and cracking symptoms. Low indoor humidity also makes it more likely to get an electrostatic shock when you touch a certain surface. If you’re getting a lot of shocks every day after walking on the carpet or doing the laundry, check the humidity levels in your home.
What are the Causes of Low Humidity?
Although several factors may cause low humidity, the weather is usually to blame. The outer air can only store so much moisture vapor during winter compared to summer. Because of this, when it is chilly outdoors, the relative humidity of the air drops significantly. If you leave a door or window open, dry, cold air from outside will enter your house and expand as it warms. However, this has the side effect of lowering the home’s relative humidity.
Excessive usage of air conditioning or a dehumidifier is another contributor to low humidity levels in the house. Remember that cities or towns in arid areas do not necessarily need to be chilly to have low humidity levels outdoors. Low humidity is a persistent threat in these areas, necessitating a low-maintenance solution such as a whole-house humidifier.
What is the Target Humidity Level?
There are a few techniques to determine the relative humidity in your house. First, a humidity reading may be available on the screen of many thermostats, particularly smart thermostats, or through an app on your smartphone. A hygrometer is a cheap and simple instrument used instead of thermostat to measure humidity. To avoid problems, the relative humidity in your house should be between 40 and 60 percent. If the relative humidity is over 60%, then the humidity level needs to reduce; if it is below 40%, it should be raised until a comfortable middle ground is reached.
What Leads to an Increase in Humidity?
You shouldn’t freak out if you find out that your house has too little humidity after doing a humidity test. Humidifying your house is a low-cost method. Leaving the lids off boiling water while cooking or leaving the bathroom door open while bathing are fantastic ways to bring in more moisture. You may also wait for the water to cool by leaving it in the tub afterward.
Increasing the humidity in your home by adding plants is another option. If those passive strategies don’t work, you may invest in a whole-house or separate humidifier for each room. Avoid creating difficulties associated with excessive humidity by increasing the humidity level too much.
Tips for Managing Indoor Humidity
There is no silver bullet when controlling high humidity levels within a building. Some options are as follows.
- Purchase a humidity gauge. The first step in managing humidity is understanding the problem accurately. Hygrometers are simple instruments that measure relative humidity. You can find them at any hardware shop for a low price.
- Keep your indoor plant population to a minimum. Plants can improve the indoor humidity levels within the buildings.
- You should turn on the fans in your house. Using the exhaust fans of kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room is a great choice to reduce humidity.
- Maintain a level of orderliness in all rooms of the house. Clutter and storage areas inhibit air flow, collect moisture, and foster mold development.
- A dehumidifier is what you need. A dehumidifier may assist if there’s too much moisture in the air. In addition to working independently, dehumidifiers may be installed as part of a larger heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system. It’s worth checking whether a dehumidifier was included in the construction since some builders provide them as an optional extra.
- Don’t let your landscaping plans mess with the grading around the house’s base. Then, it may seep into your house via crevices in the foundation, raising the indoor humidity.