Here’s my list of the tell-tale signs that indicate you and your home need a higher level of humidity:
1. Your skin feels dry, your lips are chapped, your throat is sore
2. You’re getting “shocked” every time you pet your dog
3. Your son had a bloody nose out of the blue the other day for no reason
4. Your piano doesn’t sound right though you had it professionally tuned recently
5. The space between the wooden planks in your floor is widening
6. Everyone in your family has had at least 1 cold this season
7. You’ve noticed that some of your painted surfaces have chipped
8. Your plants are turning brown on the tips of their leaves
9. The caulking around your crown molding is cracked
10. You feel cold all the time so you keep compensating by increasing the temperature of your heating system.
Here’s what low humidity can do to you and your home based on my 40+ years’ experience helping homeowners achieve a more comfortable environment:
- Improper humidity can aggravate allergy, asthma and sinus conditions, and is often a cause of sore throats, chapped lips and rough skin in the winter.
- Viruses that cause the common cold and flu tend to flourish in low humidity environments.
- Low humidity levels can damage the wood in your home including furniture and floors as well as other expensive items such as musical instruments and wooden trim.
- Static electricity may feel painful, but what’s even more shocking is the damage to expensive electronic equipment from static electricity due to dry indoor air.
My Recommended Solution
The EPA suggests that maintaining a relative humidity level between 40 – 50% is ideal for you as well as all the wooden components and contents of your home. That’s difficult to attain without the help of a humidifier. I’ve found that the best and most controllable humidifying system you can install is a whole house humidifier which connects to your furnace and distributes water vapor directly into the heated air through your duct work. The humidity level is regulated using a controller called a humidistat. Whole house humidifiers come in different sizes but a typical model will emit 17 gallons of water vapor per day for houses up to approximately 4,500 square feet. What’s more, there are even whole-house humidifiers for homes without duct work and for larger homes.
Interested in more information?
Moist, comfortable heat is just a phone call away! A reputable heating company, like Cooper Mechanical, will assess your situation and recommend the right type of system for your house at no charge to you. Then, a professional installation team will set-up your new system at a very reasonable price. If you’re scheduled for preventative maintenance or heater repair, take the opportunity to discuss whole-house humidifiers with your service tech. It’s an easy fix!