What Should the Humidity Level Be in Your House?

Did you know that people spend about 90% of their time indoors? If your house doesn’t have the right humidity, you risk suffering from a host of health conditions. When it’s too dry, you might get respiratory irritation, while dampness can cause mold.

You need to understand the healthy indoor humidity level ideal for your home. The best part is that you can control the humidity within your home. Getting the right moisture level will increase comfort and protect your health.

Keep reading to know more about healthy humidity levels indoors.

What Is a Healthy Indoor Humidity Level?

The Environmental Protection Agency recommends indoor humidity to be 30-60% to deter mold growth. Homeowners often try to change the humidity levels for reasons such as home maintenance, health concerns, and outdoor conditions.

Your indoor humidity level depends on the season. During the summer season, the temperatures will be warmer. The chances of mold forming on your walls and other surfaces are high.

It is crucial achieving the optimum humidity levels as unreasonably lower humidity levels can lead to structural damage to your house besides causing other health issues. During summer, try to raise the humidity levels slightly. About 40-60% humidity levels in summer are quite ideal.

The cold air during wintertime means that there’s less moisture in the air. As such, the air is somehow dry when it’s winter. Condensation will form on your surfaces during this season.

The moist and warm air in your home leads to condensation once it comes into contact with most cold surfaces such as doors and windows. Condensation happens when cold air doesn’t hold enough moisture than indoor warm air. Lower humidity levels are recommended during winter; stick to less than 50%.

To pursue a healthy indoor humidity level, you can seek options such as an energy recovery ventilator. You’ll get not only the right humidity but also clean and fresh air. Achieving the ideal door humidity will have significant impacts on your health.

Measuring Indoor Humidity

You can measure your home’s humidity using a hygrometer. However, it’s essential to note that the humidity will be changing with the temperature. Therefore, the hygrometer won’t always have an accurate reading with the constant fluctuations.

It is advisable to keep the hygrometer in a place where the temperature is fairly constant. You also need to know that hygrometers need calibration for them to provide accurate readings. The package of the hygrometer often has calibration instructions that you should follow to the letter.

Some homeowners have humidifiers installed in the furnace. The role of these humidifiers is to give you an idea of the humidity level within that area. You might want to get a portable humidifier; which you can have in every room you wish to check the humidity levels.

When using the humidifier, don’t forget the bathroom. These spaces are prone to high humidity and resultant mold growth. Not unless your bathroom has a fan or built-in ventilation, ensuring that it has a healthy indoor humidity level is crucial.

Signs of Poor Humidity Level at Home

You need to have the right indoor moisture level for you to achieve the ideal environment. Some of the signs that your home has poor humidity include:

Breathing Difficulties

One of the symptoms of high humidity in the home is difficulty in breathing. When the humidity is high, the chances of developing asthma symptoms such as wheezing and chest tightness increase. Low humidity levels can also lead to other respiratory conditions that make breathing hard.

Trouble Sleeping

Are you tossing and turning in bed the better part of your night? Poor air quality could be the culprit! The National Sleep Foundation reports that low humidity can have adverse effects on the quality of your sleep.

When the humidity is too much, your body works extra hard to cool itself. This situation makes it hard to have adequate sleep. Excessively dry air can also be detrimental to your sleep as it irritates your throat, leading to constant coughing through the night.

Constant Sweating

If you keep sweating when indoors, something could be amiss. Poor humidity in your house can cause you to sweat even when the weather is cold. You should seek ways to stabilize the humidity to enhance your indoor comfort.

Other signs of high or low humidity at home are:

• Growth of mold on surfaces
• Peeling paint
• Musty smells indicating the presence of mold
• Condensation on walls and countertops
• Baffling false alarms from smoke detectors

Note that low humidity will often be felt, not seen. You need to familiarize yourself with the common symptoms of humidity to notify you when the healthy humidity levels in your home are dwindling. Once you note these symptoms, modify the levels to ensure that your home is as comfortable as possible.

How To Get the Ideal Indoor Humidity Level

The market has appliances to modify humidity in a home. You can get a range of humidifiers to increase the humidity and dehumidifiers to lower it. The appliances often have a rating based on the air volume resonating with the size of your room.

If you don’t have the appliances, consider home remedies such as having bowls of water in every corner of your house. You can also hang your laundry inside the house. Having water boiling is another way to enhance humidity.

To lower the level of humidity in your home, use fans, or keep your windows open. It would also be best to replace the filters of your AC system. With home remedies, it is indeed possible to increase or lower your indoor humidity.

Healthy Indoor Humidity Level Promotes Comfort

The kind of humidity in your home can have significant impacts on your health and comfort. It is important to have a healthy indoor humidity level. Besides getting a humidifier and dehumidifier, consider other natural ways such as opening windows.

You’ll save yourself and your family from a range of respiratory illnesses when the humidity in your home is perfect. If the humidity in your home is below or surpasses the recommended level, work on its stability.

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