Future Ideas for Homes
April 1, 2017
Show all

The Effects of Humidity

Everybody knows the sticky feeling of high humidity, but do you think about the effects of humidity on your body and pocketbook?

One of the effects of humidity on your house and potentially on your wallet is its tendency to help mold grow in your home. This probably happens most often in places like your bathroom where high humidity occurs daily. If the mold growth gets out of hand, it can then begin having some serious consequences on your health, also.

Another of the effects of humidity on your wallet is through your heating and cooling bills. In the summer, humidity makes living less easy. With high humidity, your air conditioning unit works harder to remove much of it from your home. This drives your cooling bill higher.

In the winter, one of the effects of humidity on your wallet and your health is its absence from your home. Too little humidity can dry your body out, making for feelings of being stuffy and having a hard time feeling good. Your wallet will take a hit also because dry air doesn’t hold heat as well as more humid air. This makes your heating unit work harder to keep the inside of your home comfortable.

There are some things you can do to improve the level of humidity in your home. These will also lessens the effects of humidity, either too high or too low.

First, find an inexpensive weather station to keep in your home so you can check the humidity level when you need to in order to monitor it.

Next, in the summer months, indoor humidity should be kept around 30% to 45%. This is a comfortable level for most people and will keep your house from being harmed by too much humidity. You will possibly need a dehumidifier to take some of the moisture out of your indoor air.

Third, in the winter months, indoor humidity should be kept around 45% to 50%. If you live in a place where the winters are wet, you can use a dehumidifier to take moisture out of the air. But if you live in a drier winter climate, you can use a humidifier to increase the moisture to the desired level. You see why a way to measure the humidity in your air is necessary.

In the summer, use fans to keep the air circulating in your home and to stabilize the humidity levels from room to room.

Choosing the right kind of insulation for your home can help with the effects of humidity, also. For the best spray foam insulation, contact Weathertight Spray Foam in Gilford, NH. It is one of the best in the area. Contact them at 603-343-3266 to schedule an appointment to discuss