Controlling Moisture and Maintaining Proper Humidity Levels

Keeping the correct humidity level in your home is important to your well-being, and while a little moisture can be beneficial, too much could be hazardous to your health.

Recommended Relative Humidity Level:

The recommended average relative humidity level is between 35% and 45%. This range will provide the best comfort for your family, while helping to protect your musical instruments, drywall, wooden furniture and other belongings or materials from the damaging effects of dryness or excessive moisture.

As relative humidity levels actually fluctuate depending on climate and air temperature, I've provided an average range to make it simpler to follow. How a home handles humidity depends on many factors including design, construction, vapor retarders and how airtight the building is. You can learn more about relative humidity by following the links provided below.

What Happens When Humidity is Too High?

When there is too much moisture in your home, moist air gets trapped in corners, basements and other closed areas. This is often very noticeable in bathrooms when moisture gathers in corners and creates mildew that is difficult to remove. Condensation can also accumulate in windows, causing water to drip down the window and wooden frames to rot. This moisture provides a perfect breeding ground for bacteria and molds, and mildew if left unchecked, can have very serious effects on your health.

When Should You Add Humidity?

During cold winters, your heating system can make the air in your home too dry, making it uncomfortable for you. It can also cause wooden items to crack. To improve the air quality, you can add a humidifier to those areas where you spend the most time, or you can install a whole house humidifier to your heating system.

In the summer when you are not heating, depending on the climate in your area, there may be too much moisture in your home, which can cause damaging mildew. To control this moisture, you need a dehumidifier, which removes unwanted humidity.

How To Maintain an Optimum Humidity Level:

A hygrometer is a small monitor with a display that shows what the relative humidity level is in the room where it is located. Inexpensive and user-friendly, this little gadget can help you to monitor the air so you can adjust your humidity level when required, by either adding a humidifier or dehumidifier to your home.

Air conditioners also help in controlling moisture levels in your home, and some portable humidifiers are designed with adjustable built-in monitors that activate the unit when levels are too low, or turn it off when levels are too high.

Size of Humidifier is Very Important:

If you need to add humidity to your home and you only have one portable humidifier, I would locate it in the bedroom to control the air where you spend the most time in a 24 hour period.

However, I must stress that the humidifier should be sized right for the room. Otherwise, you can be adding too much moisture. A humidifier with the adjustable humidity control as mentioned above, will help with moisture balance. Most humidifiers will denote on the packaging the recommended room size for the unit. Take a quick measurement of your room for this comparison.

Humidifier Care & Maintenance

Read your product manual and follow recommended guidelines for filter changes or cleaning. I cannot stress this enough - if your humidifier is running with a clogged dirty filter, you could be adding bacteria and mold spores to the room. Read my Humidifier Care & Mtce for tips to keep your unit operating efficiently.

Read More About Humidifiers in:

Air Quality Appliances
Humidifier Buying Tips
Difference Between Warm & Cool Mist Humidifiers
Whole House vs Portable Humidifiers
How to Buy a Home Humidifier - Video
Humidifiers FAQ
Step by Step Humidifier Wick Filter Replacement
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Other Helpful Online Resources:

Manage Your Moisture from ACCA Education Series
Air Psychrometrics by Engineering ToolBox
Winter Home Moisture Problems by Penn State
Dehumidifier Buying Advice by ConsumerReport.org
Indoor Molds by the University of Minnesota
Vapor Barrier - Wikipedia
Keep Your Home Healthy
Moisture Problems in the Home - Michigan State University