No, you don’t have to live with dry skin and a sore throat
Is your throat dry in the morning? It could be because your house is too dry, which is common during winter months when the furnace is constantly going. If your skin is dry and itchy, or your lips are always dry and cracked, your house may be too dry.
Not sure? Take a look at your hardwood floors. They can tell you a lot about the moisture content in your home.
If your home is too dry, you’ll see the wood in your home shrink and crack, especially in hardwood flooring. You might see wider gaps between the floorboards, and/or gaps along the baseboards.
If you think your house is too dry, call a qualified HVAC technician or a qualified home inspector. They can come in and take a look, do a healthy-home inspection and indoor air quality testing, and then provide a proper solution.
One solution might be installing a humidifier on to your furnace. An HVAC technician can help.
Provide them with the total square footage of your home, along with the make and model of your furnace. This can help them find the best solution beforehand, which might save you time and money.
The other extreme is having too much moisture in your home. One sign is condensation on your windows, or what some people refer to as ‘ weeping windows.’ This happens when hot air meets cold, and it could occur for a number of reasons.
Somehow there’s air movement between the warm air inside your home and the cold outside. (Or vice versa in the summer.) That’s not good. Ideally, there should be an envelope around your home that keeps warm air in and cold air out.
If the condensation gets inside your walls or attic space, it could lead to mildew, mould and rot, which we know isn’t safe or healthy. If the moisture and rot gets into structure, you’re looking at big problems.
You could also have too much moisture in your home if it’s too airtight.
An airtight home definitely helps with energy efficiency — because it minimizes heat loss — but if there isn’t enough ventilation, indoor air quality issues and moisture problems could result. Where does this moisture come from? Most of the time it comes from you, for example, when you cook or take a shower — even breathing creates moisture in your home. ( Did you notice condensation on your windows during your holiday party?)
Opening a window a crack and installing stronger, better quality exhaust fans can help, by creating air movement. You may also want to look into heat recovery ventilators (HRVs).
Homes that are too airtight should have an HRV. These units exchange indoor air with fresh outdoor air, and as the indoor air goes out it preheats the fresh air coming in.
But some homeowners actually turn their unit off because they think it’s noisy or a waste of energy. It’s not. An HRV has a big impact on the indoor air quality and health of an airtight home.
Homes built within the past two years also tend to have more moisture. That’s because the wood used in its construction wasn’t protected from rain and snow, and it will continue to release that moisture until it’s completely dry.
Another reason for too much moisture might be that the humidifier is set too high.
A qualified HVAC technician should be able to recommend a proper setting on your humidifier. A humidistat can also help regulate the moisture content.
Humidifiers and dehumidifiers have humidistats, as do some thermostats ( usually in newer homes). But most older homes don’t have them, unless they have a humidifier or dehumidifier. ( Your air- conditioning unit also acts as a dehumidifier by removing moisture from the humid air coming in during hot summer months.)
Getting the right balance of moisture in your home can sometimes make you feel like Goldilocks, searching for just the right setting. If there’s too much or too little, your hardwood floors will tell you.
And once they give you a proper solution, it’s important that you monitor your home over at least two weeks. Did the condensation issues go away? No more weeping windows? Does your hardwood look good? How do you feel when you wake up in the morning? This will tell you if your moisture and indoor air quality issues have been properly addressed and made right.
IS YOUR HOUSE TOO DRY OR TOO HUMID? HAVE IT CHECKED