Is There An Ideal Humidity Level For My Home?

Humidity isn’t something we think of routinely here in Colorado. If anything, the dry climate makes us wish we had more moisture in the air.

Humidity is simply a measure of the amount of water vapor in the air. The higher the temperature, the more water vapor the air can hold.

If you’ve ever visited a place where humidity levels are often high, you know a wet, sticky feeling quickly materializes when you walk outside. Many people believe that the best alternative to high humidity is low humidity – that’s what gives us a dryer feeling here in the Rocky Mountains. But this isn’t a 0 or 100 percent game. You might not want to live in 100 percent humidity, but you would be equally uncomfortable in 0 percent humidity.

The ideal humidity levels are between 30 and 50 percent.

Excess humidity

When you have too much humidity inside your home, it prevents your body from regulating internal temperatures through evaporation. Constant high humidity can lead to severe health problems, including heart problems and heatstroke. It can also impact your home, rotting wood and allowing things like mold and mildew to set in. If you suffer from allergies and asthma, high humidity will exacerbate the problem.

Low humidity

When the humidity levels inside your home dip too far down, close to zero, it can cause the opposite effect. A dryness settles in. Wood furnishing can take a beating from drying out. Your skin will feel itchy. You may have a scratchy throat and chapped lips. If you notice nosebleeds, it might be from too little humidity.

What’s the indoor air quality like in your home?

While it’s essential to have control over the temperatures inside your home, it’s equally as important to take control over the moisture levels. The environment you live in should have good air quality to keep you healthy and feeling your best.

A telltale sign of problem humidity levels is your sleep quality. Do you consistently sleep warm or cold, no matter what action you take? Too much moisture prevents the body from evaporating sweat. You can’t get cool, and you have difficulty falling asleep. Once you get there, you wake up more and have trouble staying asleep.

There is a solution. It starts with evaluating your HVAC system and ensuring it’s working properly. It might also include adding a whole-house humidifier to your HVAC system to ensure it’s properly regulating your air supply.

Are you comfortable inside your home? Let’s do something about it.