Top 5 Signs Your Home Needs a Humidifier

Although many homeowners don’t realize it, the humidity level in your household can significantly impact your home’s comfort, air quality, and functionality. Your home’s humidity level refers to the amount of moisture in the air, which tends to be at its highest during summer. You may need a home humidifier.

During the other seasons, though, the humidity level often drops low enough to start having negative effects. This is where a humidifier can come in handy. A humidifier is a device that allows you to add moisture to your home’s indoor oxygen and control the house’s humidity level.

So, how do you know when you need a humidifier? Here, we’ll look at some telltale signs that you and your family could benefit from one of these devices.

 

What We’ll Cover:

• Dry skin
• Trouble breathing
• Static electricity
• Cracks in furniture and flooring
• Bloody nose
• Key takeaways

 

1) Your Skin Frequently Feels Dry

One of the clearest signs that you should invest in humidifier installation is your skin feeling dry frequently. When the humidity level in your home isn’t high enough, the air becomes dry, which can get very uncomfortable for your skin. You and the other household members may notice that your skin is frequently dry, itchy, and cracked.

These symptoms are especially unpleasant in winter when the air outside is already quite dry. When you hire residential HVAC professionals to set up a quality humidifier, you should notice that your skin immediately feels more comfortable.

 

2) You’re Experiencing Asthma or Other Respiratory Problems

When the air in your home becomes dry, it can make life miserable for anyone in your family who has asthma or other respiratory problems. Typically, a lack of moisture in the oxygen exacerbates the symptoms of these conditions.

Some of the symptoms you or your household members may experience include coughing fits, sore throat, congestion, and shortness of breath. If you invest in humidifier installation, the additional moisture in the air will make it much easier to breathe comfortably—especially during the winter months. Regular HVAC maintenance can help you reduce these symptoms.

 

3) You’re Regularly Encountering Static Electricity

If you’re unfamiliar with static electricity, it’s that little shock you sometimes feel when touching a metal surface or petting your furry friends. If you notice static electricity building up more frequently in your household, it could result from low humidity levels. This occurs most frequently in winter when the cool, dry air fills your home.

Specifically, when the relative humidity level of your living space drops below 40%, the likelihood of static electricity occurring rises significantly. Suddenly, you and your family may get regularly shocked while going about your everyday lives, which can quickly get frustrating. Investing in a quality humidifier can provide a very effective solution to this problem. If you set your home’s humidity level above 50%, static electricity should decrease drastically.

4) There Are Cracks in Your Furniture and Other Surfaces

Have you ever noticed that cracks randomly appear in pieces of your furniture and other household surfaces? If you have, there’s a good chance it’s caused by low humidity levels around your home. Materials like wood and paper are very porous, which makes them very sensitive to extreme dryness. So, when the air in your dwelling becomes cold and dry, those materials can shrink. Before you know it, this can lead to random cracks and gaps in your wood floors, furniture, and doors.

Investing in a humidifier for your household will eliminate this problem, but you need to monitor the humidity level closely. If your humidifier adds too much moisture to the air, it can cause the wood around your home swells, which is equally problematic.

As the humidity level changes throughout the seasons, you’ll want to adjust the settings of your humidifier regularly. If you need assistance with this, your local residential HVAC professionals will gladly advise you on how to get the best results from your humidifier.

 

5) Your Nose Is Frequently Runny or Bloody

Typically, your nose will be one of the most sensitive parts of your body when it comes to dry air. When the humidity level in your home is too low, it can cause the tissue inside of your nostrils to dry out and become cracked. This can lead to nosebleeds, nasal irritation, and runny nose.

These symptoms become especially prevalent during the winter heating months, but having a reliable humidifier should alleviate them and keep your nose consistently comfortable.

 

Key Takeaways

If you aren’t aware that it’s a problem, taking the humidity level of your household or business for granted is very easy. However, if there’s a lack of moisture in your air, it could result in quite a few unpleasant effects. For one, the comfort of you and your family could suffer due to symptoms like nosebleeds, respiratory problems, and dry, irritated skin. Plus, the low humidity level could be causing damage to your wood floors, furniture, and doors.

You may even be exacerbating these problems without realizing it by running your residential or commercial air conditioning installation, as your AC unit could be removing moisture from the air. If you’d like to invest in home humidifier installation, contact your local residential HVAC professionals and schedule an appointment.

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