What Is The Best Humidity Level For A Home And How To Achieve It In Yours?

Comfort and coziness inside the room depend on the microclimate in it. So, it is necessary to maintain the right level of humidity in the room. How can you control the level of humidity? What methods are available to lower or raise it? To what consequences can improper maintenance of the microclimate lead?

The home humidity level depends on the area’s season and climatic conditions. During the winter it is less, in summer, more. A suitable microclimate is a key to excellent human health. Many elements of the house, such as furniture, appliances, flooring, and many others, poorly tolerate the constant changes in humidity and eventually become useless.

Dysfunctional repairs, unpleasant odor, and health problems can result from increased moisture. We call it high humidity in the home. In this article, we will find out what humidity level is optimal for people. 

What Are the Standards for Each Individual Room in an Apartment?

As we have seen, the humidity level at home during winter is less than during summer. This is because of the moisture of the cold airflow. When it enters the room, indicators decrease. Since it heats up to room temperature (20-25 degrees Celsius). The human body needs a lot of moisture during the house’s heating period. According to the doctor’s recommendations, the apartment humidity level should be 40-60%. This figure does not depend on the season but on the room itself:

Bedroom

The best humidity level for a bedroom at home should be 40-55% to maintain excellent health. There should be little technology in this room.  And it would help if you ventilated it regularly. Also, according to doctors’ recommendations, leave the bedroom window ajar when you sleep. 

Children’s room

Remember that children are more vulnerable. Infection and cold are enemies for them. So, maintaining a suitable microclimate inside the nursery is a must. The child’s oropharynx mucosa dries up because of the dry air. It leads to colds such as runny nose and bronchitis. Children will begin to have skin problems, such as peeling. Thus, the optimal humidity rate in the child’s room at home is 50-60%.

Living room

This is the place where the whole family is most often. A level of 40-50% is the ideal humidity for a person inside the room at home. You, your pets, and your plants will benefit from such humidity. 

Kitchen and bathroom

The indicators are usually higher than the standards here. The factors that affect the increase in air temperature and humidity levels are:

• cooking;
• and water procedures. 

If the kitchen hood does not work well, you should additionally install a fan in the kitchen. Remember to ventilate the room. The kitchen humidity should be in the range of 40-50% in the home.

Home office

The best indicator of humidity level for the home office is 30-40%. If humidity exceeds this value, various documents, books, or something similar will become unusable. But more often, increasing this room’s humidity level is necessary because the air can be quite dry.

Greenhouse

The main factors for maintaining a winter garden are:

• excellent lighting;
• proper temperature regime. 

But moisture is also the most critical parameter. The range of average humidity is 50-70%.

What Is the Ideal Humidity  Rate at Home?

Comfortable air humidity can be different. A particular value depends on the room’s purpose and the time of year:

1. An acceptable option for the summer period is 30-60%. The value should be at most this point.
2. The range during winter is 30-45%. The maximum value is 60%.

Architects and builders of residential buildings use these standards. They are necessary to maintain an acceptable level of moisture economically.

What Are the Ways to Increase the Home Humidity Level?

In winter, a heating device makes the air flow dry. And in summer, the air conditioner operates. Specially designed devices or folk remedies can cope with the increase in humidity. We will tell you in detail about each of them below. 

Humidifiers

You can find three varieties of humidifiers on the market. Their operation principle includes water evaporation from a specially designed tank and moisture supply to the air atmosphere.

Let’s look at each one in detail to do an ideal humidity level at home:

• Mechanical humidifier. This humidifier works based on an internal fan which helps spread air through a tray having a liquid available, clearing dust particles and humidifying. The main disadvantages of this device are high noise during operation. It can humidify the air only up to 60%.
• Steam humidifier. This device functions almost exactly like a kettle. Steam spreads around the room due to boiling water. You can use regular water. But the steam humidifier also makes a lot of noise during increasing humidity in the home. Remember that when using a steam device, you need to observe safety precautions because the hot steam can leave a burn on your skin. 
• The steam can also adversely affect the furniture surface and other objects.
• Ultrasonic humidifier. There is a specially designed membrane in platinum, which transforms water into steam. This device is the least noisy in operation. The water heating function kills disease-causing microorganisms. It is important to use purified water to operate the device. Or you can buy specially designed cartridges for water purification and softening.

Some models of steam devices, which you can use to level up home humidity, have special nozzles. With their help, you can perform inhalation procedures. This is especially significant during a respiratory illness. This model is also suitable for a children’s room.

Home Remedies

If there is no special humidifier in the room, you should not worry. You can use time-tested methods to get your lack of moisture:

• Using a water container. You need to place water containers near heating devices. The water will begin to evaporate, and the moisture level will increase.
• Using wet towels. We can use a wet napkin or wet towels. You need to wet the towels and place them on the radiator throughout the day. The procedure should be repeated as soon as the towel dries to reach the ideal humidity at home.
• Plants. House plants are sources of oxygen and moisture in the air. Plants need to be constantly watered and sprayed to maintain an optimal microclimate. They are considered natural sources of moisture.

What Are Some Ways to Lower the Humidity in the Home?

High humidity is detrimental to the human body. The source of high humidity can be different. A damp basement and an old roof can cause increased humidity. To solve this problem, it is necessary to carry out quality waterproofing. But if the dampness arose due to other factors, you can use the following methods.

Use Dehumidifiers

How do you reduce humidity levels with dehumidifiers at home? There are two main dehumidifiers to lower humidity. Let’s look at them:

• Compressor dehumidifiers. The principle of operation is quite simple. Built-in fans absorb moist air and then drive it through the evaporator. Due to the temperature difference, the moisture settles and flows into a specially designed receiver. After that, it flows back inside the room through the particular receiver.
• Absorptive dehumidifiers. This dehumidifier is a “moisture absorber.” The advantages are silent operation as well as low power consumption. The absorbent inside the dehumidifier is responsible for absorbing the humidity in the home. It is necessary to change it periodically.

These devices can be used in an apartment that is not heated in winter. The device will turn off if you do not empty the water tank in time.

Use Home Methods

There are three main rules to follow to get the best humidity level for the home:

• Airing. Constantly carrying out this procedure reduces the level of humidity.
• Exposure to sunlight. The sun will help to dry the house in a certain period (a few hours).
• Ventilation. You should have quality ventilation in the apartment.  
• Check the seal on the windows. Carefully inspect the window frames. Drafty windows are a common problem for high humidity. If you find a defect, you have to correct it.

Bottom Line 

High humidity in the home is not a minor problem, and you need to know how to reduce the humidity to optimal levels. Otherwise, you are threatened with various disease occurrences and spoiled repairs. Therefore, it is better to use effective methods at the initial stage of the problem. They will ensure the normalization of the home humidity level.

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