Weekly Maintenance Tip - Moderate your indoor humidity in winter
Task: If water condenses on your windows in winter, the problem might not be the windows - it might be that the house is just too humid.
Humidity makes your home more comfortable in winter, but you can have too much of a good thing. When you see condensation on your windows in wintertime, it's a sign that you should lower the humidity level in your house. Otherwise, the water that condenses on your windows - not to mention inside your walls - can cause damage over a period of time.
Here are a few suggestions for reducing humidity levels:
1. Reduce moisture sources within your house:
- Don't store firewood in the home
- Repair foundation leaks
- Turn your humidifier down or off
- Cover any exposed earth floor in a basement or crawl space, as well as sump pits
- Don't hang laundry to dry inside your home
- Limit the use of vaporizers or steam generators
2. Ventilate your home:
- Vent your clothes dryer to the outside
- Check for obstructions in the dryer vent
- Use exhaust fans when showering or cooking
- Install a heat recovery ventilator (HRV) to exhaust warm moist air from your house and replace it with dry, fresh air from outdoors
3. As the weather changes adjusting the humidifier on your furnace will be needed. Adjust the control setting based on the outdoor temperature. Most humidifiers will have a chart that looks similar to the below example:
- -20 degrees F. - 15%
- -20 to -10 degrees F. - 20%
- -10 to 0 degrees F. - 25%
- 0 to +10 degrees F. - 35%
- +10 and above degrees F. - 40%
Take a few minutes to check your windows and adjust the humidifier setting to prevent unwanted problems.
Until the next time...a few minutes of maintenance work will save your hundreds of dollars and keep your property in tip-top shape.
Here's to your best year ever, may everything you touch turn SOLD,
John Villella, Your Personal Building Consultant
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