Ideal House Humidity Level

What is the ideal house humidity level? People are generally most comfortable when the humidity in house is between 30 percent and 50 percent. Individual preferences may vary, of course, but many problems can occur if the humidity level, or the amount of moisture in the air, gets too low or too high.

What Happens When The Humidity Is Too Low?

When the humidity in house falls below 30 percent:

People often get dry, itchy, flaky skin.

People may also get painfully chapped lips; sometimes they even crack and bleed.

Paint on both walls and furniture will start to peel off.

Wooden furniture and musical instruments like guitars, violins, and pianos can become warped and damaged.

If the humidity in your house is too low, you can purchase a humidifier, an appliance that increases the amount of moisture in the air, to bring the humidity up to a comfortable level.

What Happens When House Humidity Is Too High?

When the humidity in house rises above 50 percent:

The air feels stuffy or “close.”

People’s skin may feel moist and clammy, which most people find uncomfortable.

It may feel hard to breathe.

There may be an unpleasant, musty odor in the room (a musty odor is usually caused by mold growth).

You may find mildew in your bathroom.

Mold is more likely to grow in a home with high humidity, which can cause numerous health problems including difficulty breathing, asthma attacks, respiratory infections, and allergic reactions.

Mold in the home can also damage household structures and furnishings.

If the humidity in your house is too high, you can purchase a dehumidifier, an appliance that draws moisture out of the air, to reduce the humidity to a comfortable level. Dehumidifiers are often recommended to homeowners that have household mold problems, but even if you don’t have a mold problem, a dehumidifier can help you keep your home comfortable.

How Do You Monitor Your House Humidity Level?

You can use an instrument known as a hygrometer to monitor the relative humidity in your home. Some hygrometers come with multiple sensors so you can monitor the humidity in several different rooms from one console.

Our Preferred Hygrometer

Our preferred hygrometer is the WS-07 model by Ambient Weather. Ambient Weather makes a number of quality products, including hygrometers, thermometers, barometers (instruments that measure air pressure), dew point monitors, wind meters, rain gauges, and other weather-related instruments. We like the WS-07 model hygrometer for several reasons:

The easy-to-read console has large numerals that can be read from across a room.

It displays the temperature of a room as well as the relative humidity, so it’s a two-for-one deal.

It’s highly accurate.

It comes with an additional sensor, allowing you to monitor the temperature and relative humidity in two separate areas of the home, displaying all information on one console.

You can purchase up to seven additional sensors, if desired, so that you can monitor the temperature and relative humidity in up to nine different areas of the home, with all information displayed on one console.

The console allows you to choose how to display information; you can have it scroll through the temperature and relative humidity readings for each area monitored or you can display the readings for just one area and press a button to display the readings for other areas.

It’s reasonably priced.

To learn more, to read reviews from customers that purchased this hygrometer, or to purchase one for your home, visit Amazon.com.