Cheap and Easy Ways to Increase Humidity in the Home

Most of us deal with winter dryness in one form or another. Even if you suffer from chapped lips, you know what it feels like to experience seasonal dry skin. This happens because cold air contains less humidity than warm air.

While dry skin is one problem, dry air can exacerbate issues such as respiratory illnesses, such as headaches, skin health, sleep quality, and so on. Fortunately, some things can be done to maximize your home’s humidity level and keep you comfortable through the coldest months of the year.

Humidifiers

Spending time indoors during the winter is common. This kind of lifestyle typically involves sitting for extended periods of time in a single room of the house. This is the right time to address the problem of dry air in the home.

Humidifiers can be small or large, cheap or expensive. However, if you spend much of your time in a single room, a small and affordable one may be just fine for you. Desktop humidifiers can be had for less than $100, and in the evening, you can move them to the side table by your pillow. Humidifiers like these will humidity the air you breathe, which can work wonders for dry air issues.

One added feature of most small room humidifiers is that they can diffuse essential oils along with water vapor. If you’d like to break into the world of essential oils, or simply want to replenish your supply, we can recommend Essential Oils by Aura Cacia, Plant Therapy, and Wyndmere Essential Oils. Countless products from these companies may help to maximize the benefit of your humidification efforts.

Use Radiant Heat

Older American homes often rely on radiant heat. Maybe you live in one such house, and still have those big metal radiators hooked up to the wall. If you have a system like this, but don’t use it for whatever reason, it’s time to fire up the old boiler.

Radiant heat doesn’t rely on pulling in air across a heating element, making air drier at the source of heat. Instead, the radiator gives off heat that can spread around the space, leaving any moisture in the room where it is. Modern boiler systems can also be efficient, meaning that if you outfit your new home with a boiler, you may find your electricity bills aren’t as high as you would expect.

Skip the Dryer

After washing your clothes, don’t dry them! Set up an indoor clothes line wherever you have good airflow. Ideally, this is near a fan or forced air system vent. As the air moves across your clothes, they will dry and spread the moisture throughout your home. This will also cut down on your electricity bill when running your furnace is already so expensive.

Plug Leaks

If your house is drafty, this means that the moisture in your air will likely find its way outside. Old drafty windows are one of the usual suspects. You might also want to check the seam where your home’s first story meets the foundation, as this can sometimes be open to the elements. Your energy provider may offer a free “home energy efficiency check,” which can identify where you’re losing heat and humidity during the winter.

At the end of the day, there’s no way to perfectly preserve humidity within a home during the coldest months of the year, so some of us may just have to grin and bear it with our lotions, oils, and tiny humidifiers. However, spring is around the corner, and with it warm, moist air that we’re missing right around this time every year.