4 Benefits Of Regulating Home Humidity Levels

From hot, humid summers to frigid freezing winters, your home endures a lot of changes, both inside and out. 

Now, there’s no stopping Mother Nature when she comes around. However, you can control your environment as best as possible to make it comfortable all year round. 

One of the largest components of a comfortable home is its humidity level. 

If your home is too humid, it feels sticky. If it’s too dry, your skin, pet’s paws, and plants suffer. 

So, maybe you’re thinking about investing in a smart thermostat to measure and regulate your home’s humidity levels but want to know if it’s worth it or not. 

Are there any benefits to regulating your home’s humidity? How will it improve your home, health, and life? 

As home remodeling experts, Southwest Exteriors is here to be the number one educator for all things home improvement, DIY projects, and tips for making your home and your life better. 

Let’s dive into the importance of regulating your home’s humidity and how it benefits you. 

Why Should Your Home’s Humidity Be Controlled? 

The humidity levels in your home affect the overall air quality. If humidity is too high or too low, it will negatively affect your home, your belongings, and your health. 

If humidity levels are too high…

• Allergens and dust increase
• Higher condensation rates 
• Difficulty cleaning
• Running your HVAC unit more than usual

If humidity levels are too low…

• Skin dryness occurs
• Potential damage to furniture and belongings
• Discomfort through dry throats, congestion, or sinus issues 

As you see, when your home’s humidity isn’t at the right level, it can cause a variety of issues, including discomfort, increased allergies, and much more. 

The proper humidity level of a home should be around 50-60% humidity. However, depending on your comfort levels and preferences, this number may be higher or lower. 

What Are The Benefits Of Regulating Home Humidity Levels? 

After understanding why you should measure and maintain your home’s humidity levels, let’s explore some of the benefits you’ll certainly notice once you have your home’s humidity under control. 

1. Improved comfort

The first benefit of controlling humidity is improved comfort levels in your home. Humidity, both when it’s too high and too low, is uncomfortable. 

If the humidity is too high, you feel sticky and much hotter than the actual temperature. When humidity is too low, you can feel much colder, especially during winter months, and dryness occurs all over. 

Once your humidity is regulated, you won’t have to use excess moisturizer during the winter or feel like you’re walking through water in the summer.  

You may not realize it now, but after you monitor and control your home’s humidity, you will feel much more comfortable all year. 

2. Reduced energy use 

The second major benefit of regulating humidity is the reduction of energy use, mainly through your HVAC system. 

If your home is much too humid during the summer, you typically want to turn your AC down to feel some relief from the heat (especially if you live in the South). This increases your energy use and costs you more just to escape the humidity. 

When humidity levels are under control, you won’t feel the need to run your AC as much because your home won’t be as humid as before. 

3. Better control over dust and allergens 

If you suffer from bad allergies or asthma, maintaining your home’s humidity will improve the air quality, your breathing, and your overall health. 

When humidity is too high or low, you can have excess congestion or dryness, causing worse allergies, nose bleeds, and overall uncomfortable breathing. 

Maintaining proper humidity levels year-round will help manage your allergies and asthma and help you, your plants, and your pets breathe better.

4. Protection of your home

Another benefit of maintaining humidity levels is the protection and preservation of your home, both on the inside and behind your walls. 

Too high or low humidity can damage your furniture. When humidity is too high, excess moisture can penetrate wood furniture and cause it to warp or, worse, rot. 

If the humidity is too low, it does the opposite. Wood and leather furniture will become dry and can crack and flake over time. 

Similarly to wood furniture, if your home constantly has too much humidity, it could potentially get behind your walls and damage the structural integrity of your home. 

So, regulating your humidity levels won’t only help preserve your furniture, but it will protect your home’s walls as well. 

Maintaining A Healthy Humidity Level For A Comfortable Home

Now you know the importance of regulating your home’s humidity levels and how it will benefit you and your home. 

All in all, maintaining a stable and comfortable humidity level will provide you with

• A more comfortable home
• Improved air quality and fewer allergens
• Reduced energy use through HVAC unit
• Protection of your furniture and home

By regulating your home’s humidity levels, you can maintain the overall comfort of your home year-round, improving allergens and asthma and keeping you, your family, and your pets comfortable. 

So, you’re probably wondering how exactly you can measure humidity levels and what some of the best thermostats are to get the job done. 

Check out this article that outlines how to regulate your home’s humidity levels and what some of the top-rated thermostats on the market are. 

Then, you can properly maintain your home’s humidity and know how to fix it if the humidity is too high or too low.