How Dry Air Affects Your Home and Health

Indoor air temperature, air quality and humidity are a few of the leading factors that contribute to your health and comfort while you’re at home. Dry air in Oklahoma City, OK doesn’t just affect your personal comfort level—it can also have a negative impact on your house. Continue reading to learn more about dry indoor air:

• Structural damage: Dry air tries to suck moisture out of anything and everything. This includes structural components of your home, like hardwood flooring and wooden doors. When that occurs, the wood will shrink, creating gaps, creaks and squeaks, among other issues.
• Damage to belongings: Any organic materials, like wooden furniture and paper documents, are also at risk if the air is too dry. If these items lose too much moisture, they’ll become brittle and may even crack. Although this can happen at any time of year, it’s most common in the winter months, when the outdoor air is extremely dry.
• Higher risk of illness: When there’s not enough humidity in the air, the mucus membranes in our noses and throats dry out. This is a problem because those mucus membranes are responsible for capturing allergens and germs before they get inside our lungs. Since dry membranes can’t do their job as well, people are more likely to get sick.
• Irritated nasal passages: Going along with the point above, dry air causes the mucus membranes in our noses to become inflamed and irritated. If this issue goes unaddressed for too long, you may wind up with a bloody nose.
• Dry skin: Our skin is made up of over 60 percent water. When the air gets too dry, a ton of that water is sucked right out of our skin. A lack of moisture leads to dry, cracked and uncomfortable skin and lips.
• Static electricity: Receiving a little shock from touching metal objects or light switches isn’t necessarily painful, but it can be startling and frustrating. All of that static electricity is usually a sign that the indoor air is too dry.

What’s the solution?

The good news is that dry indoor air in Oklahoma City, OK is a fairly easy problem to solve. Follow these tips to improve your own wellbeing, as well as that of your home:

• Use humidifiers: Purchasing humidifiers and placing them throughout your home is the easiest way to increase the indoor moisture level. Aim to keep the humidity level between 30 and 50 percent. Going higher than that could lead to mold growth, dust mites or other issues.
• Seal your home: Prevent cold winter weather from sneaking inside by sealing off any air leaks. Use caulk, weather stripping or spray foam to keep as much air out as possible. It’s also a good idea to add insulation to attics and crawlspaces.

Stop living in an uncomfortable and unsafe house, and call the pros at Dailey Heating & Air Conditioning. Enrolling in one of our bi-annual HVAC maintenance programs can help improve both your health and your indoor air quality in Oklahoma City, OK.

Categorised in: Indoor Air Quality

This post was written by Writer