Does your home's air feel uncomfortably dry? 4 ways to quickly increase humidity – including steam tricks and home heating hacks

Struggling with dry air in your home? Low humidity can leave your skin dry, your furniture cracked, and houseplants wilting.

Luckily, there are several quick and easy ways to increase the humidity in your house without increasing the risk of mold.

Here, HVAC experts reveal the best ways to carefully increase moisture and explain why you should always address low humidity in your home.

How to increase the humidity in your home

If you're wondering, why does my house feel dry, then there are several reasons, ranging from cold winter weather to 'thirsty' furniture and poor ventilation – and ignoring dry air can quickly lead to respiratory irritation and skin conditions, making you sick over time.

So, in order to make sure you're keeping the best humidity levels for a home year-round to keep your home and your family healthy, we're here with expert advice on how to increase the humidity in your home.

1. Use humidifiers

Of course, the quickest and easiest way to increase humidity in a house is with a humidifier.

Ben Baca, implementation manager and HVAC expert at SmartAC.com says there are two main options for humidifiers – whole home, and standalone.

He explains, 'Whole home humidifiers which are installed on your central heating system, are the most effective and convenient. These will generally either be an evaporative or steam style. Evaporative-style are not able to produce as much humidity as steam humidifiers but they are cheaper to run. Steam humidifiers, on the other hand, use electricity to boil water and are capable of producing large amounts of humidity. The convenience of a whole-home humidifier is being able to control the humidity in the whole home with one central control and a couple presses of a button.

'Standalone humidifiers are generally more cost-effective than whole home humidifiers but are not nearly as convenient and require much more intervention. These are available in cool mist or warm mist styles. Cool mist uses ultrasonic frequencies to create microdroplets of water that evaporate into the air. Cool mist humidifiers will produce “white dust” as a byproduct. This dust is the dissolved minerals in tap water that get left behind in the home after the water evaporates. This white dust is not harmful to humans but may cause respiratory irritation for sensitive people, will clog air filters, and generally leave a bit of mess around the home. Warm mist humidifiers operate similarly to steam humidifiers. They use electricity to heat the water and evaporate it into the air. Warm mist humidifiers do not produce white dust.'

When using humidifiers, consider investing in a humidistat, such as the ThermoPro Mini Hygrometer from Walmart, which comes with a thermometer built-in. Humidistats are small monitoring devices that keep tabs on how moist the air is in your home. They can alert you to dangerous humidity levels that could result in mold growth so you know when to turn appliances off. We explore these further in our, what is a humidistat feature.

All prices correct at time of publication.

Ben Baca

Ben has over a decade of experience in the HVAC industry, having worked as a quality control inspector, trainer, and manager. As a real-world HVAC subject-matter expert, Ben has an in-depth technical knowledge of all things installation, maintenance, and repair, and has led several training programs on HVAC systems and their problems.

2. Trap steam after showers

Although we usually recommend ways to improve bathroom ventilation to reduce your home's humidity, trapping steam from a shower can help to quickly and temporarily increase indoor humidity to alleviate dryness.

Ben Baca continues, 'Taking a long hot shower and boiling water or cooking a meal are more temporary solutions to indoor humidity levels and are not very efficient or controlled. These methods will work in a pinch, however.'

To do this, close windows and turn off extractor vents during high humidity activities, keeping internal doors open to allow the moist air to travel through your home. It is best to avoid leaving doors closed and trapping all the moist air in one room, as this is a bad habit that increases the risk of mold in your home.

3. Invest in houseplants

Geno Caccia, plumbing and HVAC expert, and owner of Caccia Plumbing suggests picking up some of the best houseplants for low humidity.

He says, 'One of the best ways to increase humidity is by adding plants, especially species that naturally release moisture in the air (peace lilies, Boston ferns, areca palms are all great options). A friend of mine in a very dry part of Canada has his house littered with variations of the plants above, and his house was more humid than mine and I live on the coast.'

Geno Caccia

Geno Caccia is the CEO of Caccia Plumbing Inc. As a third-generation plumber, Geno grew up in the family business, gaining invaluable experience in the field.

Geno is also a keen advocate for the health and safety of both clients and tradesmen.

4. Place water near a heat source

When increasing humidity in a house in winter, consider making the most out of your home heating types.

Marc Jiggins, managing director at Pyramid Eco suggests, 'Placing a bowl of water near a radiator or heating vent lets it evaporate gradually, adding gentle humidity to the air.'

To do this, use a glass bowl, available at Walmart, as it will not melt like plastic, and will not become as dangerously hot as a metal bowl.

He adds that this helps to increase the humidity slowly, reducing the risk of mold. 'Increasing humidity should always be done in moderation. Over-humidifying can lead to condensation on windows, dampness, and mold growth, which bring their own problems.'

FAQs

Why should you maintain humidity in your home?

While it is a good idea to stay on top of humidity to prevent mold, drying your home out completely can have te opposite effect and make you equally as sick.

Geno Caccia, plumbing and HVAC expert explains, 'Dry indoor hair can cause significant discomfort which leads to dry skin, irritated sinuses and can even harm furniture and flooring, especially wood materials. Naturally, in many parts of the states this is most common winter winter when the heating systems tend to dry out the air Humidity levels between 30-50% are typically what I and other experts would recommend. Its low enough mold shouldn't grow but high enough to keep the air comfortable and help reduce static electricity.'

When increasing your home's humidity, it is always wise to check for mold in your house, as catching it early can stop it from spreading or becoming a structural issue. We also recommend using some cheap ways to stop mold to limit its impact, too.