Having a bit of humidity in your house is essential. When the winter months come, the small amounts of moisture in your air helps to prevent dry skin and an irritated throat. It also prevents the furniture in your home from deteriorating.

But if you let the humidity levels get out of control, it can have a negativeimpacton your house. Too low and things become too dry. If it is too high, your home becomes a breeding ground for mold.

Mold growth occurs when there is too much moisture sitting in one area. It is quite common after a flood or if there is too much condensation in the house – overly high humidity levels. The spores that the mold produces is not suitable for anyone to breathe in.

So if the humidity level is so important, how do you control it? Here are a few ways to help keep it at an ideal level in your home.

Install a Heat Recovery System

One way to control the humidity levels is through a heat recovery system. This machine extracts the warm, humid air from inside the house (usually from the kitchen and bathroom areas). When it passes through thedevice, the warmth from the outgoing air transfers over to the incoming fresh air.The machine then disperses the old air outside. So you not only do you continuously have fresh air entering the house, it is warmed up from recycling the outgoing air.

With the way the system works, when the warmth transfers to the incoming air, the moisture stays out. So when your heat recovery system is running, the moisture is circulating throughout the house. This will help keep your humidity levels under control.

Too Low – Humidifier

If you find your humidity levels are always too low, add a humidifier to the house. This device produces moisture which it pushes through the air around it. It adds the necessary humidity to the dry room. These are handy to have during the dry, winter months when it is the driest.

A humidifier holds a reservoir of water which would need to fill every day. You can get either a warm mist humidifier or a cold mist. The cold mist one blows some of the evaporated water into the air through a fan. The warm mist device heats up the water which dispenses warm moisture into the air.

Too High – Dehumidifier

If you ever notice condensation on your windows, that is a common sign of too high humidity levels. You can also tell if you feel damp and sticky throughout your home. When there is too much moisture in the air, it seeps into the walls, ceiling and any wood in the house. This will lead to peeling paint, rotting wood and mold.

Bringing in a dehumidifier just like you would with a humidifier can significantly decrease the humidity levels in your home. Think of this device as vacuuming up the air from one end, cleaning out the moisture before dispensing the dry air back into the room. You will have to empty the reservoir that captures the moisture.