High humidity in house (floor, roof, dehumidifier, furnace)

[MySocksWalkAlone]

I own a single story house of about 1100 sp ft. I have always thought I had high humidity in my house. I bought a hygrometer from Radio Shack and left it in my room overnight last night.

I haven't turned my furnace on yet. The outside temp got down to 32. After I woke up I looked at the thermostat. My indoor temp was 66. According to the hygrometer, the indoor humidity was 70%. I thought it would be a lot low since it was cold outside. I assume that my humidity reading is not good?

[cdelena]

Relative humidy will vary with temprature but most people find it is best in the 35 - 45% range. Once you start the heater it will probably drop a good amount.

[Racelady88]

Many things contribute to having humidity indoors. Cooking, showers, number of people, etc. If you are uncomfortable there are room sized de-humidifiers.

[MySocksWalkAlone]

I turned on my furnace last night. When I woke up this morning the humidity was 63%. I think that is still too high. I have noticed too when it is really cold outside, my windows have a lot of condensation on the inside of them. I assume this is due to the high humidity in the house?

I have a dehumidifer in the basement but really don't want to put one on the main floor of the house. I don't beleive I have ever been in a house that was a dehumidifer on its main floor.

[sweetana3]

First thing is to look for things causing the moisture. Is your basement damp? if yes, why? Does the dehumidifier work 24/7? Are there issues to resolve here?

Do you run the vent when using the bathroom shower?

Do you cook a lot? Are there any rooms with specific issues?

Is your lot properly graded and all downspouts moving the water away from the house?

In other words, do a home inspection. High humidity is not good inside or underneath a home. It fosters deterioration/mold and mildew. Constant condensation on windows is not good for the window or the frame around the window. A neighbor had an overrunning gutter above one window and the whole sill rotted out.

[MySocksWalkAlone]

When we first moved into the house we had it inspected. We fixed everything that the inspector suggested. To answer your questions...

1. The basement is not damp but miight have been at one time. I am remodeling it and have a dehumidifier down there. If I have the dehunidifer on the "Dry" settings, it runs a lot. On the "Normal" sertting it doest run that much.

2. I have a vent for the bathroom

3. My wife does the cooking everynight. Altough she doenst use the stove every night

4. We fixed the grading issue when we first moved into the house 2 yrs ago. Also there was a downspout problem that we fixed as well

5. The condensation on the insides of the windows only happens during the fall/winter. they are real old single pane windows with storms. I replaced some of them with LowE/Argon gas pella windows...the new windows still get a little condensation on the bottoms of them...though not near as much as the old windows

[Tesaje]

Your hygrometer is reading the Relative humidity. It may or may not be accurate. RH is not a constant number and doesn't measure the amount of moisture in the air. The dew point does that. If the dew point is 32, there isn't much moisture in the air but if the temperature is also 32, the RH = 100%. At 66 degrees and 70% RH, your dew point was in the 40s - not very humid.

Drafty windows can get condensation. A too tight house can also have condensation problems. For drafts, the colder air coming in drops the temperature to the condensation point (i.e. dew point) and you get the wetness. The too tight house keeps too much of the accumulated moisture inside (along with household toxins) and when the temp drops it is easy to reach the condensation point.

With the old windows, my guess is that you still have significant drafts reducing the temps at the windows to be much lower than the room temps. If the new windows weren't insulated properly, you will still have drafts. If the condensation is in between the panes, you have a defective window. The fans and such might not be pulling enuf air to be effective.

[MySocksWalkAlone]

Could the condensation on the windows also be caused by the high humidity in the house? Like when you take a shower, your bathroom windows have condensation due to a hot steamy shower?

What about lack of ventilation. I leave all the windows closed during the day while I am at work. When I come home, the house seems real stuffy

[Tesaje]

If your house is really stuffy and uncomfortable, you probably don't have enough ventilation. There is such a thing as an air exchanger that can be cost effective in cold climates where opening a window costs too much in energy. It moves fresh air into the house but warms it first. Your ventilation fans might not be sized properly for the size of your rooms or you don't leave them on long enough. It is often recommended to put bath fans on a timer so they run for an hour after the bath is vacated to flush out the moist air.

But condensation on the windows usually indicates the windows are getting a whole lot colder than the rest of the house and that means insulation problems.

[Catherine G. Delgado]

Can a veltless gs stove be used in a two story mansard roof home without causeing a high humidity problem. My windows and frontroom walls on the outside walls are damp and have water beads dripping. In addition, my widows have a lot of moisture.