It’s a chilly winter morning. You’ve gotten used to waking up with a scratchy throat and chapped lips, but getting a tiny shock on the first doorknob you touch often catches you off guard. Many households share similar experiences during the colder season. The problem usually starts with air coming in from outside. Once your heating system warms that cold air, the air often feels much drier indoors.
Why Does Your Home Feel Dry in Winter?
Cold outdoor air carries less moisture than warm air. When that air gets inside through gaps, vents or open doors, your furnace warms it up without adding any moisture back.
The amount of moisture in the air doesn’t change when it’s heated. Your furnace isn’t sucking the dampness out of your home. It warms up the air that was already low in moisture to begin with.
Most people spend 90% of their time inside on typical days, which means many are likely to notice the effects of dry air. A small drop in humidity can make your rooms feel less comfortable. It can also leave your skin, throat and eyes feeling drier than usual.
How Does Dry Indoor Air Affect You and Your Home?
Dry air may irritate the thin linings in your nose and airways. It’s why you could wake up with a scratchy throat or notice your eyes feel gritty and tired by the end of the day, even without allergies or a cold. In some cases, dry air can even contribute to a nosebleed and make static shocks more common because there’s less moisture in the air.
Dry air also affects your home, especially anything made of wood. Wood naturally contains some moisture. However, dry air can pull that out, causing the material to shrink, crack or creak more than usual. You might notice a new gap in a hardwood floorboard or a wooden chair leg feeling looser than before because of this.
Simple Ways to Add Moisture Back Into Your Home
A good first step is to look for the places where cold air is sneaking inside.
Seal Drafts and Insulate Problem Areas
Most people notice drafts in their home through subtle changes in comfort. Say you’re sitting on the couch or at your desk. While your upper body feels fine, your ankles feel uncomfortably cold due to low-lying air currents.
Some signs can be spooky, like curtains swaying gently even though the window is shut. Interior doors creak open on their own, and you hear sighing or rattling sounds coming from doors when the wind picks up outside. Some windowsills may also get dusty faster than others because drafts carry more outside dirt inside. These things may happen because, somewhere in your home, there’s a small gap letting winter air in.
Search for draft sources, then caulk visible gaps around trim. Add weatherstripping where doors or windows no longer close tightly. Stopping drafts keeps conditioned indoor air inside and helps rooms hold a steadier temperature, so your furnace doesn’t have to work harder to keep up.
While you are checking drafty spots, look at any exposed plumbing in unheated areas, too. Check the pipes along exterior walls in crawl spaces, garages or basements. Use foam pipe insulation to protect your plumbing when temperatures drop. Seal openings where pipes pass through walls or floors so that cold air can’t move in around them.
Humidify Rooms That Need It Most
Check the rooms your household uses most. Waking up thirsty with parched lips and a stuffy nose is a telling sign of dry air in the bedroom. Low humidity could be the culprit behind the persistent fatigue and you experience while you’re working in your home office.
If you’re a new parent, pay closer attention to your baby in the nursery. Dry air can irritate your little one’s throat, cause nasal congestion and frequent coughing, affect their skin and even lead to poor sleep, so be observant.
If that feeling extends to the entire house, a whole-home humidifier that connects to your heating, ventilation and air conditioning system will help distribute some moisture through the ductwork.
Indoor humidity requirements change with the weather. Levels of around 30% to 35% humidity are recommended in winter, but you may need to reduce this during cold spells to prevent window condensation.
To make more intentional changes, use a small hygrometer to check the reading in the morning or evening. Adjust your humidifier if necessary. Make sure you don’t go overboard because too much moisture can cause damp spots and window condensation.
Use Everyday Habits That Add Moisture
Make small changes during the day to add a little moisture back into the air.
Hang your laundry to air-dry indoors on a drying rack, as the evaporation process releases moisture into the air. Just make sure you leave a bit of space between each garment.
When you’re cooking, let a pot of water simmer for a short time on a stove top you’re not using. Its steam can add a little moisture to the kitchen. Skip the heated dry cycle on the dishwasher and let the dishes air-dry. Also, turn off the bathroom or kitchen fan once the steam, odors or extra moisture have cleared so it does not keep pulling air from the house.
After a hot shower, leave the bathroom door open for a few minutes. Let the steam waft into nearby rooms and corridors. Keep other interior doors, even those far from the bathroom, open to let the air move around.
Keep a few houseplants in rooms that get enough light. They’ll release small amounts of moisture through their leaves. Small habits and changes like these will not fix every dry-air problem, but they can help your home feel more comfortable alongside draft sealing and humidifier use.
Make Your Home More Comfortable This Winter
Winter air may always feel a little drier, but your home does not have to feel uncomfortable all season. Seal obvious drafts, watch your indoor humidity and add moisture where it helps most. Start with a simple fix or two, then adjust from there based on how your home feels.
