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Why Is My Home Always Humid in Corning NY

Why is My Home Always Humid?

Ugh. Humidity. It can make even the perfect temperature feel, well—gross. How do you get a handle on it? The answer is...it depends. We open a can of worms when talking about humidity because there are so many factors involved in controlling it. And insulation is but one piece of the puzzle.

Isn’t my Air Condition Supposed to Control Humidity?

Ahh—a trick question. The answer is “yes, but...” An air conditioning system plays a big part in humidity control, but it is only one part in a complex system. Your air conditioner works with insulation, and ventilation. And there are other factors such as the number of people in the home, the size of the home, how long each person takes a shower, the temperature of showers, and whether or not there are bathroom fans—and whether or not those bathroom fans are utilized.

We’ll peel this onion one layer at a time. Let’s start with the air conditioner...

Air conditioners have two important jobs: 1) They control temperature, and 2) They control humidity.  Both of these jobs are important in making your home feel comfortable. So, if the air condition system controls humidity, then cased closed, right? Again, the answer is a definite maybe.

Air condition systems must be properly sized for each installation. It’s possible to have either too small or too large of an air conditioner. Too large? Absolutely. If the air condition system is too big for the home, it can cool too quickly, and this reduces its ability to remove humidity. That’s right—cooling too much or too fast can actually increase humidity. How? Again, this gets complicated. Let’s address what we mean by cooling first...

Cooling is lowering the temperature. Simple, right? But we’re not concerned with just lowering the temperature—it’s also how fast the temperature is lowered. If a huge air conditioner quickly lowers the temperature then it will shut off and wait for the temperature to rise before it turns on again (your thermostat controls this). A smaller—but appropriately-sized—air conditioner will reach the desired temperature, but it takes longer. Don’t you want your home cooled quickly? Not exactly. The entire time the air condition is on it is removing humidity from the home. While the bigger air conditioner lowers the temperature quicker, by shutting off it stops removing humidity. The smaller air condition removes humidity the entire time it’s cooling, so it actually does a better job.

Ventilation

We need to talk about one more thing before bringing insulation into the picture—ventilation. This is how your home “breathes.” And, no, this isn’t referring to the vents blowing cold air in summer and hot air in winter. Ventilation is how your home exchanges air between indoors and outdoors.

Wait. Isn’t the point of insulation to prevent mixing indoor and outdoor temperatures? Yes. But hang on...

While we generally consider it bad to allow the outside temperature to affect the indoor temperature, it’s actually a good thing for there to be a certain amount of air exchange with the outdoors. Air exchange and temperature exchange are two different things. Your home needs to let fresh air in, and it needs to let stale air escape. Your home needs to “breathe,” and it needs to do so while preventing as much temperature exchange as possible. Confused? This will all come together soon.

Insulation Round 1

Let’s talk insulation briefly, then we’ll come back to it later.

Insulation’s role is to help control the temperature exchange between indoors and outdoors. Its role is not to prevent your home from breathing.

Proper insulation helps your air condition system do its job. And, strangely enough, your air condition system helps insulation do its job. They go hand-in-hand. If your air condition doesn’t remove enough humidity then that extra moisture can get trapped in the insulation, which reduces its effectiveness. If you have damaged or insufficient insulation, it can allow extra humidity into your home which makes it harder for the air condition system to do its job.

Other Factors

Humidity is moisture in the air. It arrives in your home multiple ways. The natural breathing of your home will allow an amount of humidity to enter. Humans give off a certain amount of moisture, so the more people there are in your home, the more humidity there will be. Moisture can enter through an improperly sealed basement or crawlspace. An improperly vented clothes dryer will increase humidity. And showers add humidity—especially hot showers or long showers.

Most bathrooms have ventilation fans. They’re there for a reason—they help remove humidity. Not using the fan when you shower? You’re adding big doses of humidity to your home! Don’t have a bathroom fan? You may want to explore the option of having a qualified electrician install one. Not only will a bathroom fan help control humidity, it will help reduce the likelihood of mold, mildew, and damage to bathroom walls, ceilings, and floors.

So, there’s a lot going on with humidity. And any one or more of the puzzle pieces can give you moisture problems.

Insulation Round 2

Now that we understand the factors affecting humidity, let’s take a second look at insulation. We’ll look at an example of how good, but improperly installed, insulation can raise the humidity in your home.

Insulation must be properly installed. An over-zealous homeowner or an improperly educated insulation installer can create more problems than they resolve. For example, one homeowner experienced higher humidity levels in their home after performing an insulation upgrade. Whoever installed the insulation and sealed the home did such a good job that they reduced the home’s ability to breathe. This caused the air condition system to work less. Normally, that would be a good thing. But, as mentioned earlier, the reduced workload actually causes it to remove less humidity.

And this is where it gets even more complicated because each home and each situation is unique. In the example above, although the homeowner experienced higher humidity, we can’t say with certainty that the home has too much insulation. It might be a good thing that the insulation is so hefty, and the homeowner may need to add a dehumidifier into the mix. Although the dehumidifier may use a little more electricity, more than likely the better insulation will more than make up for it.

We could go on and on about the different possibilities. But the take-home summary is this: Everything about insulation, ventilation, and air conditioning must be balanced, and each of these “systems” must be properly sized and installed.

So, How do I Control Humidity?

A great place to start is to make sure that your insulation is adequate, undamaged, and properly installed. An inspection by a qualified insulation expert should be at the top of your list. A local insulation expert knows all the local codes and regulations, and can give you expert advice on what your building may need to be code-compliant and efficient.

At Koala Insulation, our technicians are experts in all kinds of insulation materials and installation techniques. Our experts bring state-of-the-art equipment with them to thoroughly inspect your home or building top to bottom, inside and out. They will give you a detailed assessment of your home. They will design a custom solution to meet your needs based on many years of experience. And since every building is unique, your expert may suggest a combination of installation options to protect your home from cold, heat, moisture, pests, and other potential problems.

Don’t forget the investment you make today will reap years of energy-saving benefits. Contact us now to schedule a consultation to start your journey toward higher energy efficiency.