Dry atmosphere problem

[John Andrews]

Recently moved into a new house - wife and I both experiencing problems with dry skin for first time in our lives! We think it's caused by a very dry atmosphere in the house. Obvious steps like keeping lots of windows open aren't having any immediate effect, although we've only been there for a week.

Anyone out there have similar problems with a dry atmosphere?

I know that previous owners used to run a dehumidifier regularly - I'm speculating whether this can in some way dry out the fabric of the house to the extent that it takes a while to get back to normal.

Cheers

[nightjar]

Over the past week, the atmosphere has been very dry just about everywhere in the UK. You have to scrape the moisture it used to contain off the car windows of a morning. Warm that air up to room temperature and its relative humidity plummets. Try using a plant misting spray around the house to push up the humidity.

Colin Bignell

[Morten]

Hi John

Do you have any live plants, they're excelent for controlling humidity in dry'ish houses, just keep them well watered and they should get the humidity up to descent levels in no time.

You could also go for a special humidifier controlled by a humidistat and set the relative humidity to about 45-55 %, that should be the best humidity according to all the experts.

I have lots of live plants, underfloor heating and good ventilation, so i can keep the humidity about 50%. I do have a dehumidifier running on a humidistat that cut out below 50% humidity if the humidity gets to high and that works excelent.

You could also start drying your clothes inside your house that will soon get the humifity up :-)

I guess it could do that, but you would have to run the house pretty dry to do that and then you would get all sorts of problems with warping floors, doors and wooden furniture, plus it would be pretty unconftable live in if the humidity gets to much below 20%

How hot is your house?

/Morten

[BillV]

Is this a wind up? You should think yourselves lucky that you have a nice dry house. Most people have problems the other way with damp & mold etc.

Maybe you are reptiles that need to keep their skin damp? Why not pile earth over your damp course and make the walls nice and damp?

[Pete C]

Hi,

You could raise the humidity by drying your washing on an airer, or simmering a pan of water on the stove. There are also ultrasonic humidifiers but they aren't cheap.

Dry skin can also be partly caused by other things such as hot showers. To see how dry it is, get a hygrometer from somewhere like Maplins, mine reads 40% at the moment which is below the usual 50-55%.

cheers, Pete.

[Chris Hodges]

That reminds me - hard water can cause dry skin in some cases.

[John Andrews]

Thanks for everyone's replies. I will take the steps suggested to humidify the house (which isn't particularly warm). No we are not reptiles, but I did check. Yes, I know it's ironic to have this problem, when usually folks have problems with damp (me too in the past), but believe me it's a real enough problem.

Cheers

[Simon Avery]

Hello John

Curious timing - yes.

Only not to skin. We have a lot of pine panelling in this house, both walls and ceiling. Heard it cracking behind the sofa last week and noticed two big joints seperating in the kitchen ceiling. Figured it was shrinkage so checked the humidistat - 45% whereas it's normally

55-60% here.

Then it twigged... The wife's been home for 6 weeks nursing a broken pelvis and she's had the heating on 24/7...

[Peter Taylor]

Simon Avery wrote

Boing!!! (That was the penny dropping)

Every winter the skin on my hands becomes dry and cracked. In the past I've put this down to mucking about with plaster and cement etc. This year it is really bad - several areas of skin like old boots, splits, extremely sore and often bleeding. Been putting E45 etc on twice a day - makes it more supple but doesn't cure it. And I haven't touched any plaster or cement since September. Been really puzzled (and worried) about what's causing it. Never thought of the CH - I've been working at home with the heating on since October too. Thank you so much Simon.

Peter

[The Natural Philosopher]

Winter is always the time of lowest humidity indoors, because the air gets heated the most. Cold frosty weather is the very worst.

I see significant summer to winter shrinkage on all woodwork.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Just boil some water up. That makes it steamier. Or have indoor plants about.

[IMM]

In cold winter weather humidity levels drop.

[IMM]

Then you should put in a forced air and heat recovery system with a simple humidifier. Sorted.

[Owain]

"The Natural Philosopher" wrote | I see significant summer to winter shrinkage on all woodwork.

I have noticed significantly squeakier-than-usual floorboards for the last few months. I wonder if it's a consequence of the hot humid summer last year.

Owain

[PoP]

Apparently the summer of 2003 was the hottest for 500 years:

[Morten]

temperature reached 40+ degrees celcius at 20:30 in Kent and the thermometer in my car showed 42 degrees celcius in the tunnel and 43 degrees celcius when we came out on the other side. I was very glad that my car has air conditioner that day after travelling more than 1200 miles in one day...

It was a joy to be able to start the engine again whne we got outsode the tunnel...

/Morten

[Pete C]

Indoors. I know.

Have you bodged your sash windows yet...? ;)

cheers, Pete.

[IMM]

Doing that this weekend.