Chicago Home Inspection

 Properly conditioning our indoor environment can bring on some unforseen problems during the winter months. Manyhomes furnaces are equipped with humidifying systems which are hard to regulate to get the right amount of moisture into your home.
 During the winter months it is important to maintain your Indoor Relative Humidity between 30%-50%.Warm air moves from warm to cold during the winter months. If your humidity is elevated, let's say in the 60% to 80% range you may notice frost forming in attics or on interior walls and ceilings.
 When your exterior walls are improperly insulated, the moist air will find its way through your interior walls and find the cold spots and frost will form behind the drywall and even on the drywall inside the home.
 Frost may form in your attic on the roof sheathing as a result of inadequate ventilation or inadequate insulation. Warm moist air will enter the attic through improperly sealed attic access doors,light fixture electrical boxes and any other unsealed openings into the attic. As the weather warms up, the sun warms the frosted areas and it begins to rain in the attic.
 A constant source of moisture and food (drywall, wood) is an excellent breeding ground for mold. This then can become an indoor air quality issue. Bottom line is maintain your Indoor Relative Humidity around 30%-50% and these problems should not occur.
 You can purchase a relative cheap hygrometer (humidity measuring device) to monitor your Indoor Relative Humidity and adjust your humidifier to reach the desired humidity.