When you’re working on a construction site, or are planning a new home, humidity is something that you should consider. Humidity depends on how much water vapour there is in the air and the amount of water vapour depends on the temperature of the air. More water vapour can be held in warm air whereas colder air can hold less water vapour. If the humidity level is high, then it can have negative consequences on the people who are surrounded by it. This includes anything from dry skin to your skin feeling sticky in warm weather.
It is hard to alter the humidity levels when you are out and about, but it is possible to alter the humidity levels in your own home. You’ll want your home to be as comfortable as possible as well as wanting any sort of construction site to be the same. Make sure to check out some of the indoor humidity recommendations for Calgary/Edmonton. These recommendations will help you to find the right humidity levels for where you’re located.
What humidity can do
When you’re involved in constructing a building, you want to make sure that it’s the best that it can possibly be. Unfortunately, if you don’t consider the humidity levels, this can have some negative consequences. High levels of humidity can make people feel sticky in the warm weather and very cold in cold weather. If there’s a low humidity, then you’ll find that your skin can become very dry and you’ll be uncomfortable. This obviously provides poor living and working conditions but there are many other serious results of humidity levels being off.
If there’s a lot of water vapour in the air, mould and bacteria can thrive, causing repository problems. Any fungal growth or mould can also mean that you can expect odours in spaces that are poorly ventilated. This is something that you should try to prevent when working on a construction site. Bacteria in poorly ventilated spaces can also cause allergic reactions, so it’s something to avoid. High humidity can also cause dust mite populations to grow which can be very problematic for anyone who has asthma. Damp air can also mean that condensation tends to form on the window, ceilings and walls that have a lower air temperature than the surrounding air. You’ll want to avoid this at all costs as it can cause damage to the building materials.
Causes of humidity
There are many reasons for the wrong levels of humidity being present in your home or building site. The conditions of the group under the suspended timber floors can cause humidity if they are damp. You should also look out for any sort of water leakage coming through the building envelope or other plumbing leaks. During construction, any sort of retained moisture can cause high levels of humidity in the home. This includes moisture that’s present in timber framing, plaster or concrete floors.
If you’re looking for the causes of humidity in your own home, then you can blame certain household activities like washing or cooking. Any sort of un-flued gas heaters can also cause problems and lead to a lot of moisture indoors. Sometimes, simple activities such as breathing can add to the humidity levels in your home, as you tend to release a lot of water vapour when you do so.
Preventing the results of humidity
The good news is that there are many ways that you can help to control the humidity levels in your home or in the construction building that you’re working on. In the construction phase, make sure that per every square metre of the floor area, there are clear openings of 3500mm2. This will make sure that under any suspended timber floors there’s good ventilation. Another great way of preventing this is to use a vapour barrier to cover the ground where there’s a lot of water under the buildings. Using a barrier such as a polyethene sheet can help to provide support where any sort of underfloor ventilation cannot be added.
If you’d like to adjust the humidity levels in your home, then you should make sure that everywhere is carefully ventilated. This can be achieved by simply opening a few windows to increase the cross ventilation. Using fans and extractors around the house can help to circulate air and remove the moisture right at its source. This is especially true in places like bathrooms or kitchens. You can also prevent the high levels of water moisture by refraining from hanging your laundry to dry inside your home.
Be sure to follow the right steps when constructing a home to ensure that humidity levels can be controlled!
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