When heating St Louis homes throughout a long, dry, and Winter, low humidity can become a problem.  However, there are some easy tricks that can add moisture to your home via a DIY humidifier in the event that you are not able to purchase a whole house humidifier.

Before we get into ways to create a DIY humidifier, Vitt Heating and Cooling always recommends a whole house humidifier to any homeowner that is the financial position to purchase one.  Especially if you live in a region that experiences cold weather for more than three months a year.  Below are some of the benefits of a whole house humidifier and how it can help improve the air quality of your home.

When a whole house humidifier is installed, it helps assess and monitor the humidity level of your home.  Many new systems are set to add moisture to the air when it detects the air is too dry.  It can also monitor when there is too much humidity in the air and will stop releasing excess moisture.  This is important as too much moisture in the air of your home can lead to mildew and mold.

• Dry Skin
• Increased Likelihood of Common Colds and Influenza
• Worsening Allergies
• Increase in Static Electricity

Air that contains high amounts of moisture will feel more hot than air with low amounts of moisture.  Anyone from St Louis can relate to this as our Summers can be brutally humid.  Having more moisture in your home during dry months will make seventy degrees feel like 72 degrees.

Along with a whole house humidifier providing better comfort, it can also help reduce your energy bill.  If 72 degrees feels hotter than it is, it allows homeowners to set their thermostat lower than homes with dry air.  This allows your furnace or heating system to run less, therefore reducing your energy bills each month.  Due to a whole house humidifier being hooked up to your water system, it only adds pennies to your water bill compared to dollars on your gas or electric bill.

Below are some common and simple ways to create a DIY humidifier by simply using household items.

This can be something as simple as making an effort to drink tea each morning or boiling eggs in the evening.  The more you are boiling water on the stove, the more moisture is being released into the air of your home.  So ditch the microwave and use the stove as much as possible for an effective DIY humidifier.

By simply leaving the door slightly open when showering each day, you are allowing moisture to flow from your bathroom to the rest of your home.  This can instantly increase the moisture levels in other rooms of your home as serve as a great DIY humidifier.

You have probably been told that drying cloths in a dryer can sometimes be harmful for the material over time.  If you are experiencing dry air in your home, you are probably experiencing high levels of static in your clothes when you take them out of the dryer as well.  Why not air dry your clothes during the Winter time?  The moisture in the clothes will evaporate into the air of your home adding levels of moisture while making your home smell like clean laundry.  It is a win win situation all around and one of my favorite DIY humidifier options.  Oh, and it is more energy efficient than dryers as well.

Plants need sunlight and water.  Other than increasing oxygen levels in your home, many plants can also provide moisture.  When the sunlight hits the water, evaporation occurs leading to increased amounts of moisture.  The more plants, the more water, the more evaporating, the more moisture inside your home.  A very simple and practical way of designing a DIY humidifier.

By placing a metal or ceramic bowl of your floor vent, the hot air coming out of your vent is pushing moisture into the air.  This is an extremely effective way to make a DIY humidifier and add moisture to the air of your home.  Just make sure your Dog cannot get to the water as that can lead to messes.