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We don't talk about it often because it's something you hardly notice or see. But humidity is definitely important in the home. When you notice humidity, it's actually already too late. Because then it's often too humid in the home. In addition to the fact that humidity affects your health, it also affects furniture and other items in the home.
The ideal humidity in the home
What is the ideal humidity and how much can we deviate from it? If the humidity in your home is between 40% and 60%, then it is fine. If it rises above 60% once, then this is not a disaster. As long as it is not for long periods. Because if this continues for long periods, the following can occur:
- Condensation on the coldest spots in the room. For example, a wall can become damp or even wet.
- Stains can form in fabrics that cannot be removed.
- Mold can develop that spreads quickly and is bad for human health.
- The windows fog up more quickly on the inside and, in high humidity, water can even run down the window.
- Wood can rot and even peel.
- Metal can rust.
- Bacteria get the chance to grow faster and viruses also survive longer.
- Obviously the air is too dry.
- Wood warps because it dries out.
- Dust swirls around more easily and everything becomes dusty faster.
- Fabrics become brittle and tear easily.
- Irritated mucous membranes, red and dry eyes, sore throat, headache.
- Beneficial for hay fever.
- And a static charge builds up more quickly.
Humidity and furniture
Not only is too high or too low humidity bad for humans, but also for our wooden furniture. That is why we would like to tell you more about this. Wood is never exhausted. Wood works hard during high and low temperatures. Especially during a winter period because of the large temperature differences between inside and outside. This makes the house very dry and your wooden furniture has a hard time.
The ideal humidity for wooden furniture
There is an ideal humidity for wooden furniture, namely around 55%. This can also be maintained for a wooden floor or even the piano. Do you want to be sure that your humidity is in order? Then buy a hygrometer!
Old recycled teak wood also works
The majority of our range - 80-90% - is made from old recycled teak. Despite the fact that it is already old wood and extra dried, it can still happen that the wood works. We pay very close attention to the fact that dry wood is used and that the construction is correct. Nevertheless, it can happen that a crack occurs. If after a humid autumn period suddenly winter comes for a longer period, the humidity drops. After x number of times no more scraping the car example.
Antique furniture also suffers from these fluctuations. When it is in a room for a short period where the air is a bit more humid or drier for a while, there is no immediate drama going on. The problem lies mainly in being too dry for too long. And in the rapid transition: from humid to very dry. After the humid autumn period, the cold, dry winter begins. Not only is the humidity outside a lot lower, also inside with some help from the central heating and the well-insulated houses, the humidity percentage drops to 30% in no time.
Our tips for beautiful furniture in winter
- Is it too dry in your home for your wooden furniture? Then hang a few water evaporators on the heating to increase the humidity. To keep the humidity up in a living room with central heating in the winter, four to six litres of water are needed to evaporate per day. The most effective way is therefore to install a humidifier that is suitable for the contents of your home.
- As mentioned above, if the water vaporizer does not work sufficiently, get a humidifier. These devices are also recommended for hay fever patients because these humidifiers often have an ionizer that removes pollen, dust particles and static charges from the air.
- Finally, a piece of furniture that has survived a winter that was too dry can still be repaired. Depending on the damage, it can be repaired with kneadable wood, 2-component kit, or by gluing thin strips of wood in and sanding everything smooth again. Some products that can be used for this are Frencken kneadable wood and Holzmasse K2 Komponenten. Fine hairline cracks can be touched up with superglue and by sanding around it and rubbing the fabric in, the crack is filled and is hard almost immediately.
- Last tip, check the screw legs of your table once a year or the wooden wedges of a cupboard. The wood works, shrinks and expands, so check these once a year and re-tighten if necessary.
