How Often Should I Open My Windows

We all love fresh air. But, when is it actually salubrious to open your windows at dwelling house? I am here to help. Here are some tips to help you apply your windows wisely.

Opening your dwelling house's windows for fresh air is safe and good for you when: humidity levels are low – meaning the dew-point on your weather app is below 62 ⁰F (16.vii ⁰C); the seasonal air quality is good (depression pollen and dust levels); city air is make clean (low pollution and particulate matter); and there are no risks of safe, privacy, or noise issues.

Opening your windows is an excellent fashion to get fresh air into your apartment without paying a dime! Only, information technology can sometimes be a double-edged sword that does more than harm than practiced.

Let'due south farther explore the correct way to utilise the windows in your home…

If this is your offset visit to my site – I am on a mission to give you lot a healthy home with my experience as a Licensed Professional Mechanical Engineer (P.E.) specialized in building pattern.

"Good health is a crown worn by the salubrious that simply the ill tin can see."'

"الصحة تاج على رؤوس الأصحاء لا يراها إلا المرضى"
– Arabic Proverb

Only open your home's windows when humidity is low

Humidity is your worst enemy. If you open your windows at times of loftier humidity, you are dumping a lot moisture into your home that tin wreak havoc on your health and property.

Thankfully, the damage from moist air happens gradually. The real impairment comes from repetitive humidity bug over months and years. And so if y'all change your habits now, and so y'all will relieve yourself in the future.

Tips for checking outdoor humidity earlier opening windows

Here are some tips on humidity to assist you take action.

Merely open your windows when the outdoor dew-point is below 62 ⁰F (xvi.vii ⁰C) degrees. Even ameliorate, a dew-betoken of 55 ⁰F (12.five ⁰C) or less is ideal.
Bank check your favorite atmospheric condition phone app to find the dew-point in your metropolis earlier you open your windows.

I created a tabular array for you to use every bit a quick tool before opening any windows in your habitation.

Indoor Habitation Temperature	Outdoor Dew-Indicate
seventy – 75 ⁰F (21 – 24 ⁰C)	Less than 62 ⁰F (Less than sixteen.7 ⁰C )

The definition of the "dew-bespeak," is the temperature at which the water droplets in air modify into liquid water. That phenomenon is chosen condensation, which is what causes water droplets to form on your cold soda can.

The wet in the air will condense into liquid on surfaces, walls, and ceilings in your home – which can lead to a lot of issues for you!

Experts advise keeping low humidity levels in your home

Allow's expect at what the experts say about humidity in our home.

American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), is the most credible organisation when it comes to buildings. They have panels of professionals at the highest level in technology, architecture, science, and public health.

In their publication titled, ASHRAE 62.1 – Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality, they recommend that your indoor relative humidity percentage stays below 65%.

"Occupied-space relative humidity shall be limited to 65% or less when organisation operation is analyzed with outdoor air at the de-humidification blueprint condition…"
Quote from ASHRAE 62.1

Withal, the "relative humidity" percentage may confusing for you to utilize considering it changes as temperature changes.

So, instead I simplified that value for yous by transforming it into the dew-point temperature of less than 62 ⁰F (xvi.vii ⁰C) that I listed above. That makes it easy for you to retrieve and find on a atmospheric condition website.

Refer to my annotated epitome of the famous psychrometric chart below to become a visual of how I institute the number I gave y'all.

*Annotations by me, nautical chart is from this source.*

Dangers of loftier humidity in your dwelling house

Why should you care about high humidity?

Loftier humidity in your home can harm your wellness and cost you a lot of money. High moisture levels in the air can create mold, mildew, and fungus – as well equally harm surfaces, devices, and possessions in your home. If you take preventative measures, you lot will save yourself a lot of future headaches.

Mold and microbial growth from loftier humidity

Humidity causes mold. That has been proven by the experts.

In an ASHRAE research newspaper titled, Limiting Indoor Mold and Dampness in Buildings, they show that high humidity levels indoors lead to mold, fungi, and other bacteria.

Those nasty particles get released into the air that yous exhale – which leads to wellness issues such as:

Asthma
Bronchitis
Rhinitis
Mucous membrane irritation
Allergic alveolitis
Inhalation fever
Wheezing
Cough
Respiratory diseases
Decease for immuno-compromised people.

Beyond homo health, there are holding and fiscal consequences of high humidity levels in a building. According to that aforementioned ASHRAE newspaper, those risks include:

Shortening the life of materials, structural fasteners, and edifice assemblies, which increases structural risk and leads to excess maintenance, repair, and renovation costs.
Reducing the effectiveness of insulation, leading to increased energy consumption.
Reducing the perceived value of a holding and increasing the price of its insurance coverage.
Reducing occupant satisfaction considering of unpleasant odors and musty smells.

How to tell if your home has humidity issues

In short, information technology is difficult to measure humidity damage with any tools or devices. So, your human senses – smell and sight – are the virtually reliable way to detect humidity issues in your home. Telephone call a professional if you smell or encounter mold, mildew, or damp spots on walls, floors, and ceilings.

An ASHRAE paper tells y'all to expect for these signs:

Visual evidence of water harm or water stains
Visible mold growth
Moldy or earthy odors

Only open your windows when the seasonal air quality is make clean

Seasonal air quality is some other huge factor to consider before opening your windows. Every region around the world has their own unique seasonal air quality issues such as dust, sand, and pollen levels.

Tips for checking seasonal air quality before opening windows

Use online air-quality websites or apps to check if local levels of dust, pollen, sand, etc. are healthy.
Those websites will give yous air quality ratings ratings like: good, moderate, or poor. That is helpful because information technology is simple for yous.
There are many websites and apps that give updated air quality readings, here are a couple:
- Air At present Website – Air Quality in Your Metropolis
- Waqi Info Website – Existent Time Globe Air Pollution

Pollen can create issues if you open your home's windows

Pollen is just i of the many types of seasonal air quality factors to consider before opening your domicile'south windows. We are dumping harmful particles into our home when we open up our windows during high-pollen seasons.

Pollen levels affect your lung wellness, especially for people with allergies, asthma, and other respiratory conditions.

Around the world, nigh v% of the population has asthma and x-30% have airborne allergies (pollen, dust, etc.).

So ever know the pollen levels for the the place y'all live. For example, in the U.s. of America, sure states are notorious for high pollen levels:

Kentucky
Due north and South Carolina
Tennessee
Georgia
Virginia
Arkansas
Missouri
Michigan
Wisconsin

The weather condition as well affects pollen levels because dry and windy days increment pollen levels, while rainy days lower pollen levels.

Source i and Source 2

Only open your windows when city air pollution is low

When yous open up your windows, you are also allowing polluted air from your metropolis to enter your home without beingness filtered.

Air pollution not only effects global warming, but it besides affects your health.

Air pollution takes many forms and comes from a variety of sources. Likewise, some areas of the world have atrocious levels of air pollution, while some have much cleaner air.

For example, India holds 7 of the meridian 10 cities in the earth with the worst air pollution – while Hamburg, Germany has the nearly the cleanest air in the earth.

Source one and Source 2

Tips for checking city air pollution earlier opening windows

Utilize online air-quality websites or apps to check if local air pollution levels are safety.
Those websites volition give you lot air quality ratings ratings similar: good, moderate, or poor. That is helpful because it is simple for yous.
There are many websites and apps that give updated air quality readings, hither are a couple:
1. Air Now Website – Air Quality in Your City
2. Waqi Info Website – Real Time World Air Pollution

Particulate affair (PM) tin can exist harmful if you open windows

Particulate matter (PM), also chosen particle pollution, is the term for a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets plant in the air.

PM-2.5 and PM-x are ii of the most studied air pollutants. They are tiny particles in the air that reduce visibility and cause the air to announced hazy. Humans create PM past burning fossil fuels.

Exist forewarned, you are risking long-term health complications by leaving your windows open when these air pollutant levels are loftier.

According to the volume, Healthy Buildings, published by the Harvard Schoolhouse of Public Health, hither are some wellness effects of particulate matter:

Attributed to lung cancer deaths.
Correlation betwixt increased mortality rates and loftier PM levels.
Correlation between increased hospitalization rates and loftier PM levels.

Other city air pollutants to check before opening windows

Additionally, you should continue your window closed if you sources of contamination or pollution are nearby, such every bit:

Busy streets with car fumes.
Dumpsters or garbage facilities.
Restaurant kitchen exhaust.

Always be enlightened of sources of harmful pollution most you home. Call your urban center regime to have them remove anything threatening your well-being.

Source 1 and Source 2

Security, privacy, and racket concerns when opening windows

You lot should likewise consider security, privacy, and noise before opening your windows. You know your customs better than anyone, then you need to make a personal judgment call.

Security risks when open your home's windows

Do non leave your windows open if it will increase the risk of burglaries or home invasions.

Here is a quote from an commodity well-nigh abode security:

"An overwhelming majority of burglars enter homes through the doors and windows. 34% apply the front door, while 22 percent get in through the dorsum door. 23% use first-flooring windows. And often, those doors and windows aren't fifty-fifty locked."
Quote from a security good.

Privacy concerns when opening your home's windows

Your neighbors tin encounter and hear through open windows. We always want to brand sure that we are maintaining our privacy, especially during sensitive hours of the day.

For ane, you may non want to get out your windows open up if you lot fear your neighbors overhear you or overhear on yous.

Ii, co-ordinate to an article, you tin employ the following tools block people from seeing y'all through your window:

Blinds
Shades
Curtains
Window moving-picture show
Privacy screens

Noise issues when opening your dwelling house'southward windows

While you are sleeping, noise tin travel through your open windows and disrupt your sleep. That can harm your physical and mental health.

According to National Slumber Foundation, interrupted sleep tin:

Worsen your memory.
Depress your mood.
Force your brain to hold unhealthy proteins linked to Alzheimer'south illness.
Cloud your brain and make your thinking less sharp.

Earlier you open your window, you should consider your sleep quality if you live in a busy city with night-fourth dimension noise.

Source: https://apartmentconscious.com/when-is-it-healthy-to-open-your-homes-windows/

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