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The difference a humidifier made to my drywall cracks was night and day
I patched a crack in my living room ceiling back in November, and by January it was back again. A buddy told me to try running a humidifier in that room for a few weeks before patching again. The new patch has held for 4 months now with zero issues. Has anyone else seen big changes just from controlling the humidity in their house?
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nguyen.angela1mo ago
Wait, you used to think humidity was just about comfort and not something that actually affected your walls? I was the same way. I lived in a dry house for years and just kept patching the same crack over the winter. Then my neighbor told me to check the humidity level in my place. Turns out it was way low in the winter, like 20%. Once I kept it around 40% using a humidifier, that crack stopped coming back. The dry air was literally shrinking the wood framing and pulling the drywall apart every time.
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viola_lopez301mo ago
Blew my mind when I found out my grandma kept a pot of water on the wood stove all winter just to stop the floorboards from squeaking.
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calebc401mo ago
whoa wait hold on, 20%?! that's insane, @nguyen.angela. I thought my place was dry at like 35% but 20% sounds like a desert in there. no wonder your crack kept coming back, that's basically like the wood in your house is just breathing in and out with the seasons. I had no idea it could get that low, I just assumed my house was normal until I got one of those little digital meters. now I keep mine right around 45% and it's wild how the trim around my doors stopped getting those little gaps in the winter too. sorry you had to deal with that for so long, but at least now you know the secret.
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