To control air flows, make sure the is continuous An air barrier helps control airflow both through and within the building enclosure. By controlling airflow, you also control moisture. If moist indoor air contacts a cold surface — for example, exterior sheathingMaterial, usually plywood or oriented strand board (OSB), but sometimes wooden boards, installed on the exterior of wall studs, rafters, or roof trusses; siding or roofing installed on the sheathing—sometimes over strapping to create a rainscreen. in cold weather — condensation can result. An air barrier prevents those cold surfaces from being connected with humid indoor air. Air has a maximum storage capacity for water vapor which depends on temperature. Warm air can store lots of moisture, while cold air can store very little. According to Straube, as the temperature falls from 90°F down to 20°F, the amount of moisture that can be stored in the air changes by a factor of ten. “This is like a gas tank that shrinks as the temperature gets colder,” he says.

“When it’s hot, you can store a lot in this tank, but when it’s cold you can’t store much at all. And if you were to have a large gas tank filled with gas and you shrunk it, eventually it would spill over. 1. Air Leaks Waste Energy 5. Humidity & Mold Leaky homes didn’t have condensation problems Older buildings rarely had condensation problems in cold weather because they were so well ventilated — meaning leaky. used air conditioning units pricesThe relative humidity in an old home would rarely rise above 25%. window air conditioner filter replacementAs we have built tighter houses (and in some cases failed to provide mechanical ventilation), the indoor relative humidity has gone up.used home ac units sale

In a heated, tight, unventilated house, the amount of moisture in the air and the amount of condensation that can occur are dramatically different than in an old leaky house. Condensation can occur wherever water vapor can find a cold spot — on roof or wall sheathing, on the inside faces of the windows, and inside the walls. Let's say it’s 40°F outside and the outdoor relative humidity is 50%. If you allow that outdoor air to enter a building and heat it up to 70°F, the amount of moisture in the air stays exactly the same, but the “tank” gets bigger because the storage capacity of the air increases with the temperature. As a result, the relative humidity initially drops. Then, as moisture is added to the air, the relative humidity rises, and the absolute moisture content rises as well. How do you add moisture to the air? You breathe, sweat, boil water for spaghetti, take hot showers, grow houseplants — and all of those activities generate moisture. When does indoor humidity become a problem?

Let’s say that air leaks out of a house through holes in the enclosure. As it reaches surfaces colder than 52°F or 53°F, the air will cool. Once it reaches its full capacity to store moisture, condensation occurs. Questions and Answers About Air Barriers Airtight Wall and Roof Sheathing One Air Barrier or Two? Pinpointing Leaks With a Fog Machine How to Use the Psychrometric Chart Rating Windows for Condensation Resistance All About Wall Rot If the temperature of the outdoor air is around 30°F, the indoor air will drop all of the moisture that it gained on the way out, dumping it on the cold sheathing surface. That’s a typical example of the air leakage condensation cycle. Since condensation in walls can cause puddles — and in extreme cases, rot the framing — condensation is something you want to avoid. Installing an air barrier is one way to help prevent condensation. Air conditioning can also create condensing surfaces The same phenomenon can happen in reverse in the summertime.

Let’s say the outdoor air is 85°F and the relative humidity is 75%. When outdoor air leaking inward contacts a surface below about 76°F, the moisture in the air will condense. So if you have an exhaust fan in your home, the air leaking in may cause condensation on the air-conditioned surfaces — for example, on the back side of vinylCommon term for polyvinyl chloride (PVC). In chemistry, vinyl refers to a carbon-and-hydrogen group (H2C=CH–) that attaches to another functional group, such as chlorine (vinyl chloride) or acetate (vinyl acetate). If moist air leaks into a house through gaps in the wall or roof, you can have problems. But in a tight house with a good air barrier and a supply-only ventilation system, most of the air that’s drawn inside is drawn in through the air conditioner, so the first cold surfaces it sees are the cooling coils. If you have air leaks in your building envelopeExterior components of a house that provide protection from colder (and warmer) outdoor temperatures and precipitation;

includes the house foundation, framed exterior walls, roof or ceiling, and insulation, and air sealing materials., you usually can’t see the condensation — unless you’re a forensic engineer like Straube, who goes around cutting holes in walls. However, condensation is sometimes visible in the attic; all you have to do is look for frost or dampness forming on the underside of the OSB or plywood roof sheathing. It doesn’t take much of a hole in the ceiling of a humid house for the condensation to accumulate as frost. Then, when the sun warms up the black shingle roof, the frost melts, the water falls, “and then you have a ‘roof leak,’ ” Straube says. “Then you call the roofer, and he puts on a new roof, and it doesn’t fix a damn thing because that wasn’t the problem.” It was an air leak.When the air conditioner is running during the summer, it may not necessarily be functioning in a way that optimizes your home’s humidity level. With the Nest Thermostat, you can tell your air conditioner to cool your house based on the humidity level, so your house doesn’t feel like a Florida swamp.

Most thermostats don’t come with a humidity sensor. If yours does, it likely just serves the purpose of telling you what the humidity is inside your house, and nothing more. The Nest Thermostat, tells you what the indoor humidity is, but it can also cool your house and give focus to the humidity rather than just the temperature that you have it set to. For example, if your air conditioner cools your house to 73 degrees, but the indoor humidity is still really high, your Nest can tell your air conditioner to keep cooling your house until the humidity level goes down to a comfortable level. The only downside is that it might be a bit colder in your house and you’ll spend more money on your utility bill using this method, but if it’s something that you really want, the Nest Thermostat can do it. Start by opening up the Nest app on your phone and select your Nest Thermostat on the main screen. On the next page, you’ll see what the humidity is inside of your house.

You want to keep it in between 40-60%. Any higher and you could invite the growth of mold, and any lower can dry out your skin and ruin wood furniture. If the humidity is a bit high in your house, your Nest has a feature to deal with this, and you can access it from the settings gear icon in the top-right corner of the screen. On the next page, tap on “Nest Sense”. Next, select “Cool to Dry”. That section will expand and explain what the feature is. Simply tap on the toggle switch next to the green leaf to turn it on. Of course, if your air conditioning unit already has a dehumidifying feature, you likely don’t need Cool to Dry on, but if not, the Nest Thermostat can serve as a decent substitute. The feature will turn on the air conditioning if humidity levels rise above 70% inside your home, no matter what you have it set at. However, there are limits. It will only cool to 75°F, or 5°F below your set temperature–whichever is higher. The neat thing about this feature is that if your Nest Thermostat senses that the humidity isn’t dropping, despite Cool to Dry being on and active, it’ll automatically return to your regular temperature setting to avoid wasting any more energy.