Control Your Humidity, Madam

So many factors complicate the entity called Indoor Air Quality, and I can't cover them all here, but we've been discussing moisture and humidity in your home. Let's start there.

The woman in the picture would look lots cuter if she weren't snorkling and snuffling into her handkerchief. What's bugging her?

Among other things, the air in her house may be either too dry or too moist. Either direction, outside the recommended healthy window of 30%-50%, leads to trouble. Air with less moisture dries out nasal passages and sinuses, making us more vulnerable to infections, and air with higher humidity is likely to be carrying mold spores, bacteria and dust mites, all of which can cause an allergic reaction and lead to infections.

Begin by buying an inexpensive indoor hygrometer, or humidity meter (the link is to a tobacco specialty merchant. Cigar smokers are keen on proper humidity {!!!???} ). Once you have a reading, you can begin to exert control. If humidity is much below 30%, you can easily use a table-top humidifier to increase the reading. If humidity is much above 50%, and with warmer weather it will get there, you can use air conditioners or dehumidifiers to control moisture in your home. Look for moisture sources that can be re-directed, such as shower steam, laundry vapors and leaky plumbing.

Rule of thumb: if water is condensing on your windows on cold days, your humidity is probably high. If you constantly feel dry and itchy about the nose (don't drive me to more detail here, please), your humidity is likely too low.

But first, foremost and without fail, cleanliness is your primary weapon. Mold spores, dust mites, any airborne contaminant can be vacuumed away, dusted, swiffed; choose your weapon, but cleaning always helps. Unless you have generously hairy pets or obvious mold colonies already in your home, in which case we have to talk. But later.

So clean, monitor your humidity, do the cheap things first, and only spring for expensive air quality gadgets (like central air conditioning and Hepa filters) once you've covered the basics. Maybe next time we'll have to deal with your golden retriever and your lovely cats.