My house is a freakin' kiln!

[Phil Thien]

It has been cold outside (as low as -14F last couple of days). So the furnace is on a lot and I haven't been running the hole-house dehumidifier because it is old and hard to control (humidistat basically keeps it on all the time).

Anyway... I was suface planing some boards today and took a couple from 1-1/4 down to 3/4. I took off about twice as much on one side as the other, for reasons I won't go into.

Of course, I noticed after planing that one of the boards (a 3 footer) had about a 3/32" bow. Basically, I upset the equalized moisture of the board by taking off more from one side than the other.

I came upstairs and did some stuff and started watching the ball game and figured I'd just leave the board for a few days. Long story somewhat shorter, I just checked the board at halftime and the bow is almost completely gone.

The cheap humidistat says the RH in my house is 25%. Is that pretty low?

[David G Baker]

Phil,
25% is pretty normal for cold climates, it can go lower. Mine is a little lower than 25%. You should see the sparks fly when I touch something metal after walking on the carpet. Static electricity is real bad when the humidity drops below 45%. I was going to set up my humidifier but don't have the wicking filter.
David B

[Jim Becker]

We run a humidifier on the heating system so we generally don't get below about 35%, but without it, I'm sure it would be lower right now...and my eyes would be really hurting, too!

[lou sansone]

25% sound too high. I have a decent one in my shop ( separate building with its own forced hot air furnace ) and it is often in the 10% range.

[Bob Reda]

Yeah,

usually around 10-12% in the winter without humidifying the house is normal in the winter in the NE, if you need a little moisture and have force heat, place a bowl of water in front of a register. At least it will help cut down the static electricity.

Bob

[David Mueller]

I'm with Lou. Here in Chicago, my little oil filled heater has been able to keep my insulated garage in the upper 40's this morning (-14F outside) but the RH is only 12%. Inside, I have a console humidifer that hasn't shut off for the last 2 weeks and it only been able to keep it at around 25-30 RH.
No wonder why projects slow way down in the winter. Imagine bringing something cut and assembled in 10% RH into the house where it's more normal.:eek:

[josh bjork]

25% is very low. 50% range is "normal" and your wood will be 6-8% or so. You might want to leave room for your projects to expand. At least you don't have to worry about them shrinking too much.

[Phil Thien]

Actually, I got a more accurate gauge and my RH is 18%!

Can you say spontaneous combustion?