How To Reduce Humidity In Your Office Building

Maintaining a healthy work environment is essential to keeping employees comfortable and productive. In large indoor spaces, a major part of maintaining a happy workplace comes down to maintaining good indoor air quality throughout the building. Unfortunately, problems with high humidity can undermine indoor air quality and potentially contribute to health issues in employees if left unresolved.

If you’re struggling to maintain ideal indoor humidity and are looking for an effective solution, there are several simple steps you can take today to resolve the matter. In this article, we will discuss how high humidity affects employees, the tell-tale symptoms of excess moisture in indoor air, and how to reduce humidity to a healthy range.

The Impact of High Humidity on Different Work Environments

High indoor humidity creates a muggy, unpleasant workplace for employees. As a general rule, it’s recommended for workplaces to maintain a relative humidity level between 30% and 50% for optimal comfort. Prolonged exposure to higher humidity can contribute to issues like fatigue, fainting, or heat exhaustion. Those with asthma or allergies may also experience worsening symptoms due to increased humidity indoors. One study from the University of Arizona found that individuals exposed to high indoor humidity exhibited increased stress responses and diminished sleep quality.

Excess humidity can also lead to the growth of mold spores inside your building. Workers exposed to mold often experience symptoms like runny nose, coughing, dry throat, headaches, and sinus congestion. In addition, mold will gradually cause structural damage to your building the longer it’s allowed to grow, leading to costly repairs later down the road.

How To Recognize the Signs of Excessive Humidity Across Workspaces

Humid conditions inside a building may make itself known in several different ways. In many cases, musty odors are detected and condensation may begin to accumulate in spots along the walls or windows. Visible mold growth found on drywall or drop ceiling tiles may also indicate a water leak somewhere responsible for excess humidity. However, detecting the source of humidity problems in a larger building may not always be so easy, and in these cases, you’ll need to rely on more sophisticated methods of detection.

At Attune, we provide organizations with cutting-edge indoor air quality sensors to monitor all aspects of a workplace environment for faster identification of humidity issues. By deploying our sensors at strategic points throughout your building, you’ll be able to track temperature and humidity levels in real time, allowing you to remedy the problem long before it impacts employees. Meanwhile, our IoT indoor air quality sensors will rapidly detect any changes in the amount of particulate matter, C02, volatile organic compounds, and other contaminants that can undermine the comfort of your workplace.

Practical Strategies to Reduce Indoor Humidity Across Industries

Achieving good indoor humidity levels doesn’t need to be an ongoing challenge. By implementing a few simple changes in your building, you can cultivate the healthy and comfortable work environment your employees need to thrive. Here are straightforward methods for lowering humidity levels in office buildings and other industries.

Improve Ventilation to Lower Moisture Levels

One of the most effective ways to confront excessive humidity is to increase air flow throughout the workplace. According to OSHA, over half of all problems associated with poor indoor air quality can be traced to a lack of proper ventilation. Since excess moisture is often the root cause of high indoor humidity, it’s important to ensure your workplace receives adequate ventilation at all times. If you haven’t already, make sure exhaust fans are installed in all bathrooms, kitchens, shower rooms, or other areas where water vapor is consistently released.

Use Dehumidifiers Effectively in Large Office Spaces

Another effective way to control room humidity is to set up dehumidifiers in strategic locations. These devices work by pulling in humid air over refrigerated coils. The moisture in the air then condenses on the coils before dripping into a water reservoir that is then poured down the drain. Using dehumidifiers is especially ideal for situations where storm flooding or extensive water leaks have entered the building and caused a spike in humidity levels.

Optimize HVAC Systems for Humidity Control

Since every building is different, it’s important to ensure your air conditioning system is optimized to provide customized humidity control to suit your needs. Consider having your air conditioners inspected and serviced by professionals to ensure the equipment is working at peak efficiency. To improve your indoor air quality, it may be recommended to increase the fan speed of your HVAC system or make adjustments to preset heating and cooling cycles.

Leverage Green Infrastructure

Upgrading your building with energy-efficient infrastructure is another excellent way to get indoor humidity under control. Think about replacing single-pane windows with double or triple-pane alternatives to help keep moisture in the outside air from entering the building. Installing energy-efficient doors fitted with improved insulation or Low-E glass can also reduce humidity levels throughout the workplace.

Another simple and affordable way to get rid of extra moisture in the air is to introduce more plants to the environment. Through a process known as foliar absorption, plants are capable of absorbing water molecules directly through the leaves, thus helping to bring indoor humidity levels into equilibrium. Plants like English ivy, jade plant, bamboo palm and certain types of cactus can all help to remove excess moisture from the indoor air over time.

Improve Your Air Quality Today

There’s no need to tolerate poor indoor air quality at your workplace another day. With Attune’s IoT indoor air quality solutions, you’ll gain actionable insights into all the factors impacting the comfort and health of your indoor air. Our sophisticated sensors provide real-time analytics of all contaminants harming air quality, such as C02, ozone, relative humidity, VOCs, and odorless chemicals or gases. With the help of our fully integrated IoT platform, it’s possible to fine-tune the climate inside your workplace to accommodate your unique, precise requirements. If you’re ready to discover how Attune can transform the air quality at your building, schedule a demo with us to get started.