Your home is similar to your body. When one thing isn’t working, you feel it. You may have symptoms and not know what’s causing them or you may not even realize you have symptoms, but they are still affecting you nonetheless. Knowing the signs is key to getting the treatment you need for yourself and your home. Here are a few subtle signs that your HVAC system could be making your home “sick”.
1. Humidity
When you walk into your house, you should feel a sense of comfort and relief. You should not walk in and feel sticky or humid. Feeling humidity inside your home, even when it’s humid outside is a sure sign something is wrong. Sometimes excess moisture in your home can cause significant changes and sometimes even damage. Be on the look out for the following:
- Sweat or condensation building up on your windows in colder months
- Edges of wood floors curling up
- Doors that stick
- Sweating grills
- Trim paint peeling
- A general feeling of mugginess
2. Increased Dust & Allergies
Dust in your home is natural. You can’t keep it all out, no matter how hard you try, but you shouldn’t have to break out the Pledge every other day to keep it at bay. Excess dust build up is a red flag for an infiltration issue. The more spaces that leak to your attic or crawl space, the more opportunity dust and allergens can sneak their way into your living spaces. All that extra dust can make allergies flare up making you miserable. Some common spots of infiltration are can lights, plumbing penetrations and electrical outlets. Look to see if dust has accumulated around your grills/vents. If the answer is yes, infiltration is the likely culprit.
3. One Room Feels Noticeably Different
Does most of your home feel ok, but there’s that one room that never cools completely in the summer or gets way too hot in the winter? This may be a sign that your duct work or insulation is off. It could be that there is a rip in the duct leading to that room or that the original design was not done correctly. The insulation may be improperly installed or even missing, creating a temperature difference. Either way, it’s another red flag of things not quite right.
Luckily, there are treatments, but if you wait too long, you could end up with much more serious problems like a completely broken unit in the middle of 100º heat. If you or your home are suffering from any of these symptoms, call an HVAC pro and have them evaluate it. There are performance tests that can be done to help diagnosis and prescribe solutions so you can have a healthy home.
More cowbell may not be able to save your sick home, but the right A/C contractor can! 😛 Schedule an appointment today.