Dry Winter Air Damages Wood Furniture

In the winter months, dry air can cause serious problems for your wooden furniture. With the home heating system activated, the humidity of the average home can fall to 13% or less, drier than Death Valley.

The dry air sucks up all the moisture it can from walls, floors, and particularly your wooden furniture. Cracks and splits in the wood often result from this and the damage is usually permanent. In addition, doors may not fit properly, gaps between wood panels may appear, chair legs/arms may become loose, and pianos will have a hard time staying in tune. Solid pieces can warp, open up at the seams, split or even crack apart.

In short, the two determinants of how quickly a wood will lose moisture are pore size and surface hardness. A piece of maple, for instance, which is quite hard and strong, will dry slower than a piece of pine. Furthermore, furniture that is finished with a sealant or lacquer will lose moisture at a much slower pace than a raw or unfinished piece. Furniture with veneer finishes not only provide a stronger resistance to dry winter air but also retain more moisture than other types of finishes.

In order to help protect your furniture from winter’s dry air, try the following tips:

• Keep the humidity/moisture in your home at an acceptable level. This is recommended to be between 35% - 65% relative humidity. In many cases a portable humidifier (which can be bought easily at hardware and department stores) will help maintain the relative humidity at an adequate level. This is especially important as some built in furnace humidifiers are inadequate of achieving an ideal moisture level. Also Apartments and condos tend to be drier as well. Also temperatures between 60 – 75 degrees Fahrenheit are recommended.
• Keep the wood well-maintained by using a high-quality furniture polish that seeps into the deep pores of thee wood. Stay away from silicone-based polishes as they do not penetrate the wood but rather simply linger on the surface and take away from the piece’s sheen.
• Try to keep your pieces out of direct rays of the sun, as the sunlight accelerates the drying process further as well it causes fading, bleaching or discoloring the finish.