How To Take Care Of Your Antique Furniture With The Use Of Humidifiers
Antique furniture can be extremely hard to acquire and maintain. It is usually very expensive and can be easily damaged. The best way to take care of antique furniture is to prevent any damage rather than try to reserve the damage as prevention is better than cure.
The single most important factor that impacts the life and quality of antique furniture is the level of relative humidity. Wood is an extremely delicate substance and requires appropriate levels of humidity for its conservation. As a number of areas have cold winters, installing a heating system is the only way to maintain a comfortable indoor environment. Though the air inside is warmed, the moisture is sucked out from the air and the result is a dry air with a low relative humidity. This low humidity is very dangerous to antique furniture and weakens the joints, causes splitting, shrinks the surfaces, results in warping, cracking and causes gaps in joints and makes the adhesives holding the wood together brittle. The result is a tremendous reduction in the life of the antique furniture that you acquired with so much difficulty.
The solution is simple and reliable; a humidifier. The ideal relative humidity for both furniture and humans is in the range 35% to 45% and this can be easily maintained by the use of a humidifier. The humidifier should be selected keeping in mind the size of the room and the exact requirement. These can be divided into two categories:
A. Electric Humidifiers– These come with a variety of features like:
a. Steam evaporation – This produces a visible steam and are almost silent due to the absence of moving parts. They are easy to clean and do not have nay filters to clean.
b. Fan assisted evaporation – They use a motor to produce cool and invisible moisture. They require regular cleaning and filters have to be changed regularly.
c. Ultrasonic Humidifier – They give a humming noise and give out a jet of visible mist. They require the use of distilled water so as to avoid white dust in rooms.
B. Non Electric Humidifiers – These are usually large capacity and can be hidden inside the radiator . These have to be filled daily and have the added advantage of being able to disperse essential oils if added into the mix.
It is imperative to select the humidifier with caution as a number of options are available in the market. A good idea is either to get a separate hygrometer or buy a humidifier with an in built hygrometer so that the exact relative humidity can be measured easily and accurately. The bottom line is that whatever humidifier you use, the relative humidity is maintained at the desired level and the life of the antique furniture is prolonged…FREE TO COPY Articles at GlossaryBlog
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