If you have a room with a fireplace, you may have noticed that it can get very dry in there, especially when you have the fire burning in winter. The fire will make the room warm, but – in older homes in particular – any poorly insulated spots may result in cold outside air making the room dryer.
Fireplaces are great for keeping warm, but if you need to humidify the room, you may want to try tricks like a kettle over the fire or putting in a humidifier. You can also spray the room with a mister from time to time.
How To Humidify A Room With A Fireplace
To bump up the humidity in a room with a fireplace, you need some device or trick that will add to the moisture. There are lots of methods that you can use, but some of the most popular include things like boiling a kettle on the fire, or putting houseplants in the room. You can also add a humidifier to the room, or hand-spray the space with a mister.
Alternatively, you could place some containers of water around your home, setting them on sunny windowsills to encourage the water to evaporate. Do keep an eye out for signs of mold, however, and take swift action if you see any.
Trick 1: Use A Kettle
This is a great way to get your fire to help you out with the humidifying process, and if you’re going for a rustic aesthetic, it’s a particularly good one. There is nothing more soothing than listening to a kettle of water bubble away over a crackling fire.
The kettle will produce steam that will gently humidify the room. You can keep a kettle boiling for hours. It isn’t wasting energy if the fire is lit anyway, so you can make yourself a tea or a coffee at any time.
However, there are a few stipulations. Firstly, you must make sure that the kettle is made of cast iron so that it can withstand the heat of the fire without any issues arising. Secondly, you need to make absolutely sure that the kettle doesn’t burn dry.
You should set regular reminders on your phone to check the kettle, particularly when you first start using this trick. If you are at risk of forgetting it, choose one of the other suggestions below instead, as you don’t want to cause a fire. We’ve forgotten once or twice, but luckily, someone has always caught it in time and now we set reminders!
Trick 2: Add Some House Plants
House plants are a good source of humidity. They output most of the water that you give them as vapor, which can make a surprising difference to the amount of moisture in a room. You will need to water the plants regularly if the room is dry, but this can help quite a lot. We have about 10 plants in our room with the fireplace, and they seem to help.
You need to make sure that the plants are not near the fire, however. House plants like warmth, but not heat, and they will quickly die if they are placed anywhere near a lit fire. Keep them on the far side of the room if possible, well away from the fireplace.
You will need quite a few house plants in order to make a difference to the humidity levels, but they will add to the decor of the room, as well as the humidity. Choose some of your favorites and set yourself a reminder to water them reasonably often so that they can keep the room damp.
Trick 3: Get A Humidifier
A humidifier is one of the simplest ways of making your room more humid. The drawback is that it costs money, both to purchase and in the long-term running of the device. However, this is probably the most hands off and straightforward method for increasing the humidity levels.
These machines vary enormously in size, so make sure you check out your room size and compare it to the machine’s capacity before purchasing one. A tiny humidifier will make almost no difference to how the room with the fireplace feels.
Trick 4: Spray With A Mister
If you don’t need to increase the humidity much but you want to take the edge off the dryness, you might want to consider this method. It is good for rooms that you don’t use frequently, or for ones where humidity is only an issue occasionally. If you need to constantly increase the humidity, it will become an unpleasant chore quite quickly.
However, for a quick and easy fix, a plant mister is excellent. You can keep one in the room, possibly even by the fireplace, and simply grab it and lightly spray around the room a few times a day.
You do need to make sure that you aren’t damaging any furniture while doing this, but on the whole, this is an excellent method for making your room a little more humid. If you combine this with the plant method, you can also spritz your plants. We don’t tend to use this trick often, but from time to time, it’s useful.
Trick 5: Put Water In Containers
For another fairly low maintenance trick, try filling some pretty containers with water and placing these around the room, preferably where the sun will fall on them and encourage the water to evaporate.
You should choose containers that look great so they can be turned into functional decorations. It is also a good idea to choose stable ones that will not spill too easily. We’ve got some dark blue glass bottles that look amazing on the sills.
If you have pets or children, make sure these containers are well out of reach, or opt for another method. You will also need to rinse them out and wash them from time to time to prevent the water from turning stagnant and smelly.
Trick 6: Put A Pan Near The Fire
Another great option involves putting a pan of water next to the fire, but not above the flames. The fire will help the water in the pan to gradually evaporate, humidifying the room as it does. This is low maintenance and doesn’t carry the same risks as the kettle, so it’s well worth doing if you won’t remember to fill the kettle.
Simply top the pan up any time it runs dry, and make sure it is too heavy to be easily knocked over.
