Why People Are Keeping a Bowl of Salt by Their Windows This Winter?
Indoors, winters feel warm and cozy. Fire crackling underneath the mantle, cups sloshing with hot cocoa, and lots of thick, plush blankets. But outdoors, the icy-cool breeze of winter season brings along the problem of condensation. Window sills often get smeared with a layer of tiny water droplets. This watery layer doesn’t only carry the risk of breeding mold but also poses a threat to the walls by eating up their material with moisture. Home and garden experts at Posh.co.uk recommended an utterly simple hack to prevent these water drops from ruining your house infrastructure. Just keep a bowl of salt, they said, as reported by The Mirror.
Condensation happens when the warm air indoors comes in contact with the cool air from outside. As the two energies intermingle, the moisture in the air takes the form of liquid water. This liquid forms a flimsy layer on the cold window glasses. If not controlled, these droplets can slowly nibble away tiny pores of the windows and surrounding walls, causing the formation of mold or powdery, damp walls. “A constant build-up of condensation in the home isn’t great and in some cases, it can cause mold growth which can be dangerous for your family,” Andy Ellis, home & garden expert at Posh.co.uk, told The Mirror.
When a bowl of salt is placed at the window, the salt absorbs much of the moisture locked in the liquid layer and makes the home remain dry and less damp. “Salt has the ability to naturally absorb moisture from the air and essentially dries it out so that when it does come in contact with the glass, there are fewer droplets of condensation that will form,” explained Andy. Describing the hack, he added that it requires no effort at all. The trick is to fill a shallow bowl or a small jar with some salt. It could be rock salt or table salt.
There are certain points that homeowners should keep in mind while implementing this hack. Firstly, the size of the bowl of salt depends on the size of the window. The larger the window, the more salt it requires to stay dry. Then, Andy added that a typical bowl of salt should last for a couple of days. But one should know when to replace it, as leaving it for too long in the moisture-filled air would cause the sale to become damp and clumpy. According to a report published in the journal Nature, salts absorb moisture from the air in a process called “deliquescence.”
When the vapor pressure of a saturated salt solution on salt crystals is less than the vapor pressure of water in the air, the salt crystals start extracting moist molecules and absorbing them, keeping the space outside dry and mold-free. Especially the places that have more humid conditions such as the bathroom where people take hot water showers during the winter need this hack. “Salt has adsorption properties, which means that it can bind to moisture and prevent it from developing condensation. This is why salt is often used in the kitchen to stop water droplets from forming on dishes or silverware,” homecare expert, Barry Gray, from The Tool Square, explained to Homes & Gardens.