Any idea what your humidity is now? My Aprilaire only increases the humidity a few percentage points. Not very impressive at all. Many have hardwood floors in the GTA and I've never heard of any problems running without a humidifier.

We've had one installed on our furnace in the last several houses we've owned. They add humidity to the air and get rid of static in the winter. They do have to be serviced yearly, but that's pretty simple.

That's not bad, depending on what temps are outside. The colder it is, the less humidity you should have indoors or there will be problems.

How long have you lived in the house and have you seen any issues with the wood floor so far? What is the indoor temperature when the humidity is at 30%?

Low humidity causes wooden floors to shrink. I am not a flooring expert. If you are seeing no visible gaps then you should be fine. If you go below 25%,then I would think you would suffer more than the flooring.

If you are comfortable I would recommend not installing a whole house humidifier. You can try a portable one. A new build house should be well insulated so if you raised the humidity to 40% on very cold days you should not have to worry about condensation on walls and ceilings. You may see some condensation on windows.

My climate is similar to yours, and I could not LIVE without my whole-home humidifier. It is by Aprilaire. If you don't have one, then, as you mentioned, your wood floors and cabinetry will suffer. More importantly, you will also personally have dry skin and nasal passages. You will get a spark every time you touch something, including your pets.

Regarding Mishmosh's comment of only increasing the humidity a little, you do not want too much humidity in your house in winter. That would cause severe condensation issues with your windows.

On the Houzz Windows forum, this winter condensation issue comes up all the time. Here is a link to one thread, but there are many. You want a humidifier that will make your home's indoor winter humidity about 30%. Your concerns about mold are unfounded; you will not get mold at 30%. In my home, in winter, if I didn't have a humidifier, my indoor humidity would be 10-15% which is very uncomfortable to live with. You will definitely benefit by spending the money to add a whole house humidifier.

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5556880/massive-condensation-on-windows

Adding a whole-home humidifier for less than $1000? YES PLEASE! Go for it. You won't be too upset with it. It is only December, so you have 4 MONTHS more of winter/heating/drying out the air in your home. If you are 30% humidity today, I expect 25% or LOWER will arrive well before Spring. And that's when things are going to go south.

The other concern: dehumidifier/AC running in summer to keep the humidity below 60% in the summer. If you already have the ability to DEHUMIDIFY for the summer, all you need is the whole home humidifier for winter.

And remember: portable are more than $150 for a good one, are less efficient and take plenty of work to keep the water reservoir filled throughout the long winters we in Canada experience.

I'll take the whole-home unit any day.

Our HVAC tech is coming this Friday to install a whole house humidifier. We had hardwood floors installed in September and I noticed my night stand is separating a little along on side and DH thinks he sees some gaps between a few of the boards. On some days our humidity is only 20%.

Just moved to a new house (well, new to us!) that was built in 1948. It has boiler heating and no ductwork except for bathroom vents, a range hood, and one small, mysterious overhead duct on an interior wall in the kitchen. I also found this wall-controlled humidifier. We have no idea if we have a “central humidifier,” and didn’t even realize it would be possible with boiler heating. We live in Rochester, NY, so it does get pretty cold/dry in the winter. Is it possible that we have one? How would we find it? We haven’t noticed any strange appliances in the basement but I haven’t looked too hard, TBH.

Hey, we had the humidifier installed in the summer (along with A/C) and it’s sitting at 30% right now but it’ll be the most useful in Jan/Feb when it keeps it at 30% when it could be dropping to 20%. I’m glad we got it, I’d be worrying about my hardwood otherwise and it definitely felt pretty dry last winter.