Static electricity is everywhere, especially in your house. “Everyone has experienced that unexpected shock when folding laundry or touching a metal object in their home,” says John Bell, an electrician and virtual electrical expert at Frontdoor, a home services company that connects homeowners and others with qualified, on-staff technicians to help solve electrical, HVAC and other home maintenance issues.

Is static electricity just a fact of life? Yes. Can you do anything about it? Also yes. If you’re sick of getting zapped every time you walk across your living room rug, Bell has tons of tips and explainers to help you get rid of the mostly harmless, definitely annoying, inconvenience of static electricity in your house.

What Is Static Electricity?

Bell says static electricity is “a simple imbalance of positive and negative charges in an object or material.” These charges come from atoms, the tiny building blocks of everything around us. Atoms are made up of three subatomic particles: positively charged protons, negatively charged electrons and neutral neutrons. When electrons move away from one material (such as your carpet) to another one (such as your socks), the result is static electricity.

Why static? Unlike the organized flow of electrons in an electrical current, which travels along conductors to power your appliances and lights, static electricity is pretty much confined to the object it builds up on— until it discharges.

What Causes Static Electricity in Your House?

“Static electricity builds up in homes due to numerous factors such as dry air, synthetic materials and carpeting,” Bell says. “Dry air reduces humidity, making it harder for electrical charges to dissipate, while friction from synthetic fabrics and carpets increases charge imbalance. This leads to more frequent static shocks, especially during the winter months.”

Dry air

The reason you get fewer shocks in summer and more humid climates and environments is that water is a good conductor of electricity. “The moisture in the air acts as a conductive path for static electricity to dissipate,” Bell says. “Without this moisture, the electrons build up on the skin and cause a greater risk for static shock.” In the summer, static electricity discharges easily into the air just by you moving around in it. In the winter, however, it just sort of sits there, waiting until you touch something conductive.

Friction

Have you ever rubbed a balloon on your head and stuck it to the wall? Or dragged your feet across the carpeting to give your buddy a shock? The transfer of electrons due to friction, or two objects rubbing against one another, is called the “triboelectric effect,” and scientists have been studying it for centuries. How much electron transfer occurs is relative, depending on the two materials, but the phenomenon results in static electricity when electrons build up on one object and aren’t discharged.

Synthetic materials

Synthetic materials, including carpeting and that load of laundry you need to fold, are poor conductors of electricity, so they tend to hold on to the transferred electrical charges more so than natural fibers. Of course, there are exceptions, as anyone who wears a wool stocking cap in winter can attest. Wool is more conductive than synthetic materials, but you still have friction and dry winter air to contend with.

How to Reduce Static Electricity

Now that you know why static electricity builds up in your home, it’s time to take action. Bell offers these tips, noting they can “help prevent or eliminate those annoying static shocks that are uncomfortable and disruptive.”

  • Increase the humidity. Try to keep indoor relative humidity between 30% and 50%. (Over 60%, and you’re asking for mold.) To find out what your humidity levels are, buy an inexpensive hygrometer or just check your thermostat, if you have one that measures humidity. To boost moisture levels, get humidifiers for specific rooms or invest in a whole-home humidifier.
  • Change your shoes. “Wear shoes with non-conductive soles, such as rubber or leather,” Bell says.
  • Wear anti-static clothing. Synthetic materials, like nylon, tend to generate static. “Choose anti-static clothing made from natural fibers like cotton or silk,” Bell says.
  • Apply lotions and moisturizers. Dry skin exacerbates static electricity, so Bell says to keep your skin moisturized, especially in the wintertime.
  • Treat carpets and upholstery. Bell says treating your furniture, carpets and rugs with anti-static spray will minimize static electricity. Many new carpets are treated already, but you can always add to it.

About the Expert

John Bell is a virtual electrical expert at Frontdoor, a home care and maintenance service that connects people to Frontdoor’s experienced, on-staff pros via tech-enhanced video chats. Bell is an electrician with 25 years of experience in the electrical industry.

Sources

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Ally Childress
Ally Childress writes practical, informed stories and how-to guides for Family Handyman and Reader’s Digest. An experienced electrician, Ally's beat naturally includes electrical and construction topics. She also tackles cleaning, gardening, technology, bugs and anything else you can throw at her. She has a knack for finding just the right subjec...
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Ally Childress