Is central heating bad for antiques?

Central heating can frequently cause the atmosphere to 'dry out'. Whilst in a damp building this may not be such a bad thing, in a normal building when heat 'dries out' the atmosphere it can cause the relative humidity to drop, sometimes as low as 20 - 30%. When the relative humidity is this low for a length of time, not only is it not very good for human beings, it can also cause serious damage to certain types of objects - organic materials such as wood and textiles can become brittle or shrink and develop cracks or splits. Natural glues holding objects together can also dry out. When these types of damage happen it can sometimes lead to an object breaking or falling apart completely. There are some objects however, such as metalwork that actually fair better in a lower humidity than a higher one.  more