Evaporative humidifier pad

A humidifier pad with multiple layers of slit and expanded paper laminated together. At least one, and in some preferred embodiments, up to half of the paper layers comprise substantially nonwicking paper and the remaining layers comprise highly absorbent wicking paper. Wick type humidifier pads are particularly useful in humidifiers wherein the lower portion of the pad is submerged in a reservoir of water. The upper portion of the pad, exposed to a flow of air to be humidified, is supplied with water due to the high rate of capillary rise featured by the wicking paper layers. Including non-wicking layers wetted by the wicking layers provide an output capacity comparable to conventionally constructed pads which include all wicking paper layers and an attendant saving of the cost of materials.