If I can't heat my house, how do I stop damp?

[babysoupdragon2]

We live in a 1930s semi.

Every winter we have huge issues with condensation on the windows, I have to do a daily window vac otherwise it spreads to the walls. This is despite ventilating the rooms well. No other damp causes.

The only thing we've found to help is to not let the temperature drop below about 15 overnight. But there's no way we will be able to pay for this this year.

Anyone have any suggestions?

People cause condensation damp with sweat you will never see a empty house with steamed up windows it is all about ventilation unfortunatley dhumidifiers are the only thing that really help but you do have to buy the best one for the size of the house and make sure it is on a hard floor not carpet otherwise it is trying to suck the carpet up

Damp traps didn’t work in our house.

we put the dehumidifier on the landing but leave all the doors open,no condensation in the morning,

it’s a 12 litre one,it’s nearly full every morning,
costs £3 a month to run I think.

Do you get this in rooms where no one sleeps? We only get it in bedrooms. We've never run the heating at night. We have thick curtains and leave the windows open and I check each morning. Sometimes it doesn't occur and I've never been able to work out what those exact conditions are, it's very frustrating!

Which dehumidifier do you have?

Worst in rooms people sleep in, but it's every room in the house.
Think I'll put a better dehumidifier on my Christmas list!

Dehumidifier- DH has one in his man cave/cellar. Need to keep rooms closed whilst it’s on, he won’t stay in there with on either. He puts it on every night and switches it off and empties it every morning- usually on my plants.

@TenoringBehind do you close your windows when you turn them on?

if you don't they'll be trying to dehumidify the planet! & there will be a ton of water!

Meaco 12L Low Energy Dehumidifier & Air Purifier

I don’t know how to share but that is the one we have.

It also wasn’t that expensive when we bought it last year!

@Wearefoooked22 that's the one I was looking at. I'm sorry if this is rude, but do you mind me asking how big your house is?

We're a 3 bed end of terrace. The rooms are all on the small side, though. I'm just wondering if the 12L will be big enough or should I go for the lager one 🤔

If yours is a similar size house to mine and you find the 12L can do a whole floor, I might go if or that one.

Would one of those hand-held window cleaning tools that suck up water be a good alternative to towels under the windows?

This is an interesting article about houses of that era and condensation.
https://1stassociated.co.uk/articles/damp-condensation-1930s-1950s-houses.asp

We sleep with the windows open all winter. I can’t sleep with the windows closed no matter how cold it is.

You can buy damp trays for boats and caravans that have silica gel in them. You'd need a lot more than the packets from covid tests.

My old house was like this. nothing worked to stop it, I could only reduce it. So, dehumidifier, window vac and windows open for as long as you can bare. Cooking and showers were an issue. So fresh pasta over dried, microwave rice, frozen mash.
i also always heated the bathroom with a small heater and used a dehumidifier. I used window vac’d the showers and opened windows until totally dry.

@Lunabun no I don’t mind,it’s a 3 bed semi,3 double bedrooms,
we used to have condensation on every single window in the house,even the downstairs toilet!

My dad uses those dehumidifier bags/boxes. He has some in the cars too to help with delisting/defrosting in the winter.

They are not that expensive and you can get reusable ones now that you nuke in the microwave to dry them out and use again. I did have a couple when I first moved into my house when I had my older dryer that's wasn't as efficient but now I have a new one and do a lot less washing now the kids are older I don't find I need them anymore.

We have this same problem and I'm dreading the cold weather because of it.

We've ummed and ahhed over one of these for the last year and I'm trying to persuade DH to bite the bullet before the weather turns.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Drimaster-DRI-ECO-HC-Condensation-Ventilation-CONTROL/dp/B00NIV7U0G/ref=ascdff_B00NIV7U0G/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=294846575410&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6395530821074051695&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007141&hvtargid=pla-698325125936&psc=1

It's a positive input ventilator, it basically draws warm air down from the loft space into the house and increases the ventilation. Almost all of the reviews I've read are really positive, the only thing stopping us is the £300 outlay.

We had this issue in my old house. I agree with PP about the little damp traps, they are single use plastic which I am not keen on but I empty them out when done and then put in the recycling. I had them dotted around everywhere. The aero 360 ones that you put a tablet thingy in are also quite good I put them in the worst areas but they are really messy if spilled, I ruined a newly painted wall with one.

In my current house the built in wardrobes are all against external walls and get really musty smelling but the damp traps deal with it no problem.

I did have an electric dehumidifier but we had the problem in every room and I didn't want 4/5 dehumidifiers running all night.

Thanks, emanonsah, that's really useful. Looks like that hygrometer is available at Screwfix for £16 as opposed to £40 on Amazon – I try to avoid Amazon if possible
www.screwfix.com/p/htc-1-thermometer-hygrometer/2806x
(I've not done strict compare so may be a different model - lots of questions & detailed reviews on the Screwfix site).

Also, Which? review dehudifiers - paywalled but the following link
www.which.co.uk/reviews/dehumidifiers?sortBy=PRICE_BB_ASC
should show you their cheapest recommended models though most of the detail is obscured.

Constant problem in our house which I think we have worked out. I have a dehumidifier Meaco 12L Low Energy Dehumidifier & Air Purifier, have this is the bedroom. In the morning I open the windows and use a vileda window vac so there's no condensation hanging around. Then I close the windows after a few hours and run the dehumidifier. The water it collects is alarming! I can't sleep with it on so I empty it and turn off at night.
I painted the window seals with bathroom paint and so so far no mould patches. This is probably obvious but make sure no furniture is pressed tightly against walls, we pulled back a wardrobe to find a huge mould patch. Been fine since we pulled everything a few inches away from the wall.

Oh and we got an extractor fan in the kitchen which we didn't have before and also open windows in the house alot more, even in the rooms that do not have condensation and that's really helped as well. I also have a hygrometer only £10 from amazon but I keep an eye on the moisture level with this and move the dehumidifier if one room is particularly high.

You can set a dehumidifier to come on at a humidity level mines is set to come on at 70% and then turns off at 65% it still seems high but that is the dew point of my house where condensation forms. It is cheaper than heating I think.

Ring a damp proof specialist they will advise a positive air unit which is fitted in loft they are expensive initially but the Benefits are amazing !!!