My walls had water running down them this morning

[Cudz]

Can only afford to have the heating on for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. This morning in both mine and DS's bedrooms there was water running down the walls and all over the ceiling. I could see my breath when breathing. Me and my dp both work full time. How the hell have things got so bad that we can no longer to afford to have a home thats just a safe temperature (not even warm, just safe!). This is just so so depressing 😞

Dh goes round with clean cloths and wipes down all our windows every morning now. We aren't heating the house much (only to 17 degrees a couple of times a day) and we ventilate each time anyone uses the bathroom the vent to the outside comes on for at least 15 mins after the light goes out, and the cooker vents to the outside too.
It's better if we leave all the interior doors open and let the air move around too.
The windows look good, but you can't see out of them first thing each day just from us breathing all night.

Damp and water running down walls are not the same thing. The latter sounds like a leak. Possibly burst pipe from the cold.

I don't think it can be due to no heat, we grew up with no heat only a gas fire in one room, house built in the 40's. We never had wet walls, we did have ice inside the windows in the bedrooms first thing in the morning.
Upstairs bathroom window was opened daily, and all the interior doors were left open all day.

I imagine if the OP can afford to only heat the house for 2hrs a day and is not having baths or showers, she won't be out buying appliances.

Ditto - until a big renovation we lived in an old farmhouse with no heating upstairs - we'd wake to ice on the windows (I don't think this was an uncommon experience for many growing up). We never had water running down the walls.

I agree. You can get condensation either in the bathroom or the kitchen if room isn’t well ventilated. But water running down the walls and across the ceiling is surely a leak of some kind?

That’s where I’d start anyway - get in a plumber to rule out leak before exploring other possibilities.

Are you paying a monthly direct debit? If so isn't it OK to effectively go over that amount in the winter months especially when it's very cold, knowing that you'll make it up in other months when it's warmer (or even later this week when the temp goes up).
Also if you're with Octopus have you got the app? You can monitor your usage on there and see what makes a difference in terms of appliances/how long the heating is on for.

OP it sounds like you either have water coming in somehow or your house is sealed, cannot ventilate.
Ours is getting water condensation on the north facing windows like crazy. I wipe it off and chuck outside each day.
I bet you it comes from the washing and the cooking and showers.
We do have the little chemical dehumidifiers. They are not enough at minus temperatures, but they help. They are rather cheap.
I would suggest you to turn the heating on to dry the house, if you can afford it at all.
Dry the walls and windows. Ventilate (but watch there, because external moisture has been extremely high around here earlier this week- check the weather forecast. You do not want to get water in instead of out!).
If you can, a dehumidifier. I checked if you can rent one, and yes you can, including delivery google says £49 per week. That should leave your house in good conditions. By tge way, dehumidifiers warm the rooms quite nicely too.

This is what's helped me (Ireland but similar energy issues). I'm paying a monthly DD, which is constant in the spring / summer too; so I have overpaid then, alleviating the higher costs now. Unfortunately by January my bills will be very high without the buffer but I hope to be able to scrape through till the warmer months.

My energy company have put up my DD tho, so it's now at about double it was last year and a huge challenge.

Ermmm not breathe at night?

Lol, I think the not breathing is sarcarsm

If you can, a dehumidifier. I checked if you can rent one, and yes you can, including delivery google says £49 per week

Not sure that’s very helpful to someone who, like myself, is struggling to pay bills.

Some of the posters on here are utter wankers.

Seriously, questioning OP about what has changed in the last year? Wanker! Energy prices have shot up. Food has shot up. Mortgages and rent have shot up for many. Fuel. Clothes. Hell even my children's swimming lessons have increased by 10%.

I honestly don't know if Mumsnet is populated by oblivious airheads who spend their days spending their banker husband's money or by genuinely vile people who take pleasure in knocking people when they are already down.

OP, I'm so sorry this is happening to you. I have ice on the inside of my windows today, something that I thought I'd left behind in my childhood.

It's not your fault. You haven't failed.

I know it's tricky because it's so cold but if you can't get a dehumidifier etc you need to ventilate the house every day by opening the windows for 10 minutes to get fresh air in. Do it when the weather app says it's below 80% humidity. It will help with the condensation.

Only dry washing in one room and keep the door closed and air out if you can with the window.

Make sure the bathroom door is kept closed and again ventilate after showers etc.

Lids on saucepans when cooking.

Wipe down the walls etc each day with a towel.

I hope it gets better for you.

jeez
if OP had a spare £49 a week to spend, surely heating would be better?

sorry OP. Some absolutely horrible comments here.

we grew up with no heat only a gas fire in one room, house built in the 40's. We never had wet walls, we did have ice inside the windows in the bedrooms first thing in the morning.
Upstairs bathroom window was opened daily, and all the interior doors were left open all day.

Same here, 1920s house. We had a solid fuel boiler which provided hot water, and a coal fire in the main living room. No heating in the bedrooms. We did sometimes have ice on the inside of bedroom windows in the morning, but never damp on the walls.

How much is your direct debit per month?
We are paying a lot more than you at the moment (roughly £20 per day). However, our direct debit is £250. Its not for your usage to be much higher than your direct debit in the winter and then lower in the summer.

@EmmaAgain22 it does not take a whole week to dry a house. It will only take a part of it moving room to room.
OP mentions water down walls and ceiling, so that sound like lots to me. That is why I have suggested, if she can afford.
I do not own one, they are expensive, but I have used one recently at work to dry a room where water flooded in through the walls and it was amazing how much water it took out.

So you think she can rent it for a short period?

again, pretty sure if OP had the money for that, she'd switch the heating on!

The reason you didn't used to get condensation on the walls was because you had single glazing so the windows were considerably colder than the walls. If you have double glazing the walls and windows are often around the same temperature, not cold enough for the condensation to freeze, but cold enough for it to settle on both surfaces. @Zosime @MrsCarson @TheOrigRights

True! There was most definitely "ventilation" from the windows. Brrrrr.

www.qvcuk.com/MeacoDry-ABC-12L-Dehumidifier.product.808475.html?irgwc=1&cm_mmc=affiliate--Genie%20Shopping--ONLINE_TRACKING_LINK-_-mediapartner&irclickid=yiT3%3AR389xyNR3JQFiSrBVzXUkA21MWthRy9zA0&

This dehumidifiers is meant to be good and is not extortionate.

www.airconcentre.co.uk/products/devola-20l-compressor-dehumidifier-with-hepa-filter-dv20l

Costs about 12p/hour to run on full whack, less on laundry mode etc

Code DEV10 at checkout should give you a discount, so under £135 all in inc delivery - £148.95 if the code doesn't work. Might not help the OP, but could be useful to someone else.

It really is shit we are a 2 income household currently using 10 to 12 pounds a day in a draughty house it's so ridiculous that to keep it warm and comfortable we would have to do about 20. That's 600 a month. OP how bad are your finances do you have any credit if you went over for it to come out of. It is due to warm up next week keep strong.

If the water is actually running down the walls it sounds more like water ingress that condensation.
I have lived in plenty of houses without heating and whilst there was frost on the windows there was never water running down walls. I did buy a house with water running down the walls and it was ingress through porous brickwork mainly due to the chimney.
places where water gets in are gutters, chimney, porous brick work, render, cracked or missing roof tiles, old roof felt, and single skin walls. Houses that have been tanked to eliminate damp often have huge damp issues. You can probably find the cause yourself if you have a good look.