Double glazing - do you still get condensation?

[sammydavis]

Trying to get a handle on whether 'modern' double glazing (as opposed to say 10-20year old double glazing, sash windows, crittall windows, single glazing etc) is a barrier to condensation - leaving aside clothes on radiators, ventilation, water from breathing, bathing, drinking and general existing.

How old is your double glazing and do you still have to wipe up condensation in this weather?

Anyone beaten condensation and would attribute it to new double glazing? Which brand or product did you go for?

Anyone find it didn't make a difference?

look inside and behind large furniture which is against an outside wall. .

behind kitchen cabinets and the pipes

at the top edges and corners of upstairs wall and ceilings

Especially look at the wall under your leaking gutter

also look in the loft and see if water is condensing on the felt under the tiles, or on any cold tanks or pipes

If you have any holes in the ceilings for downlighters, water vapour will rise up through them.

TBH upvc windows are one of the safest places for condensation to alight. So much better than wooden furniture or the backs of picture frames or floorboards under the bath

Poltergoose - you don't want to answer the question I asked - that's fine.

You want to tell me what causes condensation - I know what causes condensation.

Please don't sift and edit the hundreds of words I spent explaining this to you and then re-frame my question to try and highlight to anyone interested that sammydavis is not as clever as clever Poltergoose.

Thank you PigletJohn -I have said many times now I don't want to know any more about the causes of condensation.

I have checked through all of the causes and in many homes there will still continue to be a residual persistent problem amount of condensation despite there being no water leak, no wet clothes on raditors no breathing no batsh and despite the presence of, extractor fans, good ventilation.

This is the nature of the housing stock in this climate in this country

I want to know whether new double glazing has made a difference to the amount of condensation you experience.

From my very first OP - right at the top of this page - I made this clear - please read it again if you are still in doubt

Despite my clarity, many posters insisted on giving me the causes of condensation again and again and again and were clearly not happy that I was not grateful for the answers to a different question than the one asked.

I appreciate the intentions were good but the question was deliberately worded to focus the answer on the effect of new double glazing on condensation.

Some people saw this easily and gave appropriate answers directly related to the question.

I am not saying I don't want to know the causes of condensation in order to deliberately snub my nose and spite people.
I am not saying it because I am an ignorant fool who wants to spend £5k on new windows only to realise I should have removed my wet towels from the radiator and saved myself a packet.
I am not saying it because I have taken a personal dislike to anyone or because I have any axes to grind or vendettas to pursue

I am saying I do not want to know the causes of condensation because what I in fact want to know is whether new double glazing made any difference to condensation in other peoples houses.

That's the question.

Does anybody know if regularly taking aspirin has a long term effect on heart disease?

I do not want to know the causes of heart disease.

Crikey.

Yes or no - which answer will get you off my case?

My new 5year-old double-glazing which replaced 40 year-old, ridding me of the terrible condensation I had in my bedroom < but creating condensation on the outside of the window> were from Anglian.

Hi Polter (I'm not speaking to Sammy any more)

I have a UK house, and in cold weather, I get condensation on the smaller bedroom windows if windows and door are both shut. In cold weather I get temporary mist on the bathroom window while running a bath, but it is soon gone thanks to the extractor. I don't get condensation in any other room. Two of us breathe, heavily from time to time, but no wet washing is ever draped around the house.

In my other (now sold) empty house, with nobody breathing, I have never seen any condensation or damp anywhere, except following a water leak or replastering, regardless of weather and heating patterns.

The homes where I have seen severe condensation have always been those where people drape wet washing around their homes and over radiators.

PigletJohn - I run a business from home so I use inordinate amounts of hot water for washing up, loads of cooking with pans, lots of washing machine loads and lots of people breathing.

We have some condensation on the windows upstairs in the morning & after a bath

So I know my problem is lack of extraction in the bathroom - but we can't access the roof or bathroom window from the outside & we are attempting some some of mechanical extraction - but it's tricky.....venting to the loft probably won't help

Our only other place of condensation is the front door early morning again - it's wooden, badly fitted and has cracks where the panels fit together & I know what the solution to that is; but I'm not prepared to replace until we sort the MV in the bathroom

Aspirin therapy is good for people who have had a TIA or an MI or with coranary heart disease. It can reduce heart damage, reduce the chance of another MI and reduce the chance of a TIA. You have to weigh up the dangers of stomach ulcers.

HTH.

Our DG is 5 years old & we get condensation, mostly in one type of room.

It's not where we dry the clothes on radiators, or where the cat water bowls are, or near the toilets, or near the standing water left in the washing up bowl.

It's in the bedrooms: because people breathe out all night! The nerve of them.

In answer to your question- double glazing may mean that water vapour in your home does not condense on the windows. However, if you do not address the source of the water vapour, in all likelihood this will just condense elsewhere.

By the way, in my experience, it is not the nature of the housing stock in Britain.

I don't understand why you are being so rude when people have only tried to help you. It's not as simple as yes or no.

KatyMac

time you bought a dishweasher, to cut down on water and energy, and a cooker extraction hood.

can you, or someone on a ladder, reach the outside wall of the bathroom? Is it a house or a flat? It is possible to fit a duct and grille from the inside, but I don't know how good the grilles are. Not suitable if bits of brick might fall on someone's head.

You can duct through the loft and exhaust the duct through the eaves, or cut a hole in a gable wall. It is possible to vent through the roof, but you need a roofer or it will leak.

If you get a Core Drill from a tool hire shop you can cut the holes for lots of ducts on the same day. You will enjoy it, but don't work off a ladder, they are very heavy and powerful. You can drill from inside.

Thanks PigletJohn - the dishwasher died in the flood last November & is on 'saving up for' & the bathroom wall/window is above a large conservatory....which can't be climbed on & I don't want to drop a brick through it either

It's the loft/eaves thing I need to get my head around - in my last house a positive flow ventilation system worked wonders but the ceilings were higher & I didn't notice and cold air coming in....I think I might in this house

Hmm, that would have to be above the window I guess - I'd worry about drilling the home I think

there would be a lintel above the window, don't drill there.

I suppose you could put it to one side (not directly above a bath or shower)

or I think use a ducted one in the loft and let the duct exit where it's not above the conservatory

Or, you could drill through the wall above the conservatory, and put a ladder through the hole made by the falling brick

I think either a vent into the loft or a positive flow ventilation system

We'll see

We're really struggling with condensation in upstairs rooms. I have a tumble drier so don't have any wet washing in the house, I have a dehumidifier on and have my bedroom window ajar, yet on cold mornings I have a huge bay window streaming with condensation. We've started to get mould on the celiling of the bay window too.
Where can all of the moisture be coming from? Is it jst because we have huge windows? They practically go the width of the external wall. Could the felt on top of the bay window need replacing? Would that have any effect? I just can't understand where all the moisture is coming from

Until recently I have always lived in homes with double glazing, never new houses though. My past 3 houses have been 90-150 years old. I now live in a 30's semi with original windows at the front and old aluminium (I think!) double glazing at the back. The old double glazing gets a tiny bit of condensation on cold mornings, the original wooden windows are streaming every morning, if we don't keep the heating on overnight the water is dripping off the window sills onto the carpet below, it is horrendous! We moved here to save £ and I think the £200pcm saving will be completely over ridden by the gas bill as the boiler is so old and the windows so draughty, my old house was gorgeous and this one is an 80's monstrosity.....wahhhh

GentlyGentlyOhDear

if you are already ventilating, and controlling the usual sources of condensation then it might be that you have an additional, less common source of moisture in your home.

this often a plumbing or rainwater leak, it might be from a pipe under the floor such as a radiator pipe of a leaky main, or from an appliance or under the bath or shower.

It could well be felt on top of the bay window. felt does not last long. See if you can get lead or EDPM (rubber). If it has been leaking you will need to replace the board, preferably in WBP ply.

If you tape a piece of clear plastic tightly to a wall or ceiling, you will see if it is condensation (wet on the room side) or penetrating (water on the wall side).

How old is your house, and have you got a water meter? meters show up leaks as they never stop turning.

Thanks for reply.
It's a 1950s semi. We do have a meter so will check it out. The house was empty for 18months before we moved in - would that make a difference? And the seal on a couple of the panes has gone - would that make a difference?
I'll get the bath panel out to check under it as the window in there is always condensed (when nothing has been on).

Since you're on the thread - I'll hijack and ask a quick boiler question - ours is about 10 years old and every few months we get a funny smell coming from the boiler cupboard that lasts a few hours and then goes. It's like a garlic/cooking vegetable smell. We had a boiler engineer out who cleaned and seviced it all and found nothing (he suggested maybe a dead mouse!!) and we had National Grid out to check for leaks and were given the all clear. Any ideas? The house was rewired when we moved in so don't think it is an electrical issue.

might poss be a leak

bleed a radiator onto a bit of kitchen towel and sniff it, see if it's the same.

hot electrical accessories smell fishy. could it be that?

It's not fishy, more like a roast dinner type smell. Will bleed a radiator and see. If it does smell the same then does that mean there is a leak somewhere in the system? Would that then require a plumber to locate and sort?

Busy weekend of diy for me my DH!