Talk to me about condensation

[HeyMacWey]

Since autumn has appeared overnight I woke up this morning to find condensation on all the windows.

How can I minimise it?

Central heating is not yet on. House is double glazed bar two windows and generally warm in the mornings.

Have a woodburner and the last few days have been putting it on about 2ish and then putting load of coal on at about 5pm so it simmers gently all evening and ensures that it's warm when dh gets in about 11ish.

Today I've kept the upstairs windows open a few cm to keep air flowing to see if that makes a difference.

Should I keep them open all night?

Clothes have been line dried and then finished off on an airer in the bathroom with the extractor on (door closed).

I've been squeegeeing the water off first thing and then noticed condensation building up on the unglazed windows when it gets dark.

Should I put the central heating on for an hour or would that not make a difference?

Any tips most welcome

if you have to drape wet washing inside your home, do it in the bathroom with the extractor fan running and the door and window shut, so it will take out the water vapour, and the suction will prevent it drifting around the home.

A typical extractor fan runs for about 50 hours on 14p worth of electricity.

As others have suggested consider a dehumidifier. But I think it needs to be a good one! If you can afford it I'd recommend something like my Ebac Z650E which was about 150 (I think!) a year ago. You need to shop around and read reviews but in the end I found buying direct from the manufacturer was the best and cheapest option.

I have a three bed mid-terrace and for the first month I had it on continuously and it extracted about 6 pints of water every couple of days; now I have set it on auto economy, but there are other settings. My model has easy access to the tank at the front which holds a full six pints and an indicator for when it needs emptying. It also looks pretty good! I put it in dining room because that was the dampest room but as the stairs go up from there it deals with the upper floor as well.

Are there any tips for bathroom mirrors too?

an effective extractor fan will keep down the steaminess. If the mirror is on an external wall which does not have CWI, it will be relatively cold. You might try putting a piece of expanded polystyrene between the mirror and the wall (it is easy to trim with scissors and you can buy it in packs of tiles or rolls from DIY and decorating places)

We have this problem. I NEED a window vac!

I could also use it to clean all the windows and mirrors and to get rid of the water in the bathroom.

It's my birthday soon...

I hate condensation as well. We try and reduce this by always making sure we have the windows open during or after a shower and opening the window towards the end of cooking a meal as saucepans are boiling away. If you have air vents, you could try leaving these open - although I admit I close mine when it's really cold or breezy. Another thing I do is always put my washing out (even if it's only out for a couple of hours) as the dampness will only go into the air inside the house.

We moved house in the summer and as our new house has newer double glazing, cavity wall insulation, we were hoping for less condensation - no chance. I think it's probably bad at the moment as we've had lots of rain (so lots of moisture outside) and the temperature is changing, so moist air hits cold surfaces. I have a weather gauge which measures the humidity levels inside and last week it was showing 76%, put it outside and it went up to 86%. Anyway, it's reduced now to 71% and I know from this monitor that the levels do go down in the winter.

Also drying clothes on airers/radiators creates an additional 8 lts of water in the air. As well as cooking and showering.

We have terrible condensation.

What I did last winter was put a disposable moisture catcher pot on each window.

Cleaned each window thoroughly using mould spray on the seals and sill.

Rub a decent quantity of washing up liquid on and don't wash it off.

Really helps. I had to repeat it every 2-3 weeks but better then wiping each morning.

We just bought a dehumidifier because one of the bedrooms was getting mould from condensation.

It is brilliant. The amount of water it extracts is quite amazing. Initially I bough a mini dehumidifier but it was not powerful enough so complete false economy. You need something decent to have enough power to properly do the job. Ours was £200ish but it got top marks on a dehumidifier review website.

On dry days we leave the windows open too. And I read somewhere bathroom door should be shit to stop the moisture travelling. So bathroom door closed and window open.

Whack a warm air humidifier intot he mix for children with colds/cough and the while upstairs is dripping wet! I just get cheap Alsi kitchen roll and wipe off the lot each morning and like today because I am working from home, all windows in all rooms have been open all day with me shut off downstairs so it does not get too cold.

Window condensation only happens if the inside window gets cold so that the water in the air condenses on it. With proper double/triple glazing the inside window pane should not get that cold.

I find that on the Continent, even in very cold mountain climates in Austria or Switzerland, the windows are so well insulated that there is no condensation. Think it is just a matter of window pane quality and lack of good double or triple glazing (as well as space between the panes).

I have double glazing but its pretty old so it is getting cold on the inner surface and so condensation appears. I bought a window vac last week and its very impressive. One double window will yield a whole waste water tank full.

So hopefully this will solve the problems I was having with water from the windows affecting the walls next to them as well. Fed up with the thought of wringing out a cloth and then the water from it being left to dry going into the air again.

I have 2 kids on CPAP, and their machines have humidifiers. So lovely moist air for them, but also for the room. HAve to dry off their windows every morning. Nowt we can do about that I suspect. Any advice wecome.

BUT but but my question to anyone who knows: is all that condensation bad for their room?

I always thought that condensation in itself is not dangerous, its the mould that forms due to the condensation that is dangerous to respiration.

condensation on glass is much more common, because the glass is always coldest.

Condensation on walls is worse. because it is likely to soak in and develop mould. Modern walls with CWI should not normally be cold enough for this, except perhaps in unheated rooms or behind furniture.

Even new dg will get misty or wet, if the humidity in the room is high enough. The temperature of the glass is always going to be somewhere between room temperature and outdoor temperature, so is going to be colder than the air, which is all you need for condensation.

Funnily enough I was going to do a post about condensation today, I wondered about trying mini moisture absorbers in each room that's a problem - robert dyas sell them - has anyone tried them or is a dehumidifier better?

Dehumidifiers (varying with size/power) can collect litres of water in a day.

The little crystal absorbers collect spoonfuls.

PigletJohn - You mentioned up thread about sniffing the floorboards. I think we have bare earth under our floor (house is about 100 years old) and the downstairs tends to smell musty and damp. I think this is coming from the floor but no one else seems to notice. Do you have any advice on what to look out for or any solutions. Thanks in advance.

We used to have this problem in a ground floor flat which we own and let out. It had single glazed windows, and the problem was not solved until we replaced them all with good quality double glazed units with air vents in the tops of the frames. The windows couldn't always be left open regularly each day because tenants went out to work and doing so would therefore be a security risk on the ground floor.

I would be tempted to replace the two single glazed windows you mention as soon as money allows, but until then I would say that a dehumidifier should help. Most washing can be finished off in a tumble dryer, but ensure that the dryer is either a condensing one or is properly vented outside if it isn't. Whichever type you have, opening a window whilst it is running is still best because some steam still escapes whatever.

Have the kitchen window ajar when you are cooking too, so that you minimise how much the steam from a simmering saucepan could add to the problem.

sniff in enough places, and poke it with your finger, so see how damp it is. It should not be noticeably damp, just like a patch of earth that has not been rained on for 50 years. If it is noticeably damp, water must be getting in, or you have a high water table (dig a hole in the garden and see if it fills up with water). Drains usually crack or break after 50 years or so, and waterpipes leak.

Generally, plenty of airbricks that have not been blocked up, on each exposed wall of the house, with give a through airflow sufficient to ventilate out the water vapour that evaporates off the soil.

Very often someone has raised the ground level since the house was built, or has built a porch, extension or decking that blocks the airbricks. A builder can easily add more. One every two metres along the wall is quite usual.

Thank you. Will have a good poke around. We have air bricks and at least on the outside they are clear will check them on the inside under the floor just in case that is the problem.

We get condensation on our bedroom window, but we always sleep with the windows and door open.

Just to add, make sure you use the trickle vents on the window if they have them. I didn't realise we had them for a year but now I use them the water on the glass is still there in the morning but has reduced quite a bit I think.