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

take a look at your extractors. Verify that the grilles are not clogged with fluff and cobwebs.

If they are in the ceiling I would expect them to be pretty effective. On a frosty day you can probably see steam gushing out of them above the roof. The loft should be cold, dry and draughty. No condensation on the felt or undertile board even on a cold night. Keep the bathroom door and window closed while the fans are running, the suction will prevent steam drifting round the house.

Have a look to see what they look like. The duct is probably 4" and the fan enclosure might be 8" diameter.

You have quite a modern house so probably have DPM under the floor, and probably not many leaks.

Do you drape wet washing around?

A carpenter or handyman can fit these concealed door closers Thet fir in the edge of the door between the hinges.

The fan probably has a 20 minute run-on timer. If not, it may have an adjustment, or you can fit a better one, but look at the old one first. See if you recognise it here The small cheap 80 cu.m/hr are no good, look at a 240 cu.m/hr one.

Presumably you do not use bottled or flueless gas heaters.

"They fit" in the edge of the door.

Yes to everything in your reply, huge square ducts in the ceilings.

Loft is freezing and draughty. You can see your breath up there on a cold day.

Never seen steam out of the vents.

Washing is dried in the garage in a condenser. Separate building. Any delicates are done in the utility room on a drier, separate enough to the house and the window in there opened while the internal door shut.

Nothing hung on radiators - upsets my OCD and makes my teeth itch

I can't see what the trouble is then.

Is it a timber-framed house, or brick/stone and block with insulated cavity walls?

Do your neighbours have the same trouble?

Do you have a water meter?

p.s.

feel the ducts running through the loft, while the fan is running, on a cold day. It should be warmer from the warm air flowing through it.

Find some old tramp or other person who smokes cigarettes, and ask them to stand under a ceiling grille. Does it visibly whisk the smoke away?

So to sum up.
I need a dehumidifier
A window vac
Extractor fan in bathroom (will any one do?)
Possibly something called a heat recovery system in the loft.

This thread is awesome.
makes plans to rob the nearest bank to afford all this

no, you need to stop to breathe and sweat and cook and wash

sorted :o

FYI we got an EBAC 2650e 18L dehumidifier.
It says it does 4 bed houses but not sure. It's small. Quiet (well I can sleep through it) and portable so I put it on max for a couple of days or so in each room initially till it stopped filling up at speed. (In theory it should have been possible to put it somewhere central and leave it but I got a kick out of emptying it so moving it to worst areas was great!)
Not sure how it would cope with major problems but it solved ours. Damp feeling and endless condensation gone!
Good luck. Damp is horrible. And makes this time of year really horrible.

Wonders what DH will say to the smoking tramp in the bathroom. Not sure 'Mumsnet made me do it' will cut the mustard.

We can't have CWI, not sure why but due to the house construction. Perhaps we already have it? No water meter in Scotland.

Thank you for all the helpful replies. New windows may solve one problem and make it slightly warmer. Dehumidifier or window vac and a new house rule - everybody breath less please!

Thanks juggling. I'm going to go for just the dehumidifier. The window vac just hides the problem, and requires daily effort. Off to find a voucher code....

"We can't have CWI, not sure why but due to the house construction"

might be timber framed. If not you may well have it. Bang a wall on the inside of the house. Is it like concrete, or hollow like a box?

@ cost of dehumidifier!

Yy to breathing a lot less and takeaways to reduce cooking.

Thanks MN.

Hollow :)

Now being eyed suspiciously by my family.

I think it must be timber. Roof space is a spiders web of wooden struts.

modern roofs are (almost) always made with trussed rafters in a "W" shape.

It sounds hollow so it will be timber frame with insulation behind the plasterboard. That's why it doesn't hold heat, it has low thermal mass. This also means it will heat up quickly from cold.

If you don't already have one, you might consider a programmable wall thermostat such as a Honeywell CM907, to maintain a night-time temperature of, say, 15C overnight, it will be adequate while you are in bed.

If you think you might need a dehumidifier, then you almost certainly do.

We have an Ebac Amazon 15. It's donkey's years old and still going strong. Now we've had the extension built, it lives out there with the laundry and we're thinking of getting another one for upstairs.

But I think you should start with ventilation, and not draping washing indoors, before you look at dehumidifiers.

It is sadly very common to find that the people with mouldy walls keep their windows firmly shut, and their wet washing draped on the radiators.

I have horrendous mould problems due to condensation. I live in a new build that is now 4 years old. It's so bad now that you can smell it as soon as you enter! I have it in all the rooms but my bedroom is worst. I have had to throw out half my clothes and shoes that smell of mildew. I have to bleach it off the back of the wardrobe and all the furniture every couple if weeks! I live in a ground floor flat and I don't have any windows! Every room has a patio door with a tiny air vent. Obviously I can't leave the doors open to ventilate! I have a 4 year old and am now worried about the health risk. Help ! It's making me miserable!

do you have wet washing inside?

Does the bathroom have an extractor?

With patio doors and no windows, which country are you in?

moon
try opening the windows/doors mornings and evenings as far as you can for 10 min or so. park dc in front of the telly if need be, but at 4 I would expect dc to be srnsible enough not to do (too) silly things.

I do have wet washing as I have nowhere else to dry it! I have extractor fans in both ensuite and main bathroom but funny enough the main bathroom is the only place without mould! I live in newhall which is supposed to be Eco friendly new development just outside Harlow in Essex. I'm thinking I should look at the buildings guarantee as I think there must be a defect with the building considering I have no windows! I do try and open doors every day for a bit but it's not enough. I live in a shared ownership and the housing association don't seem to want to help!

are the doors turn&tilt?
if yes it should be easy to have them open whilst dc is about.

No they are not. Just normal doors

The wet washing will contribute a large amount of water to the air inside the flat. With the windows closed it will stay there and form condensation, damp and mould.

If a tumble drier is too expensive, make use of the bathroom extractor. Put the wet washing on an airer, or on a line over the bath. Leave the extractor running (it will cost about 14p in 50 hours running) and the bathromm door closed This will prevent the water vapour drifting round your home.