Air Vents and Condensation

[javierbademswife]

We are having a problem with black mould on the walls of our house, in particular on the wall's of my son's bedroom. I understand that black mould is caused by condensation and I know that increasing ventilation and not hanging damp clothes out to dry will help improve the situation, but this is quite hard to do in the winter, in a fairly small house with few places to hang clothes. I am looking at air vents online and finding myself quite confused. There seem to be some vents that are run by electricity - I worry that these might be noisy and liable to break down. And then there are the basic 'grid' types which look simpler and cheaper - but I worry that they would be too draughty/noisy. Does any one have any recommendations on this? Thanks!

would it not be cheaper and easier to buy a tumble dryer?

heat the house and open all windows as far as they go a few times a day for a few minutes.

I'm not sure that a tumble drier would be cheaper in the long run energy-wise - maybe I'm wrong - will do some research.

Will start opening windows a bit more frequently ..... Brrrr...

Any opinions on vents?

Thanks!

Don't know if all this is possible, but:

1. extractor fan in kitchen and bathroom. (electric, needs professional installation)
2. either open windows every day without fail, or get trickle vents installed in your windows, these mean there is a tiny draught through the top of the window all the time - you don't notice it, but it provides ventilation.
3. wipe up condensation on windows or windowsills every day
4. dry clothes in one room with heating on and window ajar. Or buy the heated clothes rack from lakeland and put that in one room with door closed and open window. Or get tumble drier (but I hate doing my clothes in TD so I don't do this) Or dry washing outside.

It is hard but a load of washing put litres of water into your house. We have a utility roo, we installed an exptractor fan and have the door closed, the radiator up and the fan on. It keeps all the damp air in there. 5, Use detol mould killer on the mould and regularly clean it off.

BTW - it costs more to heat up a house full of damp air than a house full of dry air, and it reaches the heat needed faster. So fling the windows open for 15 minutes, then close them and switch on heating shouldn't cost you more.

The best and cheapest thing you could do is open the windows. I know it's cold but it's just got to be done. I'm currently sitting here cold and with very cold hands because I've got windows open to offset the two loads of washing currently drying in the living room. We have a fairly large house so there's more space for the damp air to dissipate and I do use the tumble dryer sometimes but I know we would still have mould if I wasn't airing the place every day. For your son's room, surely you can open the window and give it a good airing when he is not in there? Then when evening comes the heating will just warm it up?

Ok - nonsense - rewrite:
The house reaches the desired temperature faster when air is dry.

... and inbetween airings you have a nice cosy undrafty house :)

Very helpful suggestions - thank you :)

I think I am going to look into better extractors for the bathroom and kitchen (the ones we have do sod all as far as I can tell). I am going to look into one that adjusts to the level of humidity in the bathroom and then try and just dry the clothes in there with the door closed. Will also start throwing open the windows every day (I admit it, I am a total wuss when it comes to a bit of cold air).

Unfortunately a utility area is just not possible, no room.

an ordinary tumble drier costs electricity between about 30p (a load of synthetics) and 60p (a load of cotton towels).

If you drape wet washing around the house you are making it just as wet as if you threw a bucket of water on the wall.

If you have to dry indoors, get an effective extractor fan in the bathroom, and leave it running, door and window closed, with a line or rack over the bath. The extractor will take the water vapour away and prevent it drifting round your home.

Thanks.

Quick question about tumble driers. We have no room for a separate tumble drier so would need to get a washer drier. Is it possible to get one with a vent taking the warmth/moisture directly outside? I have not seen any washer driers that do this - otherwise, would it not directly contribute towards condensation itself? Hope that makes sense :/

separates are better. Could you stack a drier on your washer? Or put it in a different room?

Unfortunately we have very little space, no spare bedroom/study/garage. Not an option to stack. Could possibly squeeze a drier into the cupboard under the stairs as it's on an outside wall (for vent) but then we would lose tons of storage space! I do a lot of washing - I have two kids one of them a very enthusiastic (and muddy) football player...

Nobody has mentioned condensers yet. I haven't got one but I notice they are mentioned a lot here on Mumsnet and lots of people think very highly of them (they are not tumble dryers).

Sorry I used the wrong word. It's a de-humidier.

i think finding a wet washing solution would help you enormously.

I am not a fan of washer driers, for 2 reasons.

1. they don't do well drying a whole wash load, so work best of you empty them and put in half a load then half a load.
2. All the time they are drying, you can't wash another load, which is a problem if you have a lots of washing.

TD can be 2 types, one needs an outside vent the others are condenser dryers they have a unit that catches the water in a container which you empty down the sink

I had wondered about dehumidifiers. I have bad memories of living in a very damp flat in my twenties. The landlord gave us a dehumidifier which was very noisy - and didn't seem to make a huge amount of difference. Maybe they have come on since then. Any one got any recs on these?

I think I will look into putting a trickle vent on ds's window and hold off on anything more expensive for the time being. Definitely need to go with more open windows.

A wet washing solution is definitely needed. I'd love to get a proper tumble drier instead of washer drier. Just not sure how to work out the space issue.

Thanks for all the great solutions, this is really helping me.

I've got the same problem and got a Meaco dehumidifier from John Lewis and it's fab. No more mould or wet windows!

It's not noisy, it does hum away but at night I put in on its lowest setting and it comes on quietly, intermittently during the night. I've placed it on my landing as my sons room was also the worst room and it doesn't bother any of us.

I tried opening windows all day and had a vent fitted in his room. None of this helped.

I'd highly recommend a dehumidifier!

There is also a setting for drying washing on mine. It helps speed up drying time as well as removing the moisture from the air!

That 's very interesting - do you know if it is particularly expensive to run energy-wise?

Sorry for the endless questions - I feel like I am driving myself slightly mad over this one..

If I was to get a condenser tumble drier and put it in our cupboard under the stairs would I need any additional ventilation in the cupboard?

Another vote for a dehumidifier, I know someone who bought one a week ago and has already emptied 8 pints of water from it. Small one bed flat...

I haven't noticed any increase in my bills since I've been using it but to be honest, I'm not very vigilant when it comes to checking my bills. I think I read somewhere they cost 3p per day to run (but you may want to double check yourself)

I couldn't believe how much water we emptied when we first got it, it filled the tank every day for the first week or so. Now I only have to empty it once a week or so!

Thanks everyone! Very helpful :)

We have quite bad condensation and use two Ebac dehumidifiers (for a 3 bed semi) which really help. Highly recommend!