Help! Never ending condensation

[jacketpotatobeansandcheese]

Hi,

Ever since we moved to our house a few years ago, we have had problems with condensation throughout the house over the winter. It's driving me mad!

We have a dehumidifier which isn't helping, we've insulated the loft hatch and we've recently added trickle vents to the windows. We don't tend to dry clothes in the house Etc. Nothing helps!

Before I completely lose my mind, I was wondering if anybody had any other ideas/suggestions?

Thanks

Karcher window vac every day. Make sure your bathroom & kitchen are well ventilated & keep doors closed. Make sure lids on pans.
Make sure your heating is appropriately set.

Get a damp survey done?

This isn't normal and means damp is coming in somewhere, either through the roof (most likely) rising damp (least likely if it's less than 100 years old as it should have a dpc) or penetrating damp (check leaking gutters/drainpipes, remove ivy from the outside).

Have you bought or is it rented? If it's a private rental, just aim to move when your six months is up (even if this is a hassle) if council, complain, complain, complain till they do something.

Thanks for that Cold. The heating might be something to look at then. Because every pin the house works shifts we tend to just flick the heating on as and when rather than set a timer.

Is that** what you mean? Set a timer for the heating to come on at a certain time each night?

Thanks Barbara. I'll look into that. The house is 50's/60's build.

I’m in a 60s house as well and my windows are dripping with water every morning. Humidity in the house is normal... getting my windows replaced in a months time (they really are well overdue to be replaced!), hoping that’ll fix the problem.

Second coldhands advice. Make sure everyone closes the door after showering, and opens the window for a good 20 mins or so.

If there is no sign of damp getting in through the walls or roof, then maybe worth checking the floor (we had damp evaporating from wet ground under the floorboards, into the house - even though the floorboards themselves were dry)

(NB re the walls - do you know if they are insulated? Done well, cavity insulation should make walls warmer and reduce condensation, but sometimes it is done badly, or put in to badly maintained walls or in houses in exposed places (eg facing the sea or on hilltops) and then it can actually track damp into the house. But usually you would see signs of that eg staining on the paintwork or wallpaper etc.)

Trickle vents on their own don't usually allow enough air movement to remove the moisture created by day to day life. Constant-running low power fans in bathroom and kitchen do a better job and a good installer will make a calculation to ensure it is sized properly for your house, number of people living there etc. (The constant running sort are much quieter than the ones that just go on for 10 mins or so after a shower, but because they run for many many times longer, they move a lot more air altogether.) You can even get ones that turn themselves up and down depending how damp the air in the house is at that time.

And also I agree with the advice to keep the heat on low at least, for a decent set period every day, as the colder the surfaces, the more condensation will form. (This is more relevant on walls than windows, unless you have high quality double gazing (or even triple glazing!) some condensation on windows is inevitable in cold weather. Mopping or vaccing it off will certainly help, and keeps the mould down too.

Best of luck, it's horrible, and not healthy either - I hope you manage to sort it.

Second the window vac. Removing the water from the system is best of all. I’m not sure I agree that it has to signify something wrong with the house - our house is just old and has single glazing which I think is the source of much of the issue. That and some idiot has painted most of the windows shut at some point

have you got a water meter?

Watching with interest as we are having a new “constantly on” fan plus trickle vents installed next week.

Is the dehumidifier a proper, powerful, electric one, running constantly all day, with windows closed, toilet lids down etc? We have two going and they completely solve the problems you describe. We pour lots of water out of them each day.

Thanks everyone, I appreciate all the advice.
We have a window vac, so I'll be getting that out again tomorrow!

We have an Ebac dehumidifier, so it's a decent brand.

We do generally keep the windows closed other than airing bedrooms briefly in the morning.

Can I ask how a water meter (we don't have a meter we have access to) and closed toilet lid help please?

A water meter can identify a leak delivering unwanted water into your home.

The closed toilet lids just mean that whilst the dehumidifiers are running, they are drawing moisture from the damp air where it's needed, rather than standing water (from toilets.) Also be careful not to leave a washing up bowl with water in for the same reason. Yes, always open windows first thing for a good airing, then close and set dehumidifier going all day.

The only thing that fixed condensation on the inside of my windows every morning was replacing the windows with triple glazed. Not a single drop of condensTion on them since

Thanks everyone for the good advice. The dehumidifier is really near the toilet so I'll try closing the lid.

Op we had this: Remcon in a rental property with lots of laundry.

It was brilliant.

I have the exact same problem OP so reading this thread with interest / hope!

I’ve purchased a karcher window vac but accept this is not a solution.

Our windows need replacing, so I’m tempted to try triple glazing.

@UnexpectedItemInShaggingArea did you fit the unit yourself?

That looks great Unexpected. Does that work still if bedrooms doors are closed overnight for example?

That looks like a brilliant device. Good ventilation is the key, I think.

Our windows are all pretty good, but for us the damp settles on cold spots on the walls, leading to mould if we don't stay on top of it. We tend to leave the heating on low all the time, as that does seem to help.

The doors should be left open for as much as possible, if they're closed overnight you should try to keep them open during the day, even just a little.

And yes, my DH fitted it. Admittedly he's pretty handy but it wasn't that tricky.

Look up Nuaire or environvent positive pressure units - similar to what was linked above. Probably around £650 supplied & fit or cheaper if you fit yourself. Great bits of kit and will almost certainly solve your problem.

We've got triple glazed new windows fitted, I think it's made the condensation in our bedroom worse. I use a window vac each day to keep on top of it.

We've had a similar problem, along with mould forming on the walls of our bedroom (presumably most condensation forms in that room because two people are exhaling all night.

We had a survey done of where and how heat is leaving the house. The results that we don't have damp, thank goodness, but most heat is escaping via the walls, not actually the windows. The solution is to get the walls fully insulated next year - in our case with fire-resistant cladding. We already have double glazing - getting them replaced with triple glazing would be the step after that.

The problem is ultimately too great a difference (in winter mainly) between the outside and inside temperatures combined with. poor insulation.

Until we can get the insulation work done we're relying on plug-in dehumidifiers, but they're clearly a temporary fix to stop mould returning to the walls.

@Mentounasc who did your survey / how did you find someone who does that? Thanks