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Property/DIY

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Windows and condensation

29 replies

Dilbertian · 02/11/2021 07:52

We have the bedroom windows open pretty much all year round. Properly open in summer and warm weather, and just a crack the rest of the year unless it's freezing. They are double-glazed, and as much of the house as possible has been cavity wall insulated.

Every year from October/November, there starts to be condensation on the windows in the mornings. Sometimes there's so much we have to wipe the windowsills. It doesn't seem to make any difference whether or not we have the hearing on.

What can we do to prevent the condensation?

OP posts:
Ridingthegravytrain · 02/11/2021 07:54

I think you need a dehumidifier

Hopeisallineed · 02/11/2021 07:56

Trickle vents or dehumidifier?

Aqua55 · 02/11/2021 07:56

Dehumidifiers are crap compared to a positive input ventilation system.

user1495885821 · 02/11/2021 07:57

Breathe less?

PantsandBoots · 02/11/2021 08:03

I have the same question!
I wonder @pigletjohn can advise?

NekoShiro · 02/11/2021 08:25

Close the windows in winter and buy a dehumidifier unit, I just bought a Russel hob 10L and it's solved it for me. I'm also shocked at how much water it's pulling out the air and how much fresher the air in my home is now.

PlanDeRaccordement · 02/11/2021 08:27

That shouldn’t happen with double glazed windows.

Nemorth · 02/11/2021 08:42

We have double glazed Windows and it happens to us too.

It's just the warmer, damp air hitting the cold windows (even though they are double glazed)

I'm obsessive about doing the "right things" to deal with it but it still happens so I just wipe the windows down and keep the sills clear.

Right things = not drying washing on radiators, drying washing outside as much as possible, regularly airing the house, keeping the door closed when showering (and window open), special fan for bathroom, lids on pans when boiling, using a dehumidifier when I have to, etc, etc

It's just life.

We're in Scotland so the outside is pretty cool, but our heating (thermostat) didn't start clicking on till 1st November - that's how warm the house is. When it had clicked on, it's not been on for long to meet the set temp (18°c)

It's worse in bedrooms, where we sleep, doesn't happen downstairs at all.

So we'd have to stop breathing for it to stop happening!

Nemorth · 02/11/2021 08:43

Trickle vents are open and we often sleep with the windows "open locked" that helps most of all. Sometimes it's too cold/windy/noisy though.

PigletJohn · 02/11/2021 09:45

there are two things you can do:

reduce the amount of water going into the air

extract more of the warm damp air and replace it with dry, cool air*

For reducing the water, first thing is never to drape wet washing around the house or over radiators. This generates a huge amount of damp. If you can't afford to run a tumble drier, and have no outside space, rig a line in the bathroom, peg up your clothes and run the extractor fan, continuously, with the door and window closed.

Other ways to reduce water are to put lids on cooking pans and breathe less.

To remove the wet air from your home, ventilate it more. If you have trickle vents, use them. If not, open upstairs windows a crack. When you get up in the morning, throw back the covers and open the bedroom windows until after you have had breakfast and got dressed. By then any condensation on and around the windows is likely to have evaporated and blown away.

use an effective fan in the bvathroom, and run it, after baths and showers, until the room is properly dry.

*people think that outdoor air is cold and damp. but the way Relative Humidity works, cold air holds less water vapour than dry air. For example a bucket of sunny air in the Sahara holds more water than a bucket of drizzly air on Cairngorm.

If you don't have an effective bathroom fan, and cooker hood, extracting outside the house, and running reasonably quietly, that can be fixed. Modern fans can be very quiet, and use negligible electricity.

Hopeisallineed · 02/11/2021 10:10

‘Other ways to reduce water are to put lids on cooking pans and breathe less’
This might be tricky! 😂

Nemorth · 02/11/2021 11:36

One of my favourite things to do is get a "through draught" going, all windows open, doors propped open. @PigletJohn says it better when he calls it ventilating the house!

In winter I have to turn the thermostat way down or heating would click on.

In winter I have to convince the rest of the house to do it for 20 minutes or so but I love "changing the air over" GrinGrinGrinGrin

I know it won't work everywhere (noise, pollution etc) but those who can do it, should do it.

It's invigorating, healthy, no need for air fresheners, and fun (so windy here our pictures fall off the wall!)

I know. I'm eccentric.

AnitaMani · 02/11/2021 11:42

I had a positive input ventilation system fitted last year (old, cold, damp house) and it's definitely working. It's drying out damp and I have no wet windows.

Although I did learn that new builds often gave these systems fitted as standard as they are technically 'sealed' structures so they require proper ventilation.

AnitaMani · 02/11/2021 11:44

Also, the company who fitted it noted that because more people have been in the home than normal over the last two years, people have more condensation!

BlankTimes · 02/11/2021 12:18

A window vac will clear the condensation in seconds. wouldn't be without mine (Karcher)

TeaSoakedDisasterMagnet · 02/11/2021 12:36

I think also making sure you dry the windows each morning with a towel can help too. I went round with an old towel and dried all the windows and sills and then turned on the dehumidifier. It’s set on automatic and the humidity sensor says it’s at 51%humidity in the house but it’s still going.

Ihaventgottimeforthis · 02/11/2021 12:37

Window vac is my new morning routine! Old single glazed sashes and no tumble drier, lots of breathing.

We've got the Titan from Screwfix, 25 quid.

Salome61 · 02/11/2021 12:50

I moved into this bungalow in March and was upset to find the inside of the bay windows dripping with water earlier in the week.

I've done some research now and understand that it's warm air hitting the cold glass inside the room, the water in the air condenses into water. I've opened the tiny window a crack in both rooms now.

Thanks for the window vac idea, I used a whole kitchen towel!

Dilbertian · 02/11/2021 12:55

One of my favourite things to do is get a "through draught" going, all windows open, doors propped open. @PigletJohn says it better when he calls it ventilating the house!

We sleep with windows open a crack and doors open or ajar. The house is definitely well-ventilated (it as my parents would say: draughty from all the open windows!)

OP posts:
HuhWhatNow · 02/11/2021 13:12

We have a well ventilated house but I get quite cold at night so don't like the windows open. When we get up there is condensation all over the windows in my room.
So, I simply open them up and use the squeegee I keep beside them and wipe it off and it runs off outside. A quick wipe with a tissue along the bottom and thats's it. Done. No damp, no mould, no problem. One very small, 30 second daily solution.

dollsmouse8 · 02/11/2021 14:39

@BlankTimes I've just bought a window vac for the bathroom to help stop the mould, it's great.

dollsmouse8 · 02/11/2021 14:41

The window vac helps cut down on paper towel use, or having damp towels drying out and releasing the moisture into the house again.

Nemorth · 02/11/2021 15:07

@dollsmouse8

The window vac helps cut down on paper towel use, or having damp towels drying out and releasing the moisture into the house again.
This has just given me the reason for buying one. I've been avoiding it thinking my squeegee and towel were ok....

But the power needed? Argh. It's not a green choice is it. Argh.

mummabubs · 02/11/2021 15:17

We moved into our new house a few months ago, it's an 80s home with aluminium double glazed windows throughout. Since it started getting colder there's been so much condensation that we've had to use a Karcher vaccum and then wipe down with a cloth every morning. There's mould growing at the bottom of any sill we miss out and it grows quickly. I've never experienced anything to this degree so we've also got a dehumidifier running and I'll be reading this thread for advice, so thanks for starting it OP! Hope your windows become drier soon 😊

Ihaventgottimeforthis · 02/11/2021 15:24

We charge up our window vac during the day from our free solar energy.

Get on a renewable energy contract and charge up in conditions where energy supply is being delivered from 100% renewable sources, it's getting much easier nowadays.