Damp in house?

[mumtobee22]

We've recently moved house (rented) . The last people who lived in the house drained the oil out of the tank and it took us a while moving in so there was no heat on. We turn it on everyday now but. But every morning the windows are soaking with condensation, there is slight black mould on the windows, slight puddles, bed covers feel damp and cold to touch, sofa etc. walls and floor feels very cold even with heat on a lot! Clothes in wardrobe are damp and cold... any ideas how we can fix this...

I’m no expert but I think you need to both heat and ventilate.

So windows open all around the house several times a day, even if it’s cold out.

Get a dehumidifier going, don’t hang wet washing, use all your extractor fans and have the heating on for a while daily too until it balances out.

Oh and get one of those window vacs.

Are you ventilating?

Yes we ventilate open windows every single day, the windows are really really old.

Ventilation isn't going to help much if the outside humidity is high and the temperature inside is similar to outside - it's very wet outside at the moment in my area. If you ventilate too much all it will do is cost loads in heating.

I would close the windows and heat to about 20C because that is a good temperature for dehumidifiers to work at. Get a dehumidifier and probably 2 and have them going full on. I would also get some humidity meters for the rooms.

Whatever you do don't add in humidity while you are trying to reduce it in the house, so drying clothes on radiators, boiling pans etc don't do that - put lids on them at the very least and use extraction to pull the humid air out of the kitchen.

For bathrooms always try to get rid of the water after you generate it. So use one of those rubber things to push water off the shower covers and bath and tray and down the plughole after you have used it. Anything that spreads water over a large surface area is going to add to the humidity as it evaporates and dries, so remove it before it can. Use the extraction fans to push moisture laden steam outside. It will also stop your shower screens marking up from hard water which is an added bonus.

Basically you need a war on humidity. It will take some time, but you will get there eventually. You can do it room by room if you want. For example in my house I did the bedrooms first with the dehumidifier, then kept the doors closed. I went round the house room by room lowering the humidity. It can take time because if the house is very damp everything will retain water, the walls, furniture etc, and it literally needs to be sucked out by the dehumidifier.

That's great thank you. Did you buy a dear demudifier or one of them cheap ones🙈

Sorry I bought the expensive one - Meaco. But it is great. As a plus they can also help dry washing cheaper than a tumble drier, although using them to do that when your problem is high humidity is probably not a good idea.

If you are on a budget it is worth considering the amount of electricity they use because when you run them 24/7 they do eat some up, so watch your leccy usage.

Maybe you have some friends you could borrow one off. Or you could hire one - expensive but very effective.

You have to look at it as kind of a spending money to save money, because if your house is drier, you can run it at a lower temperature, which saves on heating costs. I run my house quite low in temperature and don't use the CH much but it always feels OK because of the low humidity. For some reason cold dry houses are easier to live in for most people than warmer damp ones. Not sure about the scientific explanation for this but it works for me.

We have this https://www.appliancesdirect.co.uk/p/meacodry-abc10lb/meaco-meacodryabc10lb-dehumidifier?refsource=apadwords&mkwid=_dc&pcrid=&pkw=&pmt=&slid=&pgrid=&ptaid=&cpgnid=17997676059&channel=&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkaPfqb3wgQMVDIloCR2vTgTMEAQYBCABEgKoZ_D_BwE.

we dont use it much, only in the utility to dry clothes. But they do suck out an incredible amount of moisture. You might need to run it a lot at first to dry the house out.

Ah ours is the 12L one ,not the 10

Dehumidifier and a karcher window vac are your friends for wet windows like this. Don’t waste your money on the plastic boxes with beads in, you need the real dealx

You need to wipe off any condensation before it turns to mould. The mould, clean off wearing gloves and bleach. Then heat and ventilate as much as possible. If you can get a dehumidifier that will definitely help.

That’s condensation no where for the damp air to go ventilate house pop your heating on but you could do with having a positive air unit fitted will solve the problem without having to heat or open any windows ! Get your landlord to get someone in for a quote x

You get your landlord to fix it. If they don't then you get in touch with environmental health at your local council.