Bathroom condensation/mould

charliez07 · 23 December 2008 at 12:38AM

Lennylegs wrote: »

Hi,

I'm hoping someone can help. We have a flat with a bathroom that is internal (no windows) It's about 1.75 metres wide by about 2.5 metres long. At present we only have a pull cord fan heater but are planning on gutting the bathroom and having a heated towel rail too but we will also have more tiles on the wall. At the moment we have a ceiling mounted air vent that comes on when the light does but asides clearing the air a bit it doesnt seem to do a lot. There are two of us taking showers every morning and the steam either stays in the bathroom and moulds (mould is between all the tiles, shower curtain gets replaced every three months, bath is now starting to collect mould) or if we leave the door open it gathers on our bedroom wall.
I figure with the towel heater that will help. Getting a concealed cistern toilet will also help stop that gathering condensation. On the negative side tiles must be cooler so the walls i guess will be worse ? Does anyone know of some sort of ventilation that will be better than the bog standard flimpsey thing sat on my ceiling now ? My dad has suggested that it could help if we put a grill type thing at the bottom of our bathroom door as the fan needs fresh air to pull it through ?

If anyone has had exp of this or knows far better than me what theyre talking about id be ever so grateful - we dont want to pay for all the bathroom to be done to find it ruined in a couple of years time !

Thanks

Leonie x

I have exctly the same problem as you do.... and today when I got home after home I notice a bit of condensation around the bath fan... but just arounded... I do think the roof is leaking but I found it weard it's just around the fan.... what could it be?

Thanks.

judy2357 · 23 December 2008 at 12:51AM

We have the same problem and have just had a new extractor fan fitted. Our ceiling goes black and needs constant painting. I really dont know what the answer is as we have 5 adults showering regularly in our bathroom and the extractor fan doesnt seem to be able to cope. However you mention you are going to have a heated towel rail installed, we have a a chromium towel rail which has started to rust so perhaps you should consider a white one I dont know if anyone ever has probs with these!!!

Vindiesel · 29 December 2008 at 4:26PM

whoa! i would seriously re-consider a towel rad, IMO they are useless - apart from warming towels and looking good. They do not heat rooms (they are towel radiators after all). I have a new bathrom, and it's freezing, and the condensation collects on my far bathroom wall - tiled, and oh, i don't know what to do ha ha but i do want a proper radiator - on the far wall, but the floor is porcelain, so this would get wrecked i think if i had to lay more pipes for a rad....?!!!

27col · 30 December 2008 at 4:44PM

I have an internal bathroom of almost the same dimensions as yours(just slightly bigger).
It has a 9" square extractor fan, which comes on with the light and stays on for a maximum of 5 minutes after the light goes off. It is very quiet when in use.The room has a towel rail which is connected to the feed that heats the water tank. I have posted this else where, but will put it here as well.
"I have no condensation in my bath room at all. The main reason is that there is an extractor fan, and the second reason is, that when I run a bath, I mix the hot and cold water in a mixer tap. This is adjusted such that the water comes out of the mixer at exactly the required temperature and there is virtually no steam at all. I have never had more than the slightest trace of condensation. In fact the mirror does not normally even steam up. There is no window. The only heat comes from a towel rail."
The main difference between us is that I removed the shower, as we both preferred to have baths, and also we have an en-suite shower room if required. I suspect that a lot of your problem is due to only having a small extractor fan. Though I am not sure how you might fit a more powerful one. a lot of people seem to run down the idea of a towel rail for heating the room. But I can honestly say that we have never really been concerned about the temperature of the room. It is actually worse in the summer, and I have toyed with the idea of fitting a summer heated towel rail. By the way, we also have a concealed cistern. In the shower room there is a ceramic cistern and a radiator, and we do not get condensation in there either. I do not understand all the talk about dehumidifiers, before I came on this site I did not know that such things existed. So I must be doing something right.

Vindiesel · 30 December 2008 at 7:09PM

hmm..

you also need to consider how well insulated your current bathroom is. Mine has a BIG cold problem, and condensation problem, in part due to it being part of an extension - open on three sides to the elements, it is also north facing, AND has a flat roof so is not as well insulated as a sloping :-(

All of which i cannot reasonably do much about . If i had had the foresight to consider all this before fitting my new bathroom (11 months old) i would:

a) definately not have a tiled florr- it's always cool/cold/freezing - i would have a real wooden floor - normally warm. And/or have underfloor heating. Also possibly not have tiled walls (half tiled, half painted).
b) mhave a proper rad fitted - not a towel rad, or in addition to that.
c) have an even better extractor fan fitted

bear that in mind, Lennylegs, some of these may be applicable to you too!

V

Squish_21 · 30 December 2008 at 7:23PM

I have a rather mouldy bathroom too. We leave the bathroom window a jar all day after our showers and it has a radiator yet mould still appears. Just accepted that I need to regularily clean the mould away. Its going to get a clean, then damp paint, then re-paint this week. Not tried the damp paint in the bathroom before but it seems to be working OK in our bedroom which also grows mould in the corner.

globalds · 30 December 2008 at 7:35PM

I replaced an old extractor fan with one with a built in humidity sensor.
The old fan never seemed to do anything ...When I went up the loft to change the hose over I found the hose full of spider webs ..it looked like years worth ...this had pretty well stopped all the flow through the pipe.So this itself is helping a lot.
The fan turns on automatically after about 2 minutes of Showering ,the humidity sensor turns the fan off after about 15 - 20 minutes of the shower going off
....The settings on the sensor can be tweaked .But we have no more problems with condensation.There was a notice on the fan that if humidity gets very high the fan will start ...Not happened yet but I could imagine if you were steaming a load of vegetables or something ...

Bathroom condensation/mould

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