Condensation?

comicmankev

A little advice for a friend actually. He has a ground floor flat (which is actually below ground level, and down a dirt ditch). In the bathroom and kitchen there is a terrible damp problem.

The bathroom is worse, so I'll centre on that. He has installed a xpelair CF20 humidistat extractor fan and damp sealed the ceiling. There is an airvent in the (small) window in the room, but it is still a problem.

The plaster on the ceiling has crumbled of since the damp seal (which was below, then re-plastered!). So he has now pulled down the plaster back to the concrete, and put in a wood joist ceiling with polystyrene insulation.


Any other suggestions?

JimArnold

saturated air + cold surfaces = condensation

It's difficult to avoid damp air in a bathroom but a constant source of heat helps - if there isn't a central heating radiator then one of these electric towel rails will do the job.

Polystyrene will help

Other than that you cannot have too much ventiilation - preferably drawing air from the warmer drier house rather than outside.

comicmankev

Thanks for the response. Forgot to mention it is a flat with storage heaters, no central heating, and not much space to put any heating.

Whats the best way to heat the bathroom this way?

calmgirl

I knoiw this will sound stupid but if he/she showers with the door open it will hepl (if poss) What they need is to to get the moist air out and fresh air in an electric fan OUTSIDE the bathroom door would also help. If it is rented then take photos ( not while they are showing of course) of a steam filled room and then of the effect that it is having and show to landlord. Another idea is with the hot water pipe get a plumber to run it up and down lake a snake along one wall like a posh rad so when the hot water is going it at least gives some heat. Other wise aint got a clue

calleyw

One thing to think about seriously if can not or will not leave a window open in the bathroom for long periods of time.

Is de-humdifier. After having a shower/bath it will need to be run for a few hours. And once he gets it to start with he might well need to run it 24 hours a day for couple of days. To dry the whol place out.

I use to live in a ground floor flat and when we first moved in we had no heating apart from a one of those horrible electric heaters on the wall.

After having a a bath/shower the bathroom window would be locked open over night so that the mositure could escape.

Running a de-humdifier will also help keep the rest of the flat warmer as it will suck mositure out of the air.

Yours

Calley