condensation and dampness

roswell

27col wrote: »

I cannot get my mind around the apparent fascination on some of the posts in these forums, for ventilation to "cure" condensation. There is no point in having radiators if they are not keeping the air in the the room warm enough to prevent the onset of condensation. It seems to me that all ventilation is doing, is to ensure, that the heat losses are great enough to lower the temperature enough to ensure that there will be condensation. I have no condensation and also definitely no ventilation. The bathroom has no window, but it does have an extractor fan. However, even without the fan on, there is no more than a slight mist on the tiles. I always ensure that the bathwater is premixed in the mixer tap so as to be at the right temperature for the bath. As this is only about 103 degrees Farenheit, there is no steam coming off the water and hence no condensation. As far as I am concerned, once I have started using the expensive gas, the requirement is to keep the heat in the house. This is achieved by means of large amounts of insulation, not ventilation. I have suffered from severe condensation in the past, but that was in a house that had no insulation, no double glazing and no CH. Never again. The basic requirement to prevent condensation is the application of heat and the use of insulation to keep it where it is required. There is probably no way to prevent severe condensation in badly heated and uninsulated houses.

And your source of ventilation eg new oxygen suppy is ?
id really hope you have a good co2 alarm fitted.

To the Op,

Do you have new double glazing ? if so you should be able to leave a window open 1 click as such thier is normaly 2 locking points allowing for the window to be secure but air to still flow.

27col

To roswell. I have lived in this house for over 30years and funnily enough I manage to survive every night without suffocating. If you think that not having windows open at night, is going to kill you, then you are sadly misinformed. All internal doors are left ajar at night and the rooms are quite spacious. There no way that a build up of co2 from people breathing is going to be a problem. All houses leak air to some extent. Your scaremongering does nothing to ease the OP's problem.

li'l_p

Not sure if I can answer your question, but we're in rented property and have been plagued with serious damp issues since we moved in, which has resulted in mouldy furniture, walls, bedding, walls, clothing and shoes, etc. The landlord has tried various measures including putting trickle vents on all windows, repairing cracks in external walls, applying waterproofing membranes, etc, but nothing's really worked. The final straw was seeing a large patch of wet on the wall in the baby's room recently... not really conditions I want her to be in...

Anyway, after writing to the landlord they sent a surveyor out from a damp specialist. He informed me that the problem in the property is down to condenstion, and said that the way houses are now; blocking up fireplaces and installing double glazing & central heating, the air flow is restricted hence the build up of damp air - breathing, cooking, tumble drying, etc.

Long story short, based on his recommendations, we have now had a heat recovery system fitted which apparently draws heat in from the loft and puhes this into the house, forcing damp air out of any air vents. An extraction unit was fitted at the back door which extracts damp air, mostly from the kitchen area (cooking/tumble dryer). They also fitted a vent behind the tumble dryer so it vents into the shed and an extractor fan in the bathroom. It was quite a pricey job (in region of £1500) but already we are seeing and feeling the benefit. The property heats up a lot quicker and we find it stays warm for longer - the rep told us that damp air is difficult to heat, hence why we struggled with this in the first place.

It's only been running for 2 weeks so far but we are already noticing the walls are drying out. Hopefully we will see an end our problems once and for all.

Basic measures you can try are ensuring maximum ventialtion, i.e. opening windows, but I know from experience this isn't always feasible, let alone ideal, as it tends to leave the place quite cold!

The_Economist

I found this very helpfull, heres the link http://www.specifypga.com/index.php/general-information-mainmenu-3/condensation-myths-and-facts-mainmenu-45

lizziloves

If you are getting an extractor fan fitted make sure that its a humidistat one - rather than needing to turn it on or off (or it running while the light is on with a 15 minute over-run) humidistat fans stay on for as long as it is humid.

roswell

27col wrote: »

To roswell. I have lived in this house for over 30years and funnily enough I manage to survive every night without suffocating. If you think that not having windows open at night, is going to kill you, then you are sadly misinformed. All internal doors are left ajar at night and the rooms are quite spacious. There no way that a build up of co2 from people breathing is going to be a problem. All houses leak air to some extent. Your scaremongering does nothing to ease the OP's problem.

I was actualy think that most properties have between 1 and 3 gas appliances and a fault with any one could be fatal surely more so if thier is no source of fresh ventilation ? I thnik it would be wrong to expect that not having even a single input of fresh air must be bad for your health at the very least?

TEDDYRUKSPIN

dampdaveski wrote: »

The world is flat, we'll never put a man on the moon, and elvis is still alive
teddy do you use leaches to cure a cold by any chance?:mad:

LOL. What is the definition of the world? Obviously the world is not flat.

How do you know we put a man on the moon? Could it be a woman or man? Human?

Elvis? Not interested.

Next you would tell me Michael Jackson is alive.

Leeches? Can't get any. But they do work in some ways or not. They have the capacity to get rid of some pathogens and diseases within a certain area. And this has been proven!!!

hartcjhart

so why all you so called experts did we not have condensation probs in houses 50-60 years ago, can i tell you, houses now are hemetically sealed so as to not allow air circulation,this has also increased the ammount of asthma in peeps

27col

To rosewell. One CH boiler, room sealed, so the oxygen comes only from the outside of the house. Kept in good order by regular maintenance. Boiler not on at night anyway. Health good, thank you for your concern. As I have said before, all houses leak air to some extent.As I built ours, I know that there are leakages of air, and as far as I am concerned, mine does not need any extra ventilation. Obviously other people have different problems and will require different solutions. The proof of what I advocate is that I have not suffocated myself, have no condensation or damp, and no health problems that could be attributed to damp. We are not talking hermetically sealed here.
hartcjhart Anyone who thinks houses are hermetically sealed has been watching too many submarine disaster movies. If you think that houses 50 or 60 years ago did not have condensation problems, let me tell you that the houses I lived in up to the age of 21 were running with condensation, as were those of our neighbours.