Condensation driving me mad!

djheath

I live in a one bed flat and have always suffered from condensation on the large window in the 12 ft x 12 ft bedroom. The windows are wooden framed and the sealed units had failed, so assumed some of the problems were from bad windows allowing the water to condense on the cold glass. I found if I slept with the bedroom door open, then I didn't get any condensation as it allowed more air to flow around the room. This week I had new double glazing units fitted to the original window frames and hoped this would solve the problem. For the last few days I have slept with the bedroom door shut again and was pleased to wake up to a bone dry window!

However, last night was a very wet, rainy night and so the air was humid. I woke up and the new windows were dripping once again! I am not sure what the best action to take is now. I plan on renting the flat out and so don't want to have damp caused by the condensation. In the past the water has been so bad coming off the window, it has pool on the laminate flooring and caused it to swell and break.

The wooden frames do not have any trickle vents. Would it be worth fitting one, but I am concerned it will not make much difference? In my living room I used to have gas fire fitted and have two large air vents to the outside fitted in the wall. Would it be worth fitting one of these into the wall? I never get condensation problems in there.
One of these:

I think all I need is ventilation as there are no sources of water leakage or anything in the room and leaving the bedroom door open cures the problem. I think the only source of condensation is breathing at night. The room never gets condensation during the day with no one in it. However, I am worried about losing heat in the winter if I fit one or two of the larger vents in the wall.

Any help would be great. Thanks.

McKneff

I think all I need is ventilation as there are no sources of water leakage or anything in the room and leaving the bedroom door open cures the problem. I think the only source of condensation is breathing at night. The room never gets condensation during the day with no one in it. However, I am worried about losing heat in the winter if I fit one or two of the larger vents in the wall.


You've answered your own question here, just fit one vent in the wall and make sure your tenants know (in writing) about ventilation.

ariba10

Have a read of this.

http://www.harfordsonline.com/downloads/condensation%20info.pdf

phill99

The_Double_Glazing_Doctor wrote: »

Ventilation is definitely the easiest solution, the condensation simply comes from living conditions, we breath approximately 1 litre of fluids per person per night, washing on radiators, cooking, in fact anything with moisture makes this worse.

An air brick or trickle vents in the windows may help. The problem is condensation occurs where warm air meets cold air, so when the windows are wooden or old the energy efficiency and thermal value means any moisture reaching it cools down and runs on the window so you either need really good thermal values to prevent the warm air meeting cold, or a lot of ventilation which allows any moisture to not only meet cold but also escape.

Try the air brick or trickle vents as they are fairly cost effective options, if this does not work you may want to try adjusting your routines (open windows when cooking or after baths and showers, dry clothes outside not on radiators etc), this is most likely to help reduce it. if all else fails and it is really causing you problems you can check if there are gaps around windows or drafts that could be sealed or changing to UPVC windows should help. but this is expensive so try all other options first

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phill99

I think there are other problems going on. If you live in a smallish flat, I'm guessing the bathroom is near to the bedroom.

I think it is likely to be the bathroom that is the primary cause of condensation in the atmosphere and your breathe at night is topping it up to a poiint where it is causing condensation on windows etc. Something tells me that you have a bathroom that either has no extractor fan or an extractor fan that only comes on when the light comes on and goes off when the light goes off. I would also hazard a guess that you leave the bathroom door open when you have finished showering / bathing.

You need to ensure that all of the steam / moisture from the bathroom isn't allowed to permeate into other rooms. Ensure that the door is kept closed, that an extractor is fitted and used and that it has on over run timer on it so that it continues to work for 20 miinutes once the lights have been turned off.

Obce this main source of moisture is dealt with, you will just be able to get away with a trickle vent in the windows at night, rather than having to knock a big hole in the bedroom wall to install a vent.

ColinFishwick

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