How much condensation is normal, how much is too much?

bouicca21

Yep, when I was a kid we had frozen condensation on the inside of the bedroom windows.

cwcw

Sorry to thread hijack but we have the same problem and we have upvc double glazing throughout.

Our set up:

- Extractor fans in both bathrooms with automatic humidity sensors to turn them on

- dry most clothes in a tumble dryer that drains down the waste pipe. Unless raining we hang larger items outside.

- Run a hood extractor over the hob when in use and for 30+ mins after cooking

- Central heating on most of the day, off overnight

- Leave bathroom windows open a crack all year round

- Open bedroom windows for periods in the day

- All windows upvc


We cannot have windows wide open all night due to babies, but also because it seems ridiculous to have to leave windows wide open in winter.

Anyway, as soon as the overnight temperature gets below around 8c, we wake up to windows upstairs with big arches of condensation and dripping down to the frame, resulting in mould. Even downstairs windows get wet and especially the lower half of our French doors.

There's only 2 adults and 2 babies in the house. Surely this condensation cannot be normal?! I look at similar neighbouring houses in the morning with envy at their dry windows!

tadpoleuk

I use a karcher window vac as well. It breaks the cycle of drying the windows then drying the towels and letting the moisture back into the house.

I get up an hour before everyone else and open the windows to let the damp air out. Then I put the heating on.

When I could afford the heating low and constant the problem wasn't so bad. I got the landlord to fit an extractor fan in the bathroom and kitchen and got a dehumidifier. I still get condensation on cold days but its under control now.

DRP

Those posters who have excessive condensation/humidity...

are you drying clothes in the house ?
does your kitchen 'extractor' vent to the outside or just recycle?
what's happening under your floor (leaks, damp soil, insufficient airbrick ventilation) ?

cwcw

DRP wrote: »

Those posters who have excessive condensation/humidity...

are you drying clothes in the house ?
does your kitchen 'extractor' vent to the outside or just recycle?
what's happening under your floor (leaks, damp soil, insufficient airbrick ventilation) ?

- Only drying clothes inside when it rains, an even then most items are tumble dried and drained out through the waste pipe

- Extractors all ventilate to outside

- No damp issues that I'm aware of, several airbricks are in place. No signs of damp (smell, mould, rot, etc), just window condensation.

GwylimT

Opening your windows at night won't make your home as cold as the outdoors, nor will it make your storage heaters charging less efficient, just open them to allow movement of air, there isn't much worse than sleeping in stale air.

Remember unless it is very dry outside a good deal of the moisture from your washing will remain in the house, although for a single glazed property I'm surprised your landlord allows you to air washing indoors.

Argghhh

just for the record there are different types of double glazing - if both leaves of glass are clear - there is not too much difference than single glazing - only when the inner leaf is coated like K glass or Planitherm for example will it reflect the heat back into the room and minimise the amount of condensation being allowed to form in the room

The answer is to increase ventilation and air circulation, one way is to drill holes in the wall and put a vent grill over them - worked for me

Naf

Left windows open last night, and nothing has changed - we still have little puddles in the windowsill. The house is also now ice cold, which is just not acceptable with three young children.
The dehumidifier egg which one poster suggested has also made zero difference.
Looks like shelling out on a machine is the only option; but I can't see where we'll be able to put it.

anselld

Naf wrote: »

Left windows open last night, and nothing has changed - we still have little puddles in the windowsill. The house is also now ice cold, which is just not acceptable with three young children.
The dehumidifier egg which one poster suggested has also made zero difference.
Looks like shelling out on a machine is the only option; but I can't see where we'll be able to put it.

I wonder how children ever survived before central heating

"little puddles in the windowsill" is not abnormal even with double glazing. If it was black mould all over the walls and ceiling that would be a problem.

We don't live in a dry, sterile atmosphere. We create a lot of moisture just by normal living and it has to go somewhere. What is not ventilated will end up condensing on the coldest surface available.

fairy_lights

You could try leaving the windows in the bedrooms open to allow moisture in the air to escape at night, and not use the heating in those rooms or get a couple of fan heaters to use in the bedrooms instead of the night storage. Do your living room and kitchen windows condense up too?