Eye watering condensation quote! alternatives?

ums86

I purchased my flat last year and after some renovation and building a 2nd bedroom I put it on rent in November. Soon after tenants moved in we noticed a number of issues relating to condensation, damp and mould along with a significant amount of water gathering on the floor. I purchased a dehumidifier and this did help to some extent but the issue is still very much there and mould is starting to grow in parts of the flat including kitchen, bathroom, bedrooms and on rugs, pillows etc.

Envirovent - recently surveyed my flat and I was quite surprised when given a quote of £1600 to fix the issue. The report concluded that that the problems identified are moderate condensation issues due to the high humidity and moisture content within the air.

The report went on to detail: There are signs of condensation in the lounge, bathroom, hallway/landing, both bedrooms and signs of condensation on the windows. There was also mould growth on window frame/reveals, on external walls, behind furniture and on external walls. Mould growth was reported to be forming on clothing and shoes. Mould growth was moderate in the affected areas within the property.

I currently have just one small extractor fan in the bathroom (a cheap Manrose one no more than £20 from Selco which is ineffective) and no ventilation in the kitchen other than a kitchen hood filter (not an extractor fan). I also have a number of small vents throughout the property.
Proposed solution:

Envirovents proposed solution is to install their ‘tried and tested’ combination of Mr Venty ECO2 Wall Unit working in conjunction with their ‘heavy duty’ Cyclone7 extractor fan which they say will gently ventilate my property – all for an eye watering cost of £1600.

Alternatives?

I’m hoping to resolve the issue ASAP as It is not pleasant for the tenant and his family + health concerns but want to understand whether there are cheaper fans/setups available on the market which can do the same job. Otherwise I will have no choice but to go with Envirovent.

I have done some research and think I need a heat recovery ventilation/unit and a new, more powerful fan in the bathroom. I have found a couple of products which I think might help but would appreciate any advice or other recommendations.

I've been looking in to the following:
KAIR HEAT RECOVERY EXTRACTOR FAN - 12VAC SELV - HUMIDISTAT
-model: K-HRV150/12RH
- sold by i-sells (quick search: QS2838)
- 1 unit for £310 or 2 for £612

• Would this (1 or 2 units) be sufficient to ventilate the entire property and if so where should it be installed?
• Is installation straightforward? (i.e can a regular builder install)
• What fan should I purchase for my bathroom?

Would appreciate any guidance / advice as i am quite lost!

Many thanks

FreeBear

You say there is a significant amount of water gathering on the floor - Have you identified where this water is coming from ?

If the walls & floors are constantly damp, ventilating isn't going to do much apart from increasing the heating bills.

ums86

There was a significant amount gathering and the dehumidifier has helped though there are still some patches under cupboards or where (i assume) there is a lack of air circulation. The water is not coming up from the concrete flooring underneath the laminate flooring. Thanks!

consumers_revenge

ums86 wrote: »

I've been looking in to the following:
KAIR HEAT RECOVERY EXTRACTOR FAN - 12VAC SELV - HUMIDISTAT
-model: K-HRV150/12RH
- sold by i-sells (quick search: QS2838)
- 1 unit for £310 or 2 for £612

Try amazon, they are 269 GBP in there :-)

I_have_spoken

When you say tenant and family, how many kiddies are in the flat ?

Do they use an externally vented tumble-drier or is washing draped over rads, adding to the water vapour from cooking, showering etc?

If the report about mould being external is true, I'd be looking for a persistent water source such as broken gutter, running overflow or weeping pipe.

Also do the family like to seal the property and have the temp at 25?

PheoUK

Try this:

http://www.nuaire.co.uk/products/catalogue/residential/positive-input-ventilation-piv/flatmaster/

ComicGeek

My sister has had condensation and damp issues for years, and recently had the Envirovent system installed and it cleared up the issues very quickly. They also discovered a leaking shower drain that wouldn't have been solved by that, so definitely a case of checking everything.


You also need to make sure you install a kitchen extract to outside - significant moisture being produced here, you need to deal with it at the source.


Is the Envirovent quote including all installation? Once you've bought the individual items yourself and added the builders and electricians costs I would be surprised if it's much cheaper.

Apodemus

PheoUK wrote: »

Try this:

http://www.nuaire.co.uk/products/catalogue/residential/positive-input-ventilation-piv/flatmaster/

That system seems to only bring in fresh, filtered air from outside and relies on the positive pressure in the house to force the damp air out through other draft gaps. Given the description in the OP's post, it sounds like much more is needed to solve the problem.

Personally, I would think that much of this is a lifestyle problem with the way the tenants are living in the property - much easier to reduce the amount of water vapour being added, than to remove it once it is there.

paddyrg

Even in winter, even if it's raining, we allow our flat to ventilate every day and it helps a lot.

alejamruc

I don't think extractor fans alone solve bad condensation problems. Extractors are quite localised in their effects, and are only clearing moisture when they are on.

We got amazing results with a positive pressure system we recently put in - and it is working in the background all the time, constantly clearing our house of condensation.

We have a victorian terrace with solid walls. We undertook extensive damp works (which needed to be carried out) but condensation and black mould still persisted. It was so bad that we had pooling water on window sills and by skirtings.

One damp company suggested a positive input/pressure ventilation system but were charging about £1,000 for it, so we didn't do it at the time.

After trying to vent the house, raise the general temperature, and every other bit of reasonable advice we could find, we reluctantly looked back into the positive pressure system as a last resort, and almost called back the damp company to install it, but I'm glad we didn't!

Instead, we installed it ourselves (our model cost about £400 from Nuaire) so saved a tonne on the damp company quote. As someone with some reasonable DIY ability, it was very easy to install. Check out YouTube for installation guides and see whether you'd be comfortable doing it yourself. If not, it is essentially no more complex than installing an extractor fan, so an electrician should be able to do it within 1-2 hours and should charge a lot less than any damp specialist.

If you already have a working extractor (test it by holding a piece of paper up against it and seeing if it sticks) then I would say you probably don't need a better one if you are installing a positive pressure system. The system pushes air into the house, forcing moisture-laden air out of any gap it can find, and a working extractor is sucking air out, so having both on at the same time channels the air flow towards the fan. For example, we have a pretty standard extractor fan in our bathroom, and find that turning that on and leaving the door open (while closing other doors in the house) clears the bathroom of any moisture in no time. All other rooms are now also just generally free from any problems.

We are now able to live normally, with no 'dehumidifying routines', but with no condensation problems either. We are still sensible and turn extractors on when bathing/cooking, but we regularly dry washing in the house and have hot baths throughout winter with no problems.

If you have tenants, it is almost impossible to get them to change their habits so they produce less moisture or sufficiently vent the house. Installing one of these clears the moisture for them and should allow them to carry on as normal.

Hoploz

When you said you have built another bedroom on to the flat, did you go into the loft? I'm just wondering whether you've ended up blocking air gaps in the roof which is trapping moisture in the building. Also, if you've done plastering recently then it causes a lot of dampness in the atmosphere - my loft went mouldy when we had our extension plastered so we had to leave the loft hatch open and put loads of fans up there to dry it out - it was fine after that.

Add to that the way they might be living, as already said, drying washing, not opening windows enough etc (it is winter after all) and the lack of efficient extractor fans and yes I can see there could be problems.

You must upgrade the extractor fans in bathroom and kitchen urgently so they meet current building regs would be good, eg fan with timer that stays in for 15 mins after bathroom vacated.

Then see about other more expensive upgrades later. After all, the place wasn't mouldy when you bought it, was it?