Humidity

little8571

Hi all i am looking for some advice on humidity in my home.
To cut a very long story short i have lived in my social housing home for 19 years for most of the 19 years we have battled with mould in the upstairs bedrooms mainly on the outer walls, not all over but various places by some of the windows and behind some of the radiators, we have also had brown water stains on the ceilings in all that time, now despite trying to treat the mould it always returns......we did call out the housing association on several occasions as the window sills are not sealed and as the house was always cold we asked what could be done to help with the issue, they left us mould remover kit on the doorstep....very helpful.


A few years ago whilst putting the xmas tree back up in the loft we noticed that the loft was dripping wet and we had to chuck out many thing because of this including my wedding dress and memories which were ruined.


I called the association again as i thought there was a roof leak and when the roofers came out they confirmed this and said we needed a new roof, several weeks later the association said no we don't, they said they would send out people to treat the mould, they painted over it with gloss paint and sprayed sealer all over the ceilings.


I complained again as the sealant spray caused me to have a severe asthma attack, the man told me it shouldn't be sprayed around people and he said he had told them as much .....made me wonder why he would spray it then?


Anyway i complained and they sent out a surveyor who has said that he will put humidity and temp data loggers in kitchen and bathroom, i asked why not all rooms including loft and he ignored me.


I told him im not a betting woman but i know they will show moisture as they are the wettest rooms in the house for obvious reasons, now we don't dry clothes indoors we open our windows regular to air and we don't get condensation on our windows or very minimal .


They want us to have these monitors in the house for 6 weeks which is fair enough but in the meantime the brown water stains are getting worse on the upstairs ceilings.


I have been looking at the monitors for the last few weeks and noticed that humidity was around 70% in kitchen and 89% in bathroom when it rains outside but on dry days humidity drops to about 52% indoors which is around what it should be i think, as the association told me it should be 50%


I am not a stupid woman i am a Science technician but would like someone to explain to me about why this happens i know outside temp and humidity can affect things but would they make that much of a difference to the humidity in our home, does that affect the dew point etc?


Would really appreciate someone's help in this matter, really hard dealing with associations who want to blame us and will not take notice of water stains on upstairs ceilings.

Aylesbury_Duck

little8571 wrote: »

Hi all i am looking for some advice on humidity in my home.
To cut a very long story short i have lived in my social housing home for 19 years for most of the 19 years we have battled with mould in the upstairs bedrooms mainly on the outer walls, not all over but various places by some of the windows and behind some of the radiators, we have also had brown water stains on the ceilings in all that time, now despite trying to treat the mould it always returns......we did call out the housing association on several occasions as the window sills are not sealed and as the house was always cold we asked what could be done to help with the issue, they left us mould remover kit on the doorstep....very helpful.


A few years ago whilst putting the xmas tree back up in the loft we noticed that the loft was dripping wet and we had to chuck out many thing because of this including my wedding dress and memories which were ruined.


I called the association again as i thought there was a roof leak and when the roofers came out they confirmed this and said we needed a new roof, several weeks later the association said no we don't, they said they would send out people to treat the mould, they painted over it with gloss paint and sprayed sealer all over the ceilings.


I complained again as the sealant spray caused me to have a severe asthma attack, the man told me it shouldn't be sprayed around people and he said he had told them as much .....made me wonder why he would spray it then?


Anyway i complained and they sent out a surveyor who has said that he will put humidity and temp data loggers in kitchen and bathroom, i asked why not all rooms including loft and he ignored me.


I told him im not a betting woman but i know they will show moisture as they are the wettest rooms in the house for obvious reasons, now we don't dry clothes indoors we open our windows regular to air and we don't get condensation on our windows or very minimal .


They want us to have these monitors in the house for 6 weeks which is fair enough but in the meantime the brown water stains are getting worse on the upstairs ceilings.


I have been looking at the monitors for the last few weeks and noticed that humidity was around 70% in kitchen and 89% in bathroom when it rains outside but on dry days humidity drops to about 52% indoors which is around what it should be i think, as the association told me it should be 50%


I am not a stupid woman i am a Science technician but would like someone to explain to me about why this happens i know outside temp and humidity can affect things but would they make that much of a difference to the humidity in our home, does that affect the dew point etc?


Would really appreciate someone's help in this matter, really hard dealing with associations who want to blame us and will not take notice of water stains on upstairs ceilings.

If they!!!8217;ve ruled out a leaking roof, then it!!!8217;s your lifestyle combined with ventilation and insulation that is causing the problem. If the insulation in the loft has been laid incorrectly it will block the eaves and stifle airflow throughout the loft, so any moisture making its way up there from the bathroom will condense in the cold environment. Your humidity readings in the kitchen and bathroom are high. Do you have extractors or do you just rely on opening windows? If the latter I think your problem is a combination of too much moisture generated from your lifestyle, coupled with perhaps insufficient heating and poor aeration in your loft. I suspect the brown stains on the upstairs ceilings are a result of condensation dripping down from the loft.

If it is a leaking roof, you!!!8217;ve just got to keep on at them, but those humidity readings you quote would suggest to me that the roof isn!!!8217;t the problem.

little8571

Hi that was my point, for the last week i have done nothing different yet humidity readings are 52% and that is fine, weather conditions have been dry outside, but as soon as it rains humidity levels shoot up in the house to around 70 to 80%


Lifestyle is using kitchen extractor when cooking, vented to the outside tumble dryer, don't hang washing in house, keep trickle vents open and air home daily, open window after showers or baths.


No condensation on windows, no wet walls, mould severe behind radiators which again is odd as wall behind them will be dry and warm surely? or am i wrong in my thinking?


loft insulation laid correct, 4 roof vents fitted yet loft very wet wetter when it rains.
Heating set at 19 degrees and switched up to 20 if need be so house heated ok, although cools down quickly because of lack of insulation.


Roofing company said new roof needed, housing association said no with no reason so went against roofing companies advice.


Other than stopping breathing, showering outside and eating cold beans i am really at a loss.


House is timber framed with cladding on top of house, no insulation in walls they know this as they put a camera through the walls and nature of the building materials would show that.


Being told its our lifestyle is frustrating as my lifestyle not changed in 17 years loft issue only started 2 years ago hence the fact i asked for roof to be checked, loft space is just mould where it is wet and funnily enough i checked today and it has dried out a lot since no rain.


Other people i know who live in similar houses don't have this issue and don't have extractors and dry washing indoors and breathe.


Humidity readings only go higher when its raining outside otherwise if weather dry they are constant 52% ish which i am told is within normal range.


just wanted to know if outside temp would alter indoor readings for any reason as there seems to be a correlation and that is saying to me rain= wet loft= roof leak= higher humidity but maybe i am wrong in my thinking there.

ComicGeek

Relative humidity readings (which is what you are quoting) relate to how much moisture the air can physically hold - it's dependent on the temperature of the air, as the warmer the air is the more moisture it can hold. So 50% relative humidity at 10 degrees celsius is significantly less moisture than 50% relative humidify at 20 degrees celsius - it's approximately half.

If you have a lot of free time, google psychrometrics - you should be able to find a psychrometrics chart which shows the relationship between air temperature, moisture content and relative humidity (also called percentage saturation).

So if the temperature in the house drops because it's raining and colder outside, then the relative humidity can increase without actually increasing the amount of moisture inside. If windows are open, then high humidity air from outside can also enter and increase relative humidity - although normally this is more an issue in spring/autumn, as cold air from outside wouldn't be able to physically hold enough moisture to raise internal moisture levels.

Dew-point is where moisture laden warm air comes into contact with a cold surface, like an uninsulated wall or cold window frame around an open window - this significantly cools the air, which means it cannot hold as much moisture, and the extra moisture forms as condensation on the cold surface.

You really need to monitor both temperature and relative humidify to get an understanding of what is happening, particularly if you are doing the same as before and nothing has changed. It could very well be a leak in the roof that's generating more moisture than the ventilation can dry out and remove, but I would expect this to be affecting specific areas around the ingress point rather than everywhere.

Norman_Castle

HA will be reluctant to spend many thousands on a new roof but may be persuaded to improve the ventilation in the loft. If they won't then see what you can do yourself.
I'm not sure but I think humidity in a loft might be higher on wet days irrespective of leaks.
A few years ago I blocked gaps between mine and a neighbours loft which caused increased humidity and mould.

little8571

Thank you so much what a detailed answer with lots for me to think about and thanks for posting about psychometrics, the temperature in these 2 rooms is also being monitored so looking at those charts will be helpful.


The water marks are around the outer edge of the ceiling in 2 of the bedrooms, but in patches on the bathroom ceiling except for a large patch in one corner only.


Interestingly we have had quite a dry spell although cold outside and humidity readings are showing as 45.6% in kitchen and 59.5 in bathroom so a significant drop with nothing done different except for the dry weather, hence my reason for coming on here to try and understand what could be happening.


Ventilation was put in loft a year ago nearly, roofers climbed up on roof and banged in 4 ventilation units, so on windy day quite a draft up there.