Advice For Condensation Over Winter

Albermarle

I’m pretty sure we have some form of insulation between the bricks

You said your house had a solid wall, so can not be anything between the bricks, except mortar. 

moneysaver1978

bigbadphil said:

Just FYI, we do have a tumble dryer. Which we use for socks, underwear, towels & things that can go in there. We don’t put everything in there. Clothes like jeans, jumpers, tshirts and shrinkabke stuff don’t go in there. Even on half heat. 

I’m pretty sure we have some form of insulation between the bricks. When we drilled through the house vents, I could see yellowish fluff and presumed that was the insulation. 

Some rooms haven’t been decorated for years. Particularly our bedroom. So the wallpaper seems to absorb moisture. (It’s lining paper). 

Main things are the beds and other linen. Just seems cold/damp to the touch. It’s not wet. And has a musty smell. 

Definitely going to get a dehumidifier. When summer comes, things seem to improve. 

Where are you based? We are in London and it can get really humid in the summer so I am hoping that the dehumidifier will help "cool" the indoors this summer (if it arrives...)! 

KxMx

Another tip is in winter run the washing machine on a spin/drain cycle after the normal wash has finished. It will remove more moisture equalling less going into the house. 

bigbadphil

moneysaver1978 said:

bigbadphil said:

Just FYI, we do have a tumble dryer. Which we use for socks, underwear, towels & things that can go in there. We don’t put everything in there. Clothes like jeans, jumpers, tshirts and shrinkabke stuff don’t go in there. Even on half heat. 

I’m pretty sure we have some form of insulation between the bricks. When we drilled through the house vents, I could see yellowish fluff and presumed that was the insulation. 

Some rooms haven’t been decorated for years. Particularly our bedroom. So the wallpaper seems to absorb moisture. (It’s lining paper). 

Main things are the beds and other linen. Just seems cold/damp to the touch. It’s not wet. And has a musty smell. 

Definitely going to get a dehumidifier. When summer comes, things seem to improve. 

Where are you based? We are in London and it can get really humid in the summer so I am hoping that the dehumidifier will help "cool" the indoors this summer (if it arrives...)! 

We are in Liverpool

FreeBear

moneysaver1978 said:

FreeBear said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said: @FreeBear is best to tell you about insulating walls.

I'm no expert.

Windows - If the frames are in good condition, it is possible to replace the sealed units with modern low E ones - Replaced a sealed unit in the kitchen a couple of years back (they were installed some 15 years ago). Don't get anywhere near as much condensation forming on that piece of glass compared to the others in the kitchen. All other windows & doors have been replaced in the last 2-3 years. Expensive, but worth it for the energy savings & lack of cold draughts.

Slowly insulating the solid brick walls upstairs by way of adding ~75mm of Celotex on the inside. The loss of floor space is not noticeable, even in the smallest room. It has got rid of condensation on the walls, and only get a very small amount forming on the (new) windows. Doing the work myself to keep costs down at the expense of speed.

It would be worth your while seeing if you can get insulation fitted under the current ECO scheme - The work would be completed a lot faster and with less disruption. With a solid brick construction, you need to use appropriate materials (cork or wood fibre with a lime finish) rather than stuff like EPS/XPS or PUR/PIR. This will limit the amount of moisture trapped in the walls and prevent other problems developing unseen. However, I do not know if any of the ECO contractors would use the right materials or just go for the cheapest they can get away with. If you can get ECO funding, they would also look at ventilation.

In the meantime, you need to reduce the amount of moisture being generated - Getting an extractor fan fitted in the kitchen & bathroom shouldn't cost too much, and will help in those two areas. Hang washing outside and/or invest in a tumble drier - The former is free if you have the space, but is dependent on fair weather. The latter will push up your electricity bill.

@FreeBear are you talking about the seals between the door frame and wall or the rubber seal (window gasket)?

No, the glass that sits in the frames (assuming you have double glazing).

housebuyer143

bigbadphil said:

moneysaver1978 said:

bigbadphil said:

Hi all

I am after a bit of advice. Every winter, we get a lot of condensation on the front windows (never the back). If it is not managed it leads to mould on the window seals, wall paper seems moist and develops mould spots. It has started to effect the clothes and bedding in the house. They are not wet, but seem to retain moisture. Things like the slats on the beds start to develop mould and upholstery has a musty smell to it. 

Don't get me wrong, I have scoured the internet for remedies. I am pretty sure of the causes. We have tried opening windows for more ventilation, drilling through the downstairs vents that have been closed up (house gets really cold in the winter through these), de-humidifiers, cheap water catchers, you name it we have probably tried it. We can't leave windows open as the house starts to get really cold and my wife has a neurological condition which cold can effect. 

A bit of background to how we are living (The cause of all the moisture)
There are 4 of us in the house. 3 adults and a 7 year old. We pretty much get showers everyday, (the 21 year old not so much). Washing machine is on pretty much every day with washing hung up on the landing (top of the stairs). Bathroom does not have a fan in so steam from showers has to go somewhere. 
Windows are double glazed and about 25/30 years old at a guess. They are not energy efficient but getting new ones is impossible. Cannot afford them. (Open to ideas on how to)
House was built around 1920 and is solid brick, no breeze block, old school.

I know this all boils down to ventilation and the fact the air in the house is different to that outside which causes the build up of moisture. Is there anyone I can search for that can come and do a free and honest evaluation on the house and see what the options are? Do I just need vents on the roof to let the heat escape? Every year I say I want to do something about it and then the summer comes and its fine. Then the winter comes and it always seems worse than last year. 

Thank you in advance.

Phil

you mention you already have a dehumidifier but how powerful is it? When you hang laundry, is the dehumidifier on?

We live in a 1930s solid brick wall and we noticed a lot less moisture since we got a dehumidifier (with dryer mode). Over winter, we turn it on with the laundry near by.

Thank you for the reply.

Apologies, dehumidifier wasn't an electric one. I should of been more clear. We have had the cheap plastic ones from the bargain stores and we have had the ore expensive ones from unibond. Ideally, I don't really want to resort in having an electric one running all the time. I would rather try and sort the problem out permanently. 

I have been doing more research on it and have read that having a vents in the soffits and/or replacing roof tiles with vents can help sort out the problem.

We bought the house from my grandad nearly 20 years ago and before we moved in, I don't think there was a problem. It is only really since the loft has started gathering junk and things being stored up there and the occupancy has increased that it has gotten worse each year.

Out of interest, what dehumidifier did you get?

Honestly, you need a good electric dehumidifier. I had one in my old house and problem solved instantly. It cost pennies to run a day and it came on when humidity was at 60% and turned on after it was under that so it wasn't on constantly.

Meaco ABC I think was the one I had and it was excellent. 

https://www.meaco.com/products/meacodry-abc-range-12l-dehumidifier

Although you don't want it, you haven't actually tried everything until you try this and it will probably solve all your problems. They are not cheap initially but I called the company to ask if they had any broken box returns etc and I got it probably 10-20% cheaper.

sevenhills

bigbadphil said:

A bit of background to how we are living (The cause of all the moisture)
There are 4 of us in the house. 3 adults and a 7 year old. We pretty much get showers everyday, (the 21 year old not so much). Washing machine is on pretty much every day with washing hung up on the landing (top of the stairs). Bathroom does not have a fan in so steam from showers has to go somewhere. 

I know this all boils down to ventilation and the fact the air in the house is different to that outside which causes the build up of moisture.

Sounds like you know what is causing the mold.

stuart45

bigbadphil said:

Washing machine is on pretty much every day with washing hung up on the landing (top of the stairs). 

Phil

This one as well.

bigbadphil

Thank you everybody for the help. I have ordered a dehumidifier. I pick it up tomorrow. I don't think I need anything industrial so I went for the Logik-L20DH19 as it has good reviews around the internet. 

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/logik-l20dh19-dehumidifier-white-10191849.html.

I will update in a couple of weeks on how I've got on if anyone is interested. 

Thank you again

BarelySentientAI

bigbadphil said:

Thank you everybody for the help. I have ordered a dehumidifier. I pick it up tomorrow. I don't think I need anything industrial so I went for the Logik-L20DH19 as it has good reviews around the internet. 

I will update in a couple of weeks on how I've got on if anyone is interested. 

Thank you again

Please do - it's always useful to know whether the solution worked and would help anyone else with the same issue in future.